Baptisms of my 3x-great-grandparents

 I have started looking closely at the Corippo parish register on Family Search, and have been writing up the entries along with translations of the bits I can manage. Here are the baptisms of my 3x-great-grandparents, Maria Johanna Scilacci, and John Scettrini.

Maria Johanna, like most family members, was baptised in Corippo. However John was baptised in Vira Gambarogno, which was a pasturage area at a lower altitude, closer to Locarno. All parties to his baptism were from Corippo though.

 

Corippo Ancestry- using Images on Family Search, 2025

In the 1990s when I first started researching my Scettrini ancestry, I was able to order a Corippo parish microfilm into the Family History Centre here in Palmerston North. 

I spent many evening/weekend hours going through that microfilm, writing out entries that I thought might be relevant, using my School Cert Latin to work out the basics. It wasn’t possible though to get very many images of the entries. Later I wrote out ancestral names and dates on numerous pieces of paper, and sorted them on the lounge floor so I could put together a family tree.

I was reasonably confident with my tree, and thought I had been careful in what I put together. But the parish register was all in Latin, and there were a few things I wasn’t sure that I had completely right. One of those things was that I thought my Giuseppe Scettrini’s grandfather, also a Giuseppe, had two marriages, both to a Maria Caterina Gambetta, but each of those women had a different father. The other confusion was that my 3X-grt-grandparents on the Scettrini-Scilacci line seemed to sometimes be using the name Beneda as part of their Scettrini surname, or even to replace it.

I was very fortunate quite a few years later to be contacted by Rae Codoni, from California, who had done extensive research into his Codoni family from Corippo, and as part of this had drawn up a huge draft Scettrini tree. He was able to confirm that yes indeed, there were two different women named Maria Caterina Gambetta who married Giuseppe Scettrini senior. And indeed, there were so many Scettrini families in Corippo, that some did start using other names with their surname to differentiate themselves from each other.
Rae Codoni was actually descended from the first marriage on 4 Feb 1788, of Giuseppe Scettrini to Maria Gambetta, daughter of John Jacob Gambetta. Our family is descended from his second marriage to Maria Gambetta, daughter of Joseph Antony Gambetta.

Then at some stage it was no longer possible to access microfilms via a Family History Centre, and none of the parish register information was available online. It was magic for me to find out the other day that these images from the parish register are now available via Family Search in the images search section!

The images from the parish register can be found on Family Search at: 

https://www.familysearch.org/records/images/search-results?place=3057713

In images search, you put in Corippo, Ticino, Switzerland, and then use the image group number 008342031 (Item 6 of 8) to find most of the records below.

However, the people from Corippo sometimes migrated to a pasturage level at a lower altitude closer to Lake Locarno and those records might be found at Vira (Gambarogno) https://www.familysearch.org/records/images/search-results?place=3060031&page=1

I found a baptism I was looking for in 008191155 (Item 3 of 6) which had baptism records from 1774-1826.

I intend to spend some time this year going through the images and documenting our Scettrini ancestry using them. Just as a taster- this is the baptism of my 2X-grt-grandfather, Giuseppe Scettrini- Joseph, son of John Scettrini and Maria Johanna Scilacci.

Maria Catterina Margherita Scetrini di Giovanni Beneda

 I was delighted to discover recently that the parish records for Corippo, Ticino, Southern Switzerland, have now been digitised from the parish microfilm that you used to be able to get in Family History Centres a long time back. Back then I ordered in the Corippo microfilm and wrote down as many 'likely' entries as I could, but it wasn't possible to get many images copied and printed. I will now be able to go through the parish records at a much more leisurely pace, and take screen shots as I wish...

Just as a sample of what is available, here is the 1839 baptism record of Maria Catterina Margherita Scetrini di Giovanni Beneda. She was the first sister born to Giuseppe Scettrini, my great-great-grandfather, who was born in 1835.

