The Adami collection, 1485-1868

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The Adami Collection is a transcription of parrochial records from the Maltese Islands (Malta and Gozo) that includes marriages, a few baptisms from one parish, marriage legacies or contracts, family trees, ecclesiastical benefices, notarial acts, and miscellaneous notes. Each film note includes the corresponding volume number from the Adami Collection. A description of each record type follows.

Marriages are arranged by parish. In the records, the saint's name is written in Italian as is the town name. In this catalog the saint's name is written in English, followed by the Italian name in parentheses. The names of the towns are written in English followed by alternate spellings from the Italian and Maltese languages. For most of the towns on the island of Gozo, no saints' names were given.

Marriage contracts (schede matrimoniali) form a record that resembles an index. They include the names of the bride and groom and both sets of parents, the contract date, and the parishes where the bride and groom lived.

Marriage legacies (legati di maritaggio) were given to the church by the wealthy to endow poor brides with enough money to help defray the costs of the marriage and setting up a household. These legacies usually were given to family members, who had to prove relationship to those who provided the legacy. Consequently, in the legacy records family trees showing relationship from provider to the bride are shown. They are arranged in alphabetical order by the surname of the person providing the marriage legacy.

Family trees are arranged in no discernable way and they date from the 1500s to the 1800s. Most of the dates that appear are marriage dates and it appears that many of these family trees also had something to do with marriage legacies. They were used to confirm consanguinity in order for a bride to claim a marriage legacy. In later records, rather than a family tree, there are tables of names of those claiming legacies.

Notarial records include wills, codicils, legacies, donations, sales, etc. On the first film containing notarial records, they are arranged in alphabetical order by the surname of the family and then by the name of the notary who drew up the papers for each act. In this catalog, the name of each notary is given along with the dates of his service. It may be necessary to check each notary to locate all of a family's records. In the large set of notarial acts, the records are arranged by family name.

Benefices involve the endowment of land and/or property to the church to be used by the church but to actually remain legally in the hands of the "donor". The descendants of the original donors were given first preference over the land and property. Decendancy charts are included.

Miscellaneous notes (notizie diverse) and miscellaneous foundations (fondazioni diverse) provide information about benefices and foundations.

Text is mostly in Latin with some Italian.

Microfilm of original records at the National Library of Malta in Valletta.

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Film/digitale noter