The direct line
From the Arienzo of the 1730s to Brisbane. Each generation is joined to the one above it by a record that names a father — except the first, where the line stops.
Matteo Falco and Francesca Crisci
bornby c. 1735, Arienzodiedby 8 Dec 1814 — probably before 1809documented
Named as the father in the baptisms of at least five children at Arienzo between 1767 and 1786, and again in his son Giuseppe's marriage record. He appears as a witness at an Arienzo marriage in 1759, so he was an adult by then. He replaces the Agostino Falcone previously carried at the head of this line. **A third child, found in 1822, names them again — and earliest of all.** On 17 October 1822 **ANGELA FALCO**, fifty-one, widow of Crescenzo Rivetti, died on strada Capodiuomo, «figlia di MATTEO FALCO Defunto, di professione Contadino, e di FRANCESCA CRISCI Defunta». Born about 1771. The founding couple is now named from the death acts of THREE separate children — Angela's in 1822, Rosa's in 1830 and Pasquale's in 1834 — and Angela's is the earliest. It also resolves an act found earlier in this research: when her husband Crescenzo Rivetti died in December 1816, **Gioacchino Falco** and **Giuseppe Falco** declared it as «parenti del defunto». They were his wife's brothers — which makes **Gioacchino Falco a strong candidate for a fifth child of Matteo and Francesca**, though no record yet names his parents. **And now he is named in his own lifetime's paperwork.** The marriage dossier of his grandson Vincenzo, found in the 1814 processetti in September 2026, contains a notarial act of **8 December 1814** before Felice Morgillo in which «li conjugi **PASQUALE FALCO del fu MATTEO**, e **CHIARA RIVETTI del fu NICOLA**» consent to their son's marriage. This is **the earliest document that names Matteo Falco, and the earliest that proves him dead** — eight years earlier than Angela's act of 1822, and from a notary's instrument rather than a register clerk's recollection. **The bracket on his death closes from [1786, Oct 1822] to [1786, 8 Dec 1814].** **And the bracket narrows again, from a negative.** The Arienzo death INDEXES for 1809–1814 — one to five images a year, against fifty for a register — have been read, and **no Matteo Falco of this generation is in them**. He is documented dead by 8 December 1814; if he had died after civil registration began in 1809 he should appear, and he does not. **So he very probably died before 1809, which puts his death in the PARISH register and nowhere else.** **A warning for anyone who searches this.** A **MATTEO FALCO did die at Arienzo, on 28 August 1809** — and he is **not this one**. The index names his parents «Giuseppe, ed Antonia di [Guida]» **without «fu»**, so they were living, and the same couple bury sons in 1811 and 1815. Ours was born about 1740 and had children baptised from 1767. **GIOACCHINO IS CONFIRMED — a record names his parents at last.** The alphabetical index bound at the front of the Arienzo death register for **1851** reads: «**7. FALCO GIOACCHINO** | Arienzo | **CONTADINO** | **FALCO MATTEO, e CRISCI FRANCESCA** | **14 Febrajo**». Read at native resolution. **And the act itself, found the same day, says far more than the index.** «…è morto nella sua propria casa **GIOACCHINO FALCO** marito di **VITTORIA CIMMINO**, nato in **Arienzo**, di anni **SETTANTASEI**, di professione ***COLONO***, domiciliato ivi, figlio di **MATTEO FALCO defunto** … e di **FRANCESCA CRISCI defunta**.» Seventy-six in February 1851 puts his birth about **1775** — squarely among his siblings, whose baptisms run 1767 to 1786 — and it confirms the family tree's date exactly. His trade is ***colono***, the same rank the registers give Giuseppe, Vincenzo and Matteo. His wife was **VITTORIA CIMMINO**. And he was declared by **Mariantonio Crisci**, a *calzolajo*, and **Gaspare d'Onofrio**, a *sartore* — **both of strada Camellara**, so he died on the family's own street. **So the founding couple's documented children are now five**: Angela (d. 1822), Rosa (d. 1830), Pasquale (d. 1834), Giuseppe, and **GIOACCHINO (d. 14 February 1851)**. The archive had suspected him since 1816, when he and Giuseppe Falco declared the death of Crescenzo Rivetti as «parenti del defunto» — Crescenzo being the husband of their sister Angela. **That reasoning is now vindicated by a document rather than resting on an inference.** **And note how it was found**: not by reading a register act by act, but by reading an index four images long. The question had been open for years. **And that is now settled.** All six index volumes for 1809–1814 have been read **page for page** — 138, 80, 90, 78 and 86 deaths in the years whose totals the indexes state. **No Falco of the founder's generation dies at Arienzo in any of them.** Taken with the marriage indexes, which also begin in 1809, **both of Matteo Falco's vital events lie outside the civil series entirely**. His marriage of about 1760–66 and his death are in the parish books of Sant'Andrea or nowhere, and that is now the only front on which he can be reached.