A rough translation follows:

Maria Catterina Margherita Scetrini di Giovanni Beneda
In the year of our Lord 1839, on the 25^th day of February, Father John (priest?) of Locarno (by licence?) have baptised an infant (?) born of John Scetrini and Joanna Scilacci, legitimately (married?), and the name given was Maria Catherina Margherita.
Godparents were Antonius Scilacci (son Gugliermus?? not sure) and Joanna Maria wife of Joseph Codoni, all of Corippo.

It's found on Page 68 of the Family Search microfilm at:  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSTT-D335-B?view=explore&groupId=M9MH-J1C&grid=on

Notice how the surname here is Scettrini di Giovanni Beneda. There were so many Scettrini families in Corippo that they were sometimes distinguished by a ‘nickname’- in this case Beneda for our Scettrini line. Giovanni is the father of Maria Catterina Margherita, and also of our Giuseppe. In some later entries, the surname is rendered Scetrini-Beneda, or even just Beneda.

 

Scettrini is the spelling used in Ticino today. In the registers/census etc in the 1800s, various spellings are used- depending on whether the entry is in Latin or Italian; and if in Latin, what case of the word is being used. I'm grateful for the three years of Latin I did in high school that has helped me to work out many of the parish entries.

Using the Corippo Parish Register

We know from his naturalisation papers that Giuseppe Scettrini (my great-great grandfather) came from the village of Corippo in the Canton of Ticino, Switzerland. And from his marriage and death register entries, we know that his parents were Giovanni Scettrini, and Giovanini (Johanna) Maria Scilacci, and that he was born around 1835.

Corippo is found in Valle Verzasca. The nearest larger town to Corippo is Locarno.

Back in the 1990s when I was researching more about Giuseppe’s ancestors in Corippo, I was able to order the microfilm for the Corippo Parish Registers in to my local Mormon Family History Centre. The film number was 1751127. This film had not previously been ordered by anyone in New Zealand, and it was brought into the country for me. I remain grateful to the Mormon Church for this service.

The parish church in Corippo is named Sancta Maria Virgine de Monte Carmelli (Blessed Mary Virgin of Mt Carmel).

The parish registers in Corippo at the time were all written in Latin.  I had reason to be appreciative of the three years I had studied Latin in high school to School Certificate level, as it enabled me to translate a lot of the important details.

One of the treasures of this register, was that entries commonly named the father of those named. So for instance, when Giuseppe was baptised, each of his parents were named, but so also were the names of the fathers of each of his parents. This clue to the names of 'three generations' made it much easier to trace entries back with more confidence.

The family name is spelled Scettrini in Italian, but in Latin in the parish registers, it appears as Scitrini when in the nominative case. However, one of the characteristics of Latin is that endings alter depending on the ‘case’ of the noun. Thus it appears as Scitrino in the genitive case, eg when someone is the daughter of someone else.

The register was not always easy to read. The handwriting of some priests was more legible than others. Additionally, the entries varied in length and detail according to the priest of the time. (Sometimes there was considerable detail about such things as the degree of consanguinity that I didn’t try to translate.)

There were so many Scettrini families in Corippo at the time, that sometimes our line was called Scettrini-Benada, or even just Benada.

At times family members descended to a pasturage area, Vira Gambarogno, nearer the lake, Lago Maggiore. This meant that occasionally I could not find the entry for a direct ancestor I was trying to find.

I constructed some family group sheets as well as I could. However, then I had some truly fortunate contact with a man called Rae Codoni who hailed from California. Rae had done extensive research into his Codoni ancestors from Corippo. (We worked our that I am a half fifth cousin with his daughter Anne, the half being because of a remarriage.) I was very glad to be able to compare my draft findings with his, and am truly grateful for all the information he so generously shared with me.

"Family" Stamps

One of the things I enjoy most about tracing my family history is finding out more about the places my ancestors came from, and maybe understanding a bit about what it was like living there. And sometimes there are little 'place' treats along the way.

