I found the death certificate for my third great-grandfather Giovanni Palmeri, who was born abt 1812 and died 18 Dec 1843, at only the age of 38. It lists him as a contadino – a “peasant”. It lists his parents as Giuseppe Palmeri (my fourth great-grandfather) and Diega Batera (my fourth great-grandmother); on the death certificate itself, I can’t really read the first name – it seems like it says Giuseppe, but I can’t be certain. On the index, it seems to be a common abbreviation for Giuseppe. “Giuseppe” would make sense, since the tradition is to name someone’s first son after their father – my grandfather was Giuseppe because his grandfather was Giuseppe, and since my second great-grandfather was Giuseppe, my fourth great-grandfather would then be Giuseppe as well. Following that tradition, my first name should have been Joseph (Giuseppe) as well – linking me directly to an ancestor born in the late 1700s.