Pasquale (Pascuale) Falco and Chiara Rivetti / Rivotti
born24 Oct 1767, Arienzodied1 Oct 1834, Arienzo, strada Camellaratradecontadinodocumented
Baptised in the Collegiate Church of Sant'Andrea at Arienzo on 24 October 1767 — the record names his father Matteo and his mother Francesca Crisci. He married Chiara Rivetti and their children were baptised in the same church from 1789 to 1802. He died at five in the morning on 1 October 1834 at his own house on strada Camellara; the civil act, given by two neighbours, names him husband of Chiara Rivetti and son of the late Matteo Falco and the late Francesca Crisci — confirming the 1767 baptism from an entirely separate record series. It gives his age as 74, which the baptism does not support; stated ages in these registers are approximate. **A daughter found in 1820 adds a third independent sighting.** On 23 August 1820 his daughter **ANNA FALCO**, twenty-five, wife of Arcangelo Crisci, died on strada Camellara, and her act names her «figlia di PASQUALE FALCO, di professione Contadino, domiciliato ivi strada Camellara, e di CHIARA RIVETTI, domiciliata ivi» — **both parents WITHOUT «fu»**. So Pasquale was alive, a contadino, and on the family's street in August 1820, fourteen years before his own death act; and Chiara, whom no record but her 1843 burial had ever named, was alive beside him. Anna was born about 1795 and had buried a two-day-old son seven months earlier. **And once, in 1824, he speaks for himself.** On 25 March 1824 the register opens: «sono comparsi **PASQUALE FALCO**, di anni **cinquantacinque**, di professione **COLONO**, regnicolo, domiciliato in questo comune, **strada Camellara**, vicino del defunto, e **GIUSEPPE FALCO**, di anni quarantadue, di professione colono, domiciliato ivi strada Camellara» — the two brothers together, reporting a neighbour's five-year-old dead. **It is the only record in which Pasquale acts rather than being named**: everywhere else somebody else is speaking of him. It gives his trade as *colono*, a tenant farmer, where his death act ten years later calls him *contadino*; and his age as fifty-five, one year out against the baptism of 1767, which is ordinary in these registers. **HER PARENTS ARE NOW NAMED BY A CIVIL ACT.** She died on 13 September 1843 at eight in the evening, in her own house, aged eighty, a *contadina*: «CHIARA RIVETTI VEDOVA DI PASQUALE FALCO … figlia di NICOLA RIVETTI defunto, di professione CONTADINO, e di ANNA DI RUGGIO defunta». The archive had carried two rival couples for her parents since 2026 — the gentry Don Nicola Rivetti and Donn'Anna Quotolo, and the labouring Nicola Rivetti and Anna di Ruggio — and had said the labouring couple was the better fit without claiming it. The act settles it: her father was a contadino. **His first age outside a death act — and it is wrong by fourteen years.** The banns of his son Vincenzo's marriage, published at Arienzo on Sunday **11 September 1814** and again on Sunday 18 September, describe the groom as «Maggiore assistito da **Pasquale suo Padre di Anni Sessanta**, di Professione **contadino**», with «**Chiara Rivetti sua Madre, di Anni quarantasette**, domiciliata in casa di suo Marito». Sixty in September 1814 implies a birth about 1754; his baptism of 24 October 1767 makes him **forty-six**. The same two acts give his son's age and his son's bride's age correctly to the year. **The clerk was accurate about the people standing in front of him and careless about everyone else** — which is the pattern this archive has argued for volumes, here proved in both directions by a single document. Chiara's forty-seven implies 1767; her 1843 burial implied 1763 and the family tree says 1772. Three estimates that still do not converge. **A daughter found in the 1812 index: GIOVANNA FALCO.** «[Giov]anna Falco | Arienzo | **Contadina** | **PASQUALE, e CHIARA RIVETTI** | A **15 Decembre 1812**» — the surname and both parents verified at full magnification, the forename sitting in the page gutter and reading «…anna». **A child this archive did not have**, and a sister of generation three. Found not by reading the register act by act but by reading the year's index, which is three images.
