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6. The descendants of Giovanni Donato

          Mattia Cofrancesco, son of Giovanni Donato, at the age of about 30, married Cassandra Gizzi (called "Izzo" in a document dated 1650) on 16 November 1608. Their first daughter, Antonia, was born about a year later on 21 November 1609, and then the following were born on a fairly regular cycle; Albino (Rubino?) in 1611, Giovanni Donato in 1613, Angelillo in 1616, Tommasina in 1618, Sempronia in 1620, and finally Antonio, who’s date of birth is unknown.  We do not know much about Antonio, except that he was alive in April 1650 when Galderio Massone, the husband of his sister Tommasina, reclaimed the dowry Mattia promised before his death.  Documents were found which suggest that, after the death of his wife Cassandra, Mattia married Prudenzia Mastracchio and they had three other children: Giovanni Nunzio in 1629, Francesco in 1632, and Giovanna in 1637.

          All daughters of Mattia married well: Tommasina, as mentioned, married Galderio (or Alterio) Massone in 1635, Sempronia married Francesco Fusco in 1639, and Giovanna, the youngest of the sisters, married Giovanni Carbone in 1659.  The marriages, particularly with members of the Massone, Fusco and Mastracchio families, leads one to believe that the family of Mattia Cofrancesco was of a fairly high social class, though not necessarily a noble one.

          The marriage of his son Giovanni Donato to Caterina Pacelli in 1645 supports this belief.  In fact Caterina was from one of the most important families of S. Salvatore.  The Pacelli were so wealthy that after the revocation of the S. Salvatore feud of the Monsorio, they acquired almost all of their assets, including land, houses and buildings.  Another two of Mattia’s sons married. Angelillo took a wife, probably in 1649, by marrying Beatrice Carbonetta, as did Giovanni Nunzio by marrying Dorodea Caicchia in 1650. Giovanni Nunzio has no known descendants. 

19 June 1645 - Gio. Donato Colafran.co (Cofran.co) of S. Lorenzello
 married Caterina Pacella (Pacelli) of S. Salvatore
(Parish Archive of S. Salvatore - BN)

          Giovanni Donato and Caterina Pacelli however had many children, ten to be precise, and of these only Mattia, born in S. Salvatore on 24 October 1653, died at an early age.  Their economic conditions had to be very good and certainly it should not have been a problem to raise so large a family.  Their first son, Antonio, was born on 6 January 1647 in S. Salvatore, where the family of Giovanni Donato lived until 1653, and where three other children were born.  The other six were born in S. Lorenzello.  The last son, Giovanni Tommaso, was born on 17 August 1673, when his mother Caterina was 44 years old, and his older brother Antonio was already 25.  What follows is the complete list of the children of Giovanni Donato Cofrancesco, with their date of birth, the name of their spouse, and the date of their marriage.

         Giovanni Donato managed to marry off all his sons and especially all of his daughters, paying their dowries, which at that time was remarkable.  We will find all their families and/or their children in the Stato dell’anime of 1714 and the Catasto Onciario of 1754.

         Angellillo and Beatrice Carbonetta had a fair number of offspring, although probably not all their children are known.  In fact it is strange that baptismal records show a 13-year gap between their third and forth children. Information on their children taken from the S. Lorenzello registers is as follows.

         Except for Clemente, we do not presently have any other documents besides records of baptism for other children of Angelillo. We have found some descendants of Angelillo/Clemente both in the Stato dell’anime of 1714 and the Catasto Onciario of 1754.