I’m Getting Overwhelmed—But Then, a Breakthrough!
Two years into the project and I felt overwhelmed. I had clear genetic evidence linking Ghilardo Illidi to the Buonamici line, likely a descendant of Leopoldo and Maria Anna Buonamici, who had settled in San Cassiano in the 1860s. Yet, I lacked definitive proof. Given the complex web of San Cassiano’s genealogy, I focused on the Buonamici cluster of DNA matches through a new but complex tool called Banyan DNA. This tool allows for plotting known and hypothetical family trees, using complex algorithms to assess potential connections based on overlapping DNA segments between DNA matches. It also considers complex DNA relationships when two or more people may be related on maternal and paternal sides (as is common in small Tuscan villages!). As a bonus, Bounamici descendants had done a fantastic job researching their ancestry, making it easy for me to plot hypothetical family relationships with Ghilardo as a descendant!
After entering the data, the Banyan DNA tool conducted thousands of statistical tests over five painstaking minutes. The results were crystal clear: there was a 99% likelihood that a son of Leopoldo and Maria Anna Buonamici, Pietro Buonamici (1845-?, see below), was Ghilardo Illidi’s father.
So, What About Ghilardo’s Mother? I’m Hiring a Professional Brainstormer.
With Pietro Buonamici identified as Ghilardo’s likely father, the question of his mother loomed large. My nonno’s stories and my FAN club research indicated a close relationship between Ghilardo and the Lucchesi family in Cembroni, San Cassiano. If the tales of Ghilardo’s genetic ties to this family held truth, it suggested his mother was likely a Lucchesi. And quite right, when going back through the thousands of DNA matches, I identified a number of DNA matches among the descendants of this exact Lucchesi family, supporting the hypothesis that my nonno was closely related to this particular family. However, due to the complex web of genetics in isolated mountain communities, it was not enough to find DNA matches among these descendants. Unsurprisingly, it turns out everyone is related to everyone in San Cassiano!
To gain clarity, I hired a genealogist to provide an objective perspective. Together, we meticulously reviewed all the documentation: Ghilardo’s birth record from 1880, the absence of a foster family or a known wet nurse, my FAN club research, and the Lucchesi family connections. I intentionally excluded family lore and rumours to maintain objectivity. The genealogist shared an insightful observation: “Most children who weren’t placed with a wet nurse or in foster care were returned to their hometown or village by their mothers, often living with close relatives of the mother.”
With Pietro identified as Ghilardo’s father, all evidence now pointed toward Ghilardo’s mother being a Lucchesi.
Photo: Descendancy chart for the Lucchesi family Ghilardo Illidi grew up with, according to family stories. Green: the names of Lucchesi family members who my nonno remembers that Ghilardo had lived with, or alongside, as a child. Orange: Living DNA matches. Light blue: Persons in Ghilardo’s FAN club; persons mentioned as declarants witnesses in civil documents or other persons close to him. The ties must have been strong between Ghilardo Illidi and this family.
The Final Push—And Answers
I launched into another round of FAN club research focused on the Lucchesi family. Candido Lucchesi and Maria Pasqua Pisani (see above), the couple my nonno recalled as being involved in Ghilardo’s upbringing, had two daughters who survived to adulthood: Maria Anna Lucchesi (1861-1941) and Annunziata Lucchesi (1875-?). While Annunziata would only have been 5 years when Ghilardo was born in 1880, Maria Anna would have been the right age—19—in 1880 when Ghilardo was born in Lucca and likely brought to San Cassiano by his biological mother. Given that Candido and Maria Pasqua Lucchesi lost three children in quick succession (1876, 1878 and 1880), it seems plausible that they could have taken in Ghilardo Illidi as an infant in 1880; only a few weeks after they lost their last child (Maria Lucchesi) at birth, especially if he was their grandson and his true identity needed to remain a secret.
Photo: Ghilardo Illidi and Argenta (Argentina) Talenti, likely in the late 1950s.
Based on all the evidence, my working hypothesis is that Maria Anna Lucchesi is the most likely candidate as Ghilardo’s mother. She married Riccardo Casimiro Barsellotti in October 1893 and lived in Cocolaio, San Cassiano until her death in November 1941. Together, they had one daughter, Illide/Ellide Barsellotti, and four sons—three of whom died in WWI, while the fourth son, Giovanni Barsellotti, emigrated to the US. At the declaration of Maria Anna’ Lucchesi’s death in 1941, her granddaughter Santina Barsellotti (1912-?) was present, but during Riccardo Casimiro Barsellotti’s death in 1930, it was Ghilardo’s oldest son, Primo Illidi, who was the declarant (see photo to the left). It is clear that the two families remained close for a very long time.
Photo: The death record of Riccardo Casimiro Barsellotti from 1930. Note how one of the two declarants is Primo Illidi, the oldest son of Ghilardo Illidi and Argenta (Argentina) Talenti.
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