In the very early days when I was working out who my great-grandparents were, I was sent this stamp by Maurice Payn. It represents a "Payn" family coat of arms from Jersey in the Channel Islands.

 

And someone sent me this stamp that represents Corippo in Ticino, Switzerland, where my Scettrini family came from. (I think it might have been a young German friend of a friend who visited there and sent me some photos.) It was a Swiss stamp that was issued 19 February, 1985.

The stamp gives you a bit of an idea how beautiful this mountain village is. I hope to revisit it once more in a year or so- maybe 2020...

How do we know?- Scettrini in Corippo

Joseph Scettrini seated in middle, in Kumara.

 I have been following the ancestral trail of Giuseppe Scettrini in Switzerland for quite some time now. Somehow early on I learned he was from Corippo in Ticino. I am not sure how I 'knew' this- but it must have formed part of the family story passed down somehow. However, recently, I have had someone from Australia tell me we are wrong- the name is really Scattini- perhaps from another village entirely.

So I had to see what kind of 'paper trail' there was for Corippo being the correct place of origin for my Scettrini. I have a copy of Giuseppe's marriage and death register entries. In both it just says he comes from Switzerland. But in both it also names his parents- with spelling variants as always!- as John Scetrini and Giovanini Scilaci.

I began looking through other papers I had, and quite clearly in his naturalisation papers there it was. In 1883, when Giuseppe applied for naturalisation, it is quite clearly written that he was born in Corippo, in the Canton of Ticino, Switzerland.

And back in the parish register in Corippo, his baptism is clearly recorded in Latin- in 1835, as the first born child to Giovanni Scettrini and Maria Johanna Scillaci. See this post.

Corippo, in springtime

Joseph (Giuseppe) Scettrini

Joseph (Giuseppe) SCETTRINI

On September 20, 1834, John, son of Joseph Abondi Scitrini, and Maria Johanna, daughter of  Gugliermus Scilacci, were married at the Church of the Blessed Mary Virgin of Mt Carmel, in Corippo, Canton of Ticino, Southern Switzerland.

From Corippo parish register- via microfilm at Mormon FHC.

A year later, on the ninth of September, 1835, their infant son, Joseph, was baptised at the same church.

From microfilm of Corippo parish register, 1835,- with my translation.

               Joseph was one of many young men who left Corippo where there were many hardships, and he found his way to the goldfields in Victoria. In 1864 he was married at St Kilian's, Bendigo, to a young Irish woman named Catherine Heneberry. He described himself then as a 29 year old bachelor, resident at Sailor's Gully.

             

Their first child, Johanna, was born at Sandhurst on 29 December 1865,  and their second child, John, was born at Eaglehawk in 1867.

           

It wasn't long before the family moved across the Tasman to the West Coast goldfields, and settled first at Waimea, near the Big Dam, during the Goldsborough rush. Johanna is known to have gone to the school there.  At least four children were born at Waimea: the first was MaryAnne in December 1869, and the last seems to be Joseph Beneda, born in May 1876.           

The family is next known to be living at Kumara, where Joseph lived for the rest of his days in a house on Boundary Road. 

 

On 21 March, 1883, Joseph applied for naturalisation. He was described as a goldminer,  45 years old, who had been living in the colony of New Zealand for 15 years.

           

On 6 January, 1887, Catherine Heneberry died, leaving Joseph a widower with eleven living children (nine of them girls), ranging in age from two to twenty-one. He never re-married.

                            

In September of 1890, Joseph discovered gold in a swampy area near Whiskey Creek, and a small rush occurred. He applied for a 6 acre claim and had constructed a 30ft tunnel. A newspaper reporter on Sept 15, 1890, found only one person working on the prospector's claim (assumed to be his son) and states that "I understand that Scetterini is not well at present and is consequently not working." He continues later: "I think we should all be desirous of rewarding a prospector and the storekeepers who had the courage to back him, for months, and though I consider six acres rather too large a slice for a very small party of men, I think the area should be in proportion to the labour expended.” 

