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8. The Catasto Generale (Cadastre General) of S. Lorenzello

          To follow the evolution and movements of the Cofrancesco families we have another very important document: the Catasto Generale della Terra di San Lorenzello ("The Cadastre General of the Land of San Lorenzello"), drawn up after 1742 by order of the King Charles III for a census of the revenues of all the families of the Kingdom of Naples. Besides cadastral data, such as revenues and charges ("rendite" and "pesi"), some personal data, such as ages and relationships, are recorded as well as the place where the house is located and if it is owned or rented.

          The date written on the first page of the Catasto Generale of S. Lorenzello (usually called also Onciario because all the revenues and charges were calculated in ounces, "once") is 1754, but most likely it was started some years before, around 1743, as it happened for the other Cadastres, and the work lasted for some years.

          The comparison of the results of the Catasto of 1750 with the one described in the Stato dell’anime of 1714 is very interesting. After about 30 years, we still find 10 families with male Cofrancesco heads, 6 families with Cofrancesco wives, and 3 widows, nee Cofrancesco, living in S. Lorenzello with their children and/or grandchildren, as well as the widow of another Cofrancesco male family head who died a few years earlier. The Cadastre does not give the name of the parents of the Cofrancesco women, but by cross matching with other information from marriage records it’s possible to find their origins with a high degree of confidence in almost all cases.

          Let’s look at the families with Cofrancesco members recorded in the Catasto, starting from the Cofrancesco male heads of family:

          We also have the family of the widow of Giuseppe Cofrancesco, son of Tommaso (son of Clemente), Margherita Cestari, which we can consider another house with a Cofrancesco (virtual) head:

          The persons with an asterisk (*) were already heads of family in 1714, and they were still alive around 1750 and living in the same houses, where they lived in 1714.

There are 6 families with Cofrancesco wives:

There are 3 widows nee Cofrancesco:

As for the Stato dell’anime, based on data recorded in the Catasto we can map the Cofrancesco living in S. Lorenzello around 1750.

Families with a Cofrancesco husband or wife living in San Lorenzello in 1750

          The houses on the map where the same Cofrancesco family lived in 1714 are marked with a star (blue or light red) with a green border. The houses where the heirs of those who lived there in 1714 are living in 1750 have a star with a white circle.

          As we can see, most of these Cofrancescos (8 male heads of family and 6 wives or widows) are descendants of Mattia and his sons Giovanni Donato and Angelillo. Among the remaining 6, two husbands and two wives are descendants of Simone and Isabella Sagnella and the other two, a husband and a Cofrancesco wife, are descendants of Francesco and Zenobia Sarracco.