Serafina Mondello (c.1751 – 1831-09-08) was my 5th great-grandmother, being the wife of Giovanni Rubino and mother of my ancestor Rosa Rubino (1782 – 1865-01-01). Her father was Lorenzo Mondello, and we may have a hint as to her mother’s identity. Serafina is notable for being the last identifiable ancestor in my father’s matrilineal line, and thus is the traceable bearer of his mitochondrial DNA; however, his DNA was not tested in his lifetime, so I don’t know what haplogroup it belongs to, but perhaps one day another testee will emerge.

Mother mystery

Serafina’s 1831 civil death record does not list her mother’s name, only her father’s, which is not uncommon for early records. However, the annual index to the records has a note added to the right of the entry for her. It looks roughly like "Signora be madre". Is this a reference to who her mother is, or something else (such as that Serafina is herself a mother)?

On 2018-05-05, I talked to a staff member at the Salt Lake City Family History Center, who pointed out the first word was "Signora" split across two lines (which I’d completely missed), but otherwise had no insight into what the note meant or why it was there.

Identifying Serafina’s mother would of course extend the matriline one generation.

DNA

Serafina’s mtDNA was passed down to my father through his mother, but neither had sisters with descendants. However, my great-grandmother Josephine Latteri had three sisters, who all married (in Italy), and at least one of who immigrated and has American descendants. So, the haplogroup might still be identified one day.