The Ancestors
Everyone standing behind Mia Josephine Mazza and Rocco Francesco Mazza — counted honestly, generation by generation, against the number there ought to be.
This archive exists for two children born in Brisbane in 2017 and 2019. A pedigree drawn downward from an ancestor decides in advance which line matters. Drawn upward from them, it simply reports who is actually behind them — and, just as usefully, how much is missing.
Every person has 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, and 1,024 ancestors ten generations back. This is what the tree can actually name.
How complete each generation is
| Gen | Who they are | Found | Possible | Completeness | Where they were born |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | parents | 2 | 2 | 100% | Brisbane |
| 2 | grandparents | 4 | 4 | 100% | Brisbane |
| 3 | great-grandparents | 4 | 8 | 50% | Scilla · Piedimonte Etneo · Briatico |
| 4 | 2× great-grandparents | 8 | 16 | 50% | Scilla · Piedimonte Etneo · New York · Briatico |
| 5 | 3× great-grandparents | 15 | 32 | 46.9% | Scilla · Briatico · Italy · Piedimonte Etneo |
| 6 | 4× great-grandparents | 12 | 64 | 18.8% | Briatico · Scilla · Potenzoni (Briatico) |
| 7 | 5× great-grandparents | 7 | 128 | 5.5% | Briatico · Scilla · Potenzoni (Briatico) |
| 8 | 6× great-grandparents | 6 | 256 | 2.3% | Briatico · Potenzioni · Mandaradoni (Briatico) · Potenzoni (Briatico) |
| 9 | 7× great-grandparents | 2 | 512 | 0.4% | Briatico |
| 10 | 8× great-grandparents | 2 | 1024 | 0.2% | Briatico |
The shape of that column is the whole story. The archive is complete for parents and grandparents, half complete for the two generations above, and then it falls off a cliff: 5.5% at the seventh generation and 0.2% at the tenth. What survives that far is a single thread — the Prostamo of Briatico. Everything else has already stopped.
Half of the missing half at generation three is not Italian at all. It is the D'Arcy side, through the children's mother, which this archive carries only as far as her parents. That family has its own research and is not duplicated here.
Parents
| Name | Dates | Born | Line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stefanie D'Arcy | withheld | Brisbane, Queensland | D'Arcy |
| Michael Rocco Mazza | withheld | Brisbane, Queensland | Mazza |
Grandparents
| Name | Dates | Born | Line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nancy Arena | withheld | Brisbane, Queensland | Arena |
| Ian D'Arcy | — | — | D'Arcy |
| Josephine Falco | — | — | Falco |
| Frank Mazza | withheld | Brisbane, Queensland | Mazza |
Great-grandparents
| Name | Dates | Born | Line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rocco Arena | 1924–1999 | Scilla, Reggio Calabria | Arena |
| Sebastiano Mazza | 1920–2002 | Piedimonte Etneo, Catania, Sicily | Mazza |
| Angela Polistena | 1925–2018 | Scilla, Reggio Calabria | Polistena |
| Domenica Prostamo | 1928–2010 | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Prostamo |
2× great-grandparents
| Name | Dates | Born | Line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anna Arena | 1893–1962 | Scilla, Reggio Calabria | Arena |
| Giuseppe Arena | 1892–1984 | Scilla, Reggio Calabria | Arena |
| Nunnziata Donato | 1892 | Scilla, Reggio Calabria | Donato |
| Salvatore Mazza | 1879–1929 | Piedimonte Etneo, Catania, Sicily | Mazza |
| Maria Rosa Melluso | 1907–1994 | New York, New York | Melluso |
| Maria Nicotra | 1875–1963 | Piedimonte Etneo, Catania, Sicily | Nicotra |
| Giovanni Polistena | 1883 | Scilla, Reggio Calabria | Polistena |
| Francessco Prostamo | 1900–1983 | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Prostamo |
3× great-grandparents
| Name | Dates | Born | Line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domenica Anile | 1880–1970 | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Anile |
| Giovanni Arena | 1870 | Scilla, Reggio Calabria | Arena |
| Rocco Arena | 1861 | Scilla, Reggio Calabria | Arena |
| Venera Cassaneti | 1925 | — | Cassaneti |
| Generosa Costa | — | Italy | Costa |
| Michele Donato | 1851 | Scilla, Reggio Calabria | Donato |
| Rosario Mazza | 1850 | Piedimonte Etneo, Catania, Sicily | Mazza |
| Caterina Melluso | 1860–1957 | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Melluso |
| Domenico Melluso | 1875–1919 | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Melluso |
| John Nicotra | — | — | Nicotra |
| Antonio Polistena | — | Scilla, Reggio Calabria | Polistena |
| Giovanna Pontillo | — | Scilla, Reggio Calabria | Pontillo |
| Alfonso Prostamo | 