I know little of Paolo Darmenia because there are few direct records. Most of the information we have comes from other sources, mainly state records of his son’s life.

He is one of my maternal great-great-great-grandfathers.

He was born in Vittoriosa, Malta^{1 2} in 1814 or 1815, son of Michele Darmenia and Lorenza Lia^{2 3}.

I know how old he was when he died, but without a date of birth I am unsure whether he was born in 1814 or 1815.

Family

On Sunday 15 May 1836, he married Teresa Imbroll in the Basilica of Our Lady of Safe Haven and St Dominic in Valletta^{3 4}. Don Vincenzo Azzopardi officiated the wedding³.

At the time the church was still a new Basilica, having been elevated to that status in 1816.

I know they had at least three sons and one daughter⁵:

• Emmanuele⁶, named after his maternal grandfather.
• Vincenzo Carmelo Michele Pasquale Giovanni Saverio Lorenzo, baptised 11 April 1841 in St Paul’s.
• Lorenzo Carmelo Innocenzo Giovanni Antonio Michele, baptised 04 January 1843 in St Paul’s.
• Carmela Concetta Michela Innocenza Vincenza Emanuela Antonia, baptised on 20 July 1846 at St Paul’s.

Notable events

He worked as a cabinet maker⁷, then a carpenter⁴ and then as a shopkeeper² in Valletta⁴.

It is interesting to see he changed profession. As a carpenter he would have not have struggled to find work which suggests his career change was not driven by market forces. He may have chosen a calmer life, or he may have suffered some injury which made him reconsider his life.

It is likely he moved to Valletta in 1830s around the time he got married, but I have no evidence of this. Early 19th century Malta was getting used to life without the Knights. While the British used the harbours, they had yet to equip the harbour with the dry docks so the amount of work in the harbour area was limited to sea-faring activities. Carpenters must have been plentiful and competition would have been fierce. This could explain why he chose to move to Valletta.

Death

He died at 04:00² of apoplexy² on Thursday 07 February 1881^{1 2} of apoplexy² at his residence at 210 Merchants Street, Valletta^{1 2}.

The authorities recorded his death the day after².

He’s buried at the Addolorata Cemetery in Paola⁸. His state death certificate mistakenly lists this as ‘Addolroata’ cemetery².

References

1. Death certificate for Paolo Darmenia. (1836). Death register for Porto Salvo and St Dominic Parish Church, 1880-1886(90) [↩][↩][↩]
2. Act of Death of Paolo Darmenia; 1881-02-07[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
3. Marriage certificate for Paolo Darmenia and Theresa Imbroll. (1836). Marriage register for Porto Salvo and St Dominic Parish Church, 1831-1836(104) [↩][↩][↩]
4. Act of Marriage of Emmanuele Darmenia and Rosina Grech; 1880-06-24[↩][↩][↩]
5. Maltese Baptisms. (n.d.). Available at: https://en.geneanum.com/malta/databases/baptisms.html# [Accessed 17 Jul. 2024] [↩]
6. Act of Birth of Paolo Darmenia; 1885-11-12[↩]
7. Act of marriage of Emmanuele Darmenia and Elisa Felice. (1876). Malta Government Public Registry. [online] Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 28 Aug. 2024][↩]
8. Death certificate for Paolo Darmenia. (1836). Death register for Porto Salvo and St Dominic Parish Church, 1880-1886(90) [↩]