Mr Seddon gave notice in Parliament on Sept 16, 1890, that this rush had occurred, and named the prospector as J. Sceterini. He sought Government aid to improve the access track.

Joseph is believed to have buried some of his gold, but when his section was dug up after his death, none was found. 

           

At the family reunion in 1992, Elizabeth Payn's wedding photograph from 1912 was reproduced on the front page of The Greymouth Evening Star. It shows Joseph Scettrini seated in the front row, complete with walking stick and large white beard.

 

           

Joseph lived until 4 October 1928, when he died, at 94 years of age, at his daughter's residence in Boundary Rd, Kumara. He was survived by seven children and thirty grandchildren. His obituary says: "Deceased followed alluvial mining practically all his life, and was for some time employed on Government Roads in and about Kumara. He was one of Kumara's oldest identities, as well as being one of the longest lived of Kumara's citizens."  

Note on SPELLING of Joseph Scettrini's name.

Joseph's original first name in Italian was Giuseppe. On the Latin baptismal entry it is written as josephus. The original spelling in Italian (in Corippo) of the surname is SCETTRINI, though on the Latin Church entries it appears as scitrini.

The surname is OFTEN misspelled, and when searching for information about the family in indexes, it is necessary to think quite laterally!  Some of the variations in spelling that I have detected include Scetrini, Sectrini, Scetrina, Seitrina, Sechini, Seitrino, Scetrim, Setrini, Citrini.

Frank PAYN & Johanna SCETTRINI

Now it is time to briefly introduce my great-grandparents from Kumara, my maternal grandmother's parents- Francis Davis Payn, and Johanna Scettrini.

(Originals of these photos are presently held by Joe Payn, Kumara.)

Francis Davis PAYN was born in November 1854 in St Martin's Parish on the island of Jersey in the Channel Islands. His parents were Thomas Payn and Elizabeth MOURANT. (Their headstone is in French, so I assume Francis Davis was probably able to speak French.) Originally some of us thought he was born in 1851, but it turns out he had an older brother of the same name who died aged 3. Our Francis Davis was born the very next day, and given the same name.

Johanna SCETTRINI was born in 1865 in Australia. She was baptised in St Kilian's (Catholic) Church in Bendigo, and her residence was given as Sailor's Gully. Her parents were Giuseppe Scettrini from Corippo, Ticino, in southern Switzerland, and Catherine HENEBERRY from Ballyporeen in Co Tipperary, Ireland. When she was young, Johanna's parents moved to follow the goldmining on the West Coast, and settled first at Big Dam/ Waimea/ Goldsborough. They later moved to Kumara.

Francis and Johanna married in Kumara in 1886 at the Registrar's Office. He was a goldminer, and she had been doing some domestic duties for the Seddons, who presented the couple with a large clock on their marriage. Frank's residence was given as "Dillmans", and Johanna's as Kumara.
(The spelling of Johanna's surname appears to be written as Scetrini at her wedding- one of many spellings that differ from the original name of Scettrini back in Corippo.)

Frank and Johanna had 11 children that I am aware of:- Thomas- 1886; Catherine (Kate)-1888; Elizabeth (Lizzie) -1890; Mary Ann- 1891; Rose (my grandmother)- 1893; John Francis (Jack)- 1895; Hilda Selina- 1897; Joseph Helier (Joe)- 1899; Matilda (Tilly)- 1901; Albert Edward- 1903; Francis Davis (Frank)- 1908. (I am grateful to cousins Patricia Milne (nee Lalor), Pat Wallace, and Maurice Payn for help researching the details for these children.)

Frank Payn was very involved in the local community. In Papers Past there are references to him as a goldminer, and he was also  one of the Kumara Hospital trustees. Payn's Gully is named after him, and there is a track that Joe Payn has been very involved with creating (at the Boundary Rd/ Londonderry Rock end of Kumara township.)

