02-01-2022, 14:29
Hello Cecilia,
I agree with all of you that there was some kind of clerical error in this particular case. It is clear that Tomaso Bellia married Teresa Tortora on 12.11.1803 in Senglea, Malta. Indeed, you can trace back both the parents / grandparents of Teresa Tortora as well as those of Tomaso Bellia.
I have been working for a number of years on collecting all the information about the Bellia families in Malta. My wife's surname is Bellia and we live in Malta - hence the interest in the subject matter
. Hopefully this year I will finish the document 
! Tomaso Bellia has a number of siblings whilst Teresa had at least two others. The earliest known records of this Bellia family originate from Hal Balzan (16th century). In the case of my wife's lineage, they originate from Hal Qormi (16th century). Those two are the two main Bellia lines with living Bellia descendants today. There is also another Bellia line which started in the 17th century. However, the original Bellia of this line (Gregorio de Bellia) was actually a manomesso - liberated slave - who changed his name to Bellia when he got married to Caterina Mifsud in 1664. From the information that I have it seems that he was working with the Bellia family from Hal Balzan . Again, you find a substantial number of Bellia descendants from this family line too.
Ofcourse, there are other records within Malta which show that there were Bellia families living in the 15th century in Malta. Indeed, most likely they are somehow linked all together. I have triied to record all of them.
Please feel free to contact me on my email address if you wish more information. It is ntoledo.mt@gmail.com .
Best wishes to you and to all !
Noel
I agree with all of you that there was some kind of clerical error in this particular case. It is clear that Tomaso Bellia married Teresa Tortora on 12.11.1803 in Senglea, Malta. Indeed, you can trace back both the parents / grandparents of Teresa Tortora as well as those of Tomaso Bellia.
I have been working for a number of years on collecting all the information about the Bellia families in Malta. My wife's surname is Bellia and we live in Malta - hence the interest in the subject matter
. Hopefully this year I will finish the document ! Tomaso Bellia has a number of siblings whilst Teresa had at least two others. The earliest known records of this Bellia family originate from Hal Balzan (16th century). In the case of my wife's lineage, they originate from Hal Qormi (16th century). Those two are the two main Bellia lines with living Bellia descendants today. There is also another Bellia line which started in the 17th century. However, the original Bellia of this line (Gregorio de Bellia) was actually a manomesso - liberated slave - who changed his name to Bellia when he got married to Caterina Mifsud in 1664. From the information that I have it seems that he was working with the Bellia family from Hal Balzan . Again, you find a substantial number of Bellia descendants from this family line too.Ofcourse, there are other records within Malta which show that there were Bellia families living in the 15th century in Malta. Indeed, most likely they are somehow linked all together
. I have triied to record all of them.Please feel free to contact me on my email address if you wish more information. It is ntoledo.mt@gmail.com .
Best wishes to you and to all
!Noel