Having moved from the hustle and bustle of Valletta, Salvatore saw St Julian’s grow from a summer village to a town in its own right.

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

He was born at 13:00¹ on Thursday 16 July 1864^{1 2} in Valletta, Malta^{1 2}, son of Girolamo Bonnici and Vincenza née Portelli^{1 2}.

His parents christened him as Salvatore Carmelo Maria Felice¹. They baptised him the day after² as Salvatore Carmelo Maria Raphael Felix Antonio Fedele Paolo Vincenzo in St Paul’s Collegiate church, Valletta².

Family

On Wednesday 20 February 1884, he married Emilia Farrugia³ in the vice-parish church of St Julian’s³. Reverend Don Giuseppe Scerri officiated the ceremony³.

Since St Julian’s wasn’t an actual parish, the wedding records come from the parish of St Helen’s, Birkirkara.

St Julian’s had 50 families in the mid 19th century, when the bishop elevated it to a vice-parish⁴. Don Scerri was the village’s first vice-parish priest⁴.

Together they had 2 children I’m aware of:

• Paolina in 1886⁵
• Giovanni⁶

Notable events

Salvatore was a commercial trader by profession³. By the time his daughter married, he described himself as a clerk. On his death certificate, he’s listed as a retired merchant⁷.

Change in residence

He moved to St Julian’s at some point³, before marriage. His son Giovanni was born in Birkirkara⁶, but only because St Julian’s had no parish of its own at the time.

His death certificate shows he was living in “Gzira, Sliema” suggesting he lived on the border of these localities⁷. It is probable that he hadn’t moved, but the shifting borders of the locality changed his official details.

Death

He died at 16:00⁷ on Saturday 16 March 1935⁷ of heart failure⁷ at the central civic hospital in Floriana, Malta⁷.

His family buried him at the Addolorata cemetery, Paola, Malta⁷.

References

1. Act of Birth of Salvatore Bonnici. (1864). [online] (2322). Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 20 Aug. 2024][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
2. Baptism certificate for Salvatore Bonnici. (1864). 345[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
3. Act of Marriage of Salvatore Bonnici and Emilia Farrugia. (1884). [online] (203). Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 24 Jul. 2024][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
4. Parroċċa San Ġiljan | “Duqu u taraw kemm hu tajjeb il-Mulej”. (2014). Storja | Parroċċa San Ġiljan. [online] Available at: https://www.stjuliansparish.org/storja/ [Accessed 7 Nov. 2024][↩][↩]
5. Act of Birth of Paolina Bonnici. (1886). [online] (1728). Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 12 Jul. 2024][↩]
6. Act of Marriage of Paolo Darmenia and Paolina Bonnici. (1913). [online] (945). Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 10 Apr. 2018][↩][↩]
7. Act of death of Salvatore Bonnici. (1935). Malta Government Public Registry. [online] Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 4 Sep. 2024][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]