Frank Payn died in 1929 in the hospital in Hokitika, aged 74. Johanna lived to be 93 and died in November 1957 in Tasman Home, Greymouth.

Greymouth Evening Star 22/11/57

Frank and Johanna are both buried in the cemetery in Hokitika.

Payn Headstone- how things can change

Sometime early in my genealogical discoveries, I found out that the grave of my great-grandparents Frank Payn and Johanna Scettrini, was in Hokitika Cemetery, and I went there and found it.
It was a very simple headstone.

I might yet find I have another photo stashed away- though at the time I took fewer as they all had to be developed and paid for!- but it seems that I may have totally 'ignored' the fact that their son John F Payn, who died in France in WW1, had a plaque underneath his parents. This is visible in this online photo on the Westland Cemeteries site.

At the time I visited the cemetery it took me sometime to find the grave, so I drew myself a little 'map' for future visits. This might help some other visitors, but on a return visit my wayward use of left and right still had me muddled for a while even with my 'map'!

In the last couple of years Maurice Payn of Nelson, Frank and Johanna's grandson, and my mother's first cousin, has taken it upon himself to do something about renovating some of our original pioneer headstones. He arranged to have Frank and Johanna's grave redone to include more information about them, and here is what the headstone now looks like.

(And yes, the Arthur Thomas Payn in the next grave, is another grandson.)

Thanks are due to Maurice Payn for his efforts in taking care that these pioneer graves will still be able to tell their story to future Payn-Scettrini generations.

Next up- I must write some sort of summary of Frank Payn's life. 'Papers Past' has lots of bits about him...

More about Corippo

The village of Corippo in the Canton of Ticino, Southern Switzerland, was the home of my Scettrini ancestors. I was fortunate to explore the village and valley in 1998 and 2006. The photos included here were taken on those visits, but have been scanned from prints. 

After the 1998 visit I wrote:

"As the train swept northwards into Switzerland, mountains began enclosing us in a dramatic landscape. I was heading into the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, to find the small mountain village of Corippo. There I hoped to walk in the paths of my Swiss ancestors.

The next day dawned fine and sunny and at 9am I joined a regular "Postbus" service headed up the steep, winding road into Val Verzasca. After thirty minutes there was a breath-taking sight of the village of Corippo, with its stone houses perched steeply against a mountainside. Corippo lies at an altitude of 560m, with mountains 2500m high around it. It was founded in the fourteenth century, and is one of the few mountain villages in Ticino where the building structure has stayed the same over several centuries. I approached, very conscious of the link that I was making with my family's past.

The first place I reached was the village cemetery, set on a small flat terrace, slightly apart from the rest of the village. I pushed open the gate and entered. The names of my ancestors seemed to present themselves on the headstones in front of me: - Giovanni Scettrini, Giuseppe Gambetta, Abbondio Scettrini. Yet these were all more recent burials, as in this part of the world, the same land has been re-used for burials many times over the centuries.

cemetery, Corippo

 I soon reached the village itself, and there was much to explore in every part of it. The narrow winding streets of Corippo are steep, and only suitable for humans and animals.

Most of the houses are built close together, and only the cemetery, bakeries, and two mills near the river, were slightly separate.

mill by stream, slightly separate from main part of village

All the houses in Corippo are made of mountain granite, with slate roofs, in a design that is specific to Ticino. The house fronts all look out across the valley, built to face the prevailing rain direction. The buildings tend to have two or three floors with small rooms, plus an attic. Because of the steepness of the terrain, hay and wood were often placed in the attic at the top, from the upper side of the house. Chestnut wood from the valley provides a framework for the roof, and is also used in furniture and joinery.



