Semeraro (surname of my
paternal grandmother).
(updated
23 July 2007)
Research.
On the Semeraro
side, I have gone back as far as my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather
Nunzio Oronzo Semeraro, born about 1670. His son Francesco Antonio
fathered Giacomo Oronzo Vincenzo, who in turn fathered Francesco Antonio Giuseppe,
who then fathered Nunzio, who in turn fathered Cosimo Damiano, the first in my Semeraro line to abandon farming and odd jobs in favor of life as a stonemason. Cosimo
and his wife, Giuditta Ardente,
who was an orphan, were parents to 21 children in all, including my
great-grandfather Nunzio Semeraro,
the father of my grandmother Elisabetta Maria Semeraro.
Settlement Patterns.
The Semeraro
family appears to have originated, or at least heavily settled, in and around the
Valle d’Itria, in the Provinces of Brindisi and Bari, Region of Puglia, Italy.1 The
family lived in Cisternino at least as early as 1559.2
The Semeraro surname is more common than the Zizzi surname.3 For example, from 1836 through
1844, the number of births of legitimate babies fathered by Semeraro
husbands exceeded the number of births of legitimate babies fathered by Zizzi husbands by an average of 3:1, with the number of Zizzi births never breaking single digits in any one year.4
Semeraro family members have also more recently
emigrated to other regions of Italy and other parts of the world.5
Meaning.
The meaning of the Semeraro surname remains a mystery, although some have
suggested that it could be read to mean "sower
of seeds" or "farmer", from "seme"
for "seed" and the suffix "aro"
meaning "one who is associated with".6 One source states that it is of Puglian origin and derives from a local dialect nickname
connected with the job of leading donkeys.7
The surname of Francesco Antonio
Giuseppe on his baptism record is shown as "Semerano".
On his father's baptism record, the surname is shown as "Zambarano" and on the baptism records of his father's
brother's and sisters, the name is shown as "Zamerano".
In Cisternino, the name is only ever spelled as
"Semeraro", so the range of spellings in Ostuni (where all of the foregoing were born) is
intriguing.
Origins.
As noted above, the Semeraro family was long settled in Cisternino.
Although documents from the 1800s indicate that my own Semeraro
ancestors were in the lower economic strata (occupations included farmer and
water bearer), the family was reported to be among the growing middle class at
the beginning of the 1700s8 and indeed is referred to as
“aristocratic” by one author.9
The Semeraro family of Cisternino
included doctors, notaries, academics and military commanders.10 A potential source of this reversal of
fortune were the various violent changes in government in southern Italy,
beginning with the brief revolution in Naples in 1799 that overthrew the
Bourbon monarchy and established a republic throughout the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (of which Puglia was then a part). A Nicola Antonio Semeraro
of Cisternino was, along with many others, martyred
in the chaos that surrounded the installation of this democratic government.11
Soon after its creation, the republic was replaced by a
Napoleonic kingdom, followed briefly by a restored Bourbon ruler.
Footnotes:
2. S. Ostuni
et al, Cisternino tra Storia e Leggenda, p. 34.
4. Based on original
documents reviewed and statistics compiled by the author:
1836 Zizzi-2; Semeraro-9
1837 Zizzi-8; Semeraro-26
1838 Zizzi-5; Semeraro-22
1839 Zizzi-8; Semeraro-13
1940 Zizzi-5; Semeraro-27
1841 Zizzi-7; Semeraro-17
1842 Zizzi-2; Semeraro-10
1843 Zizzi-8; Semeraro-13
1844 Zizzi-5; Semeraro-14
This assumes, of course,
that both Zizzi and Semeraro
men were equally likely to marry and equally prone to fathering children out of
wedlock!
5. Based on the author's
examination of telephone directories in various countries.
6. www.semeraro.com.
7.
www.melegnano.net/cognomi0017e.htm.
8. Enzo Filomena,
L’Armorista di Cisternino,
p. 114.
9. Marialuisa
Semeraro-Herrmann et al, Cisternino tra Storia e Leggenda, p. 82, citing Pacichelli, Regno di Napoli in prospettiva, vol II, Napoli 1703.
10. Enzo Filomena,
L’Armorista di Cisternino,
p. 114-15.
11. Enzo Filomena,
L’Armorista di Cisternino,
p. 115-16.