Vincenzo Falco and Adriana (Andreana) Crisci
born1 Feb 1792, Arienzo — baptised in the Collegiate Church of Sant’Andrea Apostolodied15 May 1875, Arienzomarried15 Dec 1814, Arienzo — banns 11 & 18 Septtradecontadinodocumented
His civil marriage act — Arienzo, act 26 of 15 December 1814 — records him as aged 21, a contadino, and “figlio maggiore di Pasquale Falco”: eldest son, and his father named without “fu”, so Pasquale was still living. His wife Andreana is “figlia di Arcangelo”. The parish record of the same marriage names his mother Chiara Rivetti and Andreana's mother Ruggiero. His death record of 15 May 1875 names Pasquale a third time. The civil death registers place his household on strada Camellara at Arienzo, the same street as his father’s, and name him with his wife Andreana Crisci. He called a son Pasquale after his father twice: the first died aged three on 22 February 1833, while the grandfather still lived; the second was born about a fortnight after the grandfather’s death and lived ten days, dying on Christmas Day 1834. **His baptism has been found, and it settles the age series.** His marriage dossier — Arienzo processetti 1814, bundle 16 — contains the extract the archpriest **Giacinto Morgillo** copied out of the parish register on 13 September 1814, citing **liber IX baptizatorum, folio 47 a tergo**: «Anno Domini Millesimo septingentesimo nonagesimo secundo **1792**, die vero prima **1 Februarii** … baptizavi infantem natum ex **Paschale Falco**, et **Clara Rivetta** Conjugibus … cui dedi nomen **Vincentius Raphael**.» Two things follow. **He was born about 1 February 1792, not 1793** — the date this archive published is corrected. And **his own second name was Raffaele**, which is why he named a son Raffaele in 1816 and, when that child died, named the next one Raffaele too. Measured against a real date, the notorious age series stops looking like one man changing his story. The banns of September 1814 call him **23** when he was 22 years and 7 months — right, if you count the year a man is *in* rather than the years he has completed, which is how these clerks counted. The 1818 birth act calls him **27** at 26 years 3 months — right the same way. **Three of the statements are exact.** The marriage act's 21, the 1839 register's 42 and above all the 1816 act's **35** — when he was 24 — are the clerks guessing. **And his wife is settled too.** The same bundle holds her baptism extract: **Adriana**, baptised at Arienzo on **30 November 1796**, daughter of **Arcangelo Crisci** and **Sara Ruggiero**. Adriana is the name she was given at the font, and it is the root of every variant the registers throw up — Andreana, Andriana, Andrea. The 1839 death register was read here as «Andriana **Cioffi**», and this archive carried Crisci-vs-Cioffi as an open conflict; **six documents of 1814 now say Crisci and name her parents**, so the conflict is closed and the wrong reading stays on /corrections rather than being quietly swapped.
Raffaele Falco and Angela Rosa Morgillo
born10 May 1818, Arienzo, strada Camellaradied21 Apr 1880, Arienzodocumented
Baptised at Arienzo in 1818 — “ex Vincentio Falco, e Andreana Crisci coniugibus huius Parochiae, cui imposuit nomen Raphael”, with Gelsumina Ruggiero as godmother. His death record of 21 April 1880 names his father as Vincenzo. His wife Angela Rosa Morgillo, daughter of Orazio, died six days before him. His civil birth act — Arienzo, act 47 of 10 May 1818 — has him born at three in the afternoon in his father's own house on strada Camellara, and gives both parents' ages: Vincenzo twenty-seven, Andreana Crisci twenty. It was the first record to date her at all, and this archive read it as putting her birth about 1798 and her marriage, in December 1814, **at about sixteen**. **That is now corrected.** Her baptism, found in her own marriage dossier, is **30 November 1796** — so she was **twenty-one and a half** when this act called her twenty, and she married at **eighteen**, not sixteen. The act was re-read at native resolution in September 2026 for a second reason: her surname. It says «**ANDREANA CRISCI**», plainly, which agrees with the six documents of 1814 and against the 1839 death register's «Cioffi». **The complication is now closed.** Vincenzo and Andreana had named an earlier son Raffaele on 25 April 1816, and for a time this archive could not say which of the two was generation four — the generation was carried as *disputed*. The 1817 death register settles it: on **28 October 1817** the first Raffaele was buried, «figlio di Vincenzo Falco, e d'Andreana Crisci», aged about eighteen months. The child of 10 May 1818 is the one who lived. The burial was declared by **Giuseppe Falco, 37, massaro di campagna of strada Camellara**, called a «parente» of the family — a documented son of Matteo, and so Vincenzo's uncle. One warning survives: the two birth acts give irreconcilable ages for the father, Vincenzo thirty-five in 1816 and twenty-seven in 1818. **The father's age problem is now explained rather than merely noted.** Vincenzo Falco was baptised on 1 February 1792, so he was **24** when the 1816 act called him thirty-five and **26** when the 1818 act called him twenty-seven. The 1818 figure is right by the reckoning these clerks used; the 1816 figure is simply an error. The warning that closed this entry can be retired. **Her own birth act has been found.** Not at Arienzo — at **San Felice a Cancello**, which this archive had recorded as unreachable and had in fact never searched. On **24 February 1818 at seven in the morning**, in the **Massaria delle Fosse**, a farmstead rather than a street: «è comparso **ORAZIO MORGILLO** di anni **ventisei**, di professione **bracciale** … è nato una bambina nella sua propria casa di esso dichiarante, e da **VINCENZA PESCE** d'anni **ventisette**, di professione **filatrice**, sua legittima moglie … a cui si è dato il nome di **ANGIOLA ROSA**». **This is the first primary record of her parents.** Orazio Morgillo and Vincenza Pesce were carried on the family tree and nowhere else; they are now in a register, with ages, a trade and an address. Orazio at twenty-six was born about **1792**; Vincenza at twenty-seven about **1791** — **the first date this archive has ever had for her.** And the name at the font is **Angiola Rosa**.