A climb up behind the village gave me a view down the valley to where the Verzasca River began forming the lake that now stands behind the Vogorno dam. Many wayside shrines, some with old painted frescoes, stood near the paths, evidence of the long Catholic history of this place.

uphill behind main part of village

shrine and footbridge near village of Corippo

A downhill path, once probably an old mule track, led across the stone bridge in the rugged Corippo side-valley, then climbed upwards towards the village of Mergoscia. Around lunchtime I found a picnic spot on this path, that gave me a perfect view back across the whole village of Corippo. At midday, chimes rang out from the bell-tower opposite: in past centuries, the devout villagers would have stopped, hearing this, to say the Angelus.

view back to Corippo from the track to Mergoscia

Switzerland is well organised for tourists, and there was an excellent map near the church in Corippo, detailing walks in the surrounding area. The next track I chose led to the nearby village of Lavertezzo. There were some superb mountain views along the way, and sheep with spring lambs ventured out of their old stone hut onto some grassy knolls.

on the track leading to Lavertezzo

 The riverside track passed through forest, still with just the sparse beginnings of spring leaves. Many small waterfalls along the way rushed down to join the Verzasca River. At Lavertezzo the track up the valley could be followed no further because of the current avalanche danger. But the attractive village of Lavertezzo had wonders of its own to explore, most notably the double-humped stone bridge that spanned the river. Great views of this bridge could be had from the middle of the river itself, as there were several safe ways to climb out onto the huge mountain rocks that lay there.

bridge at Lavertezzo

Locals in Corippo have always had a hard life with the rough alpine climate, poor soil quality, and steep terrain of the pastures. In past centuries, inhabitants only got enough from the fields for their own needs and there has often been a high degree of emigration. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, men from Corippo went to Italy as chimney sweeps from November to Easter. In the nineteenth century, the goldfields lured many men away. Marginal agricultural land has since been increasingly reclaimed by forest.

window- Corippo

 Getting there:
Ticino is the southern, Italian-speaking canton of Switzerland.
Locarno lies close to the main Gotthard railway line that links Milan and Zurich.
There are frequent train connections at Bellinzona for Locarno.
Locarno can also be reached via Domodossola on the dramatic Centovalli Mountain Railway. (Eurailpass valid.)
Several Postbus services leave Locarno each day for Corippo and Val Verzasca.

Footnote: Switzerland has a very well developed system of transport that makes it possible to reach many remote villages, and maps and information are readily available. But transport is expensive in Switzerland, so before travelling there it is well worth investigating which of the various discount schemes available might suit your needs.

Margaret, the writer, is a descendant of Giuseppe Scettrini, born in Corippo in 1835,
the first son of John Scettrini and Maria Johanna Scilacci.

There's a bit of info in an earlier post here - but I am expanding on it in this new post. (Originally most of this text was on my homepages, but I expect to 'retire' them soon.)

Corippo- Village of the Scettrini family

I have made a couple of visits to Corippo, the mountain village in Ticino, southern Switzerland, from whence my Scettrini ancestors hail. Here are three photos taken there in a springtime visit, in April 2006 (scanned from pre-digital film photos...)

To get there I joined a regular "Postbus" service headed up the steep, winding road into Val Verzasca. After thirty minutes you get a breath-taking sight of the village of Corippo, with its stone houses perched steeply against a mountainside. Corippo lies at an altitude of 560m, with mountains 2500m high around it. It was founded in the fourteenth century. I approached, very conscious of the link that I was making with my family's past. 

  

All the houses in Corippo are made of mountain granite, with slate roofs, in a design that is specific to Ticino. The house fronts all look out across the valley, built to face the prevailing rain direction. The buildings tend to have two or three floors with small rooms, plus an attic. Because of the steepness of the terrain, hay and wood were often placed in the attic at the top, from the upper side of the house. 

Locals in the village have always had a hard life with the rough alpine climate, poor soil quality, and steep terrain of the pastures.  In the nineteenth century, the goldfields lured many men away. Hence, the arrival of Giuseppe Scettrini on the goldfields in Victoria, and later on the West Coast...