cofrancesco.net

14. Epilogue 

          And so we have seen that the Cofrancesco family had its beginning in the lands of the Titerno Valley, the heart of the feud of the 13^th century Sanframondo, a Norman family whose origins and endings still remain shrouded in mystery. We have identified the first generation of our known ancestors from the mid 16^th century; Giacomo de Francisco, Orsa de Francisco, Giovanni Donato Cola Francisco, Vito de Cola Francisco, Bernardo Cola Francisco, Pietro Francisci, and Orso Antonio de Francisco. Where did they come from? Did our ancestors descend from the Normans and perhaps even the Sanframondo? Is there significance in the name Vicinato Franzese (French District) where Mattia Cofrancesco had his shop? Did they come from a Hebrew family that escaped from Spain? Some documents seem to suggest that possibility too. It is doubtful that we will ever know the answer to these questions.

          However we know that our ancestors were living in the small town of San Lorenzello in the Titerno Valley in the mid 16^th century. We have noted the variations of our surname as found in ancient records. In the mid 18^th century we have seen how the Cofrancescos moved into the nearby towns of Cerreto and Massa. In the great migration of Southern Italians that started in the last half of the 19^th century, many of them, including the Cofrancescos, immigrated to the United States of America and Argentina. Cofrancescos also immigrated to Australia while other relocated to other parts of Italy. By the 21^st century Cofrancescos can undoubtedly be found in other countries around the world. And we all have a common origin!

          We are indeed fortunate that the Italian Parish and Civil Vital records, as well as the Stato dell’anime (literally "State of Souls"), and the census records of the Catasto Generale, also known as Onciario, are available to provide a source of information for the research that has enabled us to trace our ancestors from the 16^th to the 21^st century.

          Of course the research will continue. Certainly more chapters of the story of the Cofrancesco family should be discovered and written. The stories of many of our Cofrancesco ancestors need to be told and we will try to find the information and write about them.

One of the many ancient documents that need to be studied
to add to The Origin of the Cofrancesco Family 

Pacifico Cofrancesco was born in Pavia on 8 February 1960, of Giuseppe and Filomena Guarnieri, and he lives in Garlasco (province of Pavia) since his birth. His father Giuseppe was born in Massa di Faicchio and immigrated to the North of Italy in 1956, with his family.

Pacifico graduated in Electronics in 1986 and took his Doctorate in Computer Science and Electronics in 1992 at the University of Pavia. Since the time he was a student he never left the University of Pavia, where now he is working as confirmed Researcher at the Faculty of Pharmacy, and teacher of Computer Science and Mathematics.

He tries to make his computer work as creative as possible. He enjoys photography, art, music (modern and classical) and history. Luckily he never forgot the Latin he learned when he was young and this helped him immensely in reading the ancient documents related to the history of the Cofrancesco family.

Photos: Pacifico Cofrancesco, Antonio Di Leone and Ryan Cofrancesco
Maps and image processing: Pacifico Cofrancesco


© 2008 - cofrancesco.net
All rights reserved