Carmine Antonio Falco and Giovanna Arricole
born10 Jul 1850, Arienzomarried1872, Arienzodocumented
Birth record of 10 July 1850 names his father as Raffaele. Five further children recorded at Arienzo, 1873–1883.
Raffaele Falco and Costanza Maione
born6 Apr 1873, Arienzomarried26 Sep 1897, Arienzotradefarmerdocumented
A farmer of Arienzo. His last recorded child, Gerardo, was born in 1913 not at Arienzo but at Arpaia, over the provincial border — the first sign of the move north.
Carmine Antonio (Carminantonio) Falco and Filomena Annecchino
born11 Jan 1901, Arienzodied27 Apr 1985, Brisbanedocumented
Born at Arienzo, resident in the province of Benevento, died at Brisbane and buried at Nudgee Cemetery in niche CHAP-082-B2. His wife Filomena Annecchino died on 10 August 1988 and lies beside him in B1. Two of their sons, Carmine and Raffaele, married two Zampiello sisters of Arpaia and both brought their families to Brisbane.
Carmine Falco and Francesca Zampiello
born8 Jun 1930, Forchia, Beneventodied2026married1955, Beneventodocumented
Born at Forchia in the Valle Caudina. He and Francesca reached Brisbane on the ss «Sydney» of the Lauro Lines, out of Naples, arriving 26 MARCH 1964 — the Quarantine Service passenger list of that voyage enters them at numbers 492 and 493, bound for 43 Mount Joy, Petrie Terrace, Brisbane, an address given on 2 September 1963. Two further passengers of the same surname travel with them and are withheld here. The archive previously said «about 1957»; that was an inference from the 1957–1977 span of their Brisbane immigration file, and the passenger list corrects it. Francesca died at Brisbane on 10 September 2022 and is buried at Nudgee, plot V-0949.
Giuseppina Falco and Ian Kenneth D'Arcy
living — named only
This generation is living, so it is named and nothing more. No date of birth, no place, no detail — the rule is set out under Method. The line continues past this page into people who are alive, and the archive stops describing them here.
The welds
A pedigree is only as good as its joins. Four records carry this one.
| Record | Date | What it says | Joins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Death of Vincenzo Falco | 15 May 1875, Arienzo | Names his father as Pasquale | gen 3 → gen 2 |
| Death of Raffaele Falco | 21 Apr 1880, Arienzo | Names his father as Vincenzo | gen 4 → gen 3 |
| Birth of Carmine Antonio Falco | 10 Jul 1850, Arienzo | Names his father as Raffaele | gen 5 → gen 4 |
| Death of Pasquale Falco | 1 Oct 1834, Arienzo | Names his parents as Matteo Falco and Francesca Crisci , and his wife as Chiara Rivetti | gen 2 → gen 1 |
| Death of Rosa Falco, his sister | 16 Oct 1830, Arienzo | Names the same two parents again, from a different child, four years earlier — and her husband as Carlantonio Morgillo | gen 2 → gen 1, twice over |
Generation 2 is welded upward three times: by Pasquale's baptism of 1767 in the parish register; by his own civil death act of 1834; and by his sister Rosa's civil death act of 1830. One parish record and two civil ones, from two archives. Above Matteo there is nothing. His marriage to Francesca Crisci would name his father; it was searched for across 2,056 transcribed pages and not found, and his own baptism falls in the gap the register leaves between 1738 and 1761. That is the frontier of this research. See Open questions.