[Malte] Re:
#1
Hello Chantal,

(Your Letter)

Hello everyone, I wake up to resume my research that resembles those of the dog who turns to get his tail biting!
I'm stuck on an ancestor

Saverio Haber, he married angela Buttigieg in Nadur I have a parish marriage certificate but the priest of this parish told me that he was baptized at the parish of St. John the Evangelist of Xewkija probably around 1800;

When I search on Geneanum, no trace!

I find a trace of the death of Luzio Haber in Algeria but no trace of the death of his wife Maria Xuereb! she seems to have disappeared in nature.

If anyone can advise me it would be nice!

thank you

Chantal

This is what I found so far.

Its only a start.

Haber Name Meaning. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a grower of or dealer in oats, from Middle High German haber(e)'oats', modern German Hafer. As a Jewish surname, it is in many cases ornamental. Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name from a place called Haber in Bohemia.

Lorenzo
Zammit Haber (Photo available if needed)

One of the less renowned Gozitan patriots was undoubtedly Chev. Lorenzo
Zammit Haber of Xewkija. He was born on November 10, 1875, in Xewkija, the son
of Francesco and Maria née Haber.

He studied under the Jesuits at the Gozo Seminary in Victoria. On
February 15, 1908, he married Carmela née Scicluna. They had five children; two
boys and three girls.

By modern standards, Zammit Haber would be easily described as a
first-class antiquarian; he collected all that had to do with Melitensia and
Gaulitana. He held the history of his native country so close to his heart that
by just being a collector of items related to the history and archaeology of
the Maltese archipelago, he would have also made a name for himself.

But he was more than a mere collector; Zammit Haber was chosen by the
British Governor in Malta to take Major Hugh Braun’s place as an esteemed
member of the Ancient Monuments Committee; it was in this capacity that he
designed the various mejjilli that are to be found sculpted out of stone in the
M?arr ix-Xini Valley in the limits of his native Xewkija.

Zammit Haber
designed the coat of arms of all the villages of Gozo

During his lifetime he was also considered an authority on the history
of the Maltese islands on which, in fact, he had an encyclopaedic mind. When
Prof. Luigi Ugolini was about to write his Malta: Origini della Civiltà
Mediterranea, he consulted Zammit Haber. So did British Governor in Malta Sir
Harry Luke – an admirer of Maltese history – when he wrote his Malta: An
Account and an Appreciation. Zammit Haber was mentioned by Sir Harry in his
book. He also helped Prof. Aldo Farini in his publication Fiabe – Tradizioni –
Leggende Maltese.

Zammit Haber had ties with the Sovereign Hospitaller Military Order of
St John known due to his contribution in the compiling of an important
publication about the Order. Count Carlo Augusto Bertini Frassoni, the author
of Il Sovrano Militare Ordine di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme detto di Malta,
referred to the help he received from Zammit Haber and acknowledged him in this
publication. He was later on invested as a member of the Sovereign Military
Order of Malta by the then Grand Master and Prince Fra Galeazzo von Thun und
Hohenstein on January 13, 1927.

Zammit Haber, as he was henceforth known, was a collector of portraits
and an accomplished painter himself. He is the author of a collection of
portraits of the 28 Grand Masters who reigned in our islands between 1530 and
1798; he also designed the coat of arms of all the villages of Gozo. These
items are still kept in the Zammit Haber residence in Xewkija’s main square.

In 1935, he was commissioned to design the crests of various surnames
for Blasinato Pasinati’s encyclopaedia of surnames at the Bibliotheca Nazionale
of Rome. The original copies designed by Zammit Haber are now to be found at 3,
Guido Pitoni, Walnut Street, Rochester, New York, the US.

The silver flower stands around the titular statue of St John the
Baptist revered in the Xewkija parish church were designed by him, together
with the reliquary of the saint and two altar-frontals (ventaltari)and the
baldachin. On December 18, 1936, he was awarded a diploma of appreciation by
the University of Venice for these works.

One of the lost architectural treasures of Gozo was undoubtedly the
Gourgion Tower of Xewkija. The tower has been described as one of the
architectural gems of the Maltese islands. In the historical publication about
this tower, which has been co-authored by Zammit Haber’s son Frans, the latter
says that many people had raised their voices in protest against the decision
to demolish the tower to make space for an airfield.

Foremost among the protesters was Zammit Haber. In fact, he was so
interested in the heritage of his native Gozo that when his pleadings came to
naught, he took great pains to collect all the tower’s carved inscriptions,
pieces of sculpture and coat of arms; they were later preserved in the Museum
of Archaeology in the Citadel, Victoria.

Zammit Haber was also involved in the project of the enlargement of the
old parish church of Xewkija. When the new naves were added to the main body of
the church, he was chosen to supervise the work; the project began on May 21,
1936, and ended on May 25, 1938; the old parish church was later demolished so
that the new rotunda would take its place.

Zammit Haber was one of the founding fathers of the Prekursur Band of
Xewkija and twice served as its president – in 1929 as the first president and
again from November 1932 to November 1933.

Zammit Haber died on June 1, 1961, and was buried in the family grave in
the Xewkija cemetery. Xewkija local council named one of the streets of the
village after him.

The fact that he was left out of the two-volume Dictionary of Maltese
Biographies is in itself a sign that Zammit Haber needs to be known better
among the list of Gozitan lovers of history and Gozitan patriots.

I hope this little bit helps.

I tried to see in Gozo Church Archives. I only have Malta Church Archives but Xewkija is not mentioned there.

I Highlighted Xewkija for you to briefly see the notes being talked about.

Kind Regards

Vincent Xuereb
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