Families in the Riveli di beni e anime of Gallodoro, Sicily during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Abstract

This article examines the riveli di beni e anime of the small town of Gallodoro, located in northeastern Sicily about halfway between the cities of Messina and Catania, to examine the history of the town"s families during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by tracing the prevalence of surnames recorded in these documents. The growing proliferation of certain surnames suggests a longer presence of these families in Gallodoro, while the increasing diversification of surnames as a whole suggests a dynamic population comprised of new residents. Despite the diversification of surnames in the riveli for Gallodoro, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the majority of the town"s population held only a relatively few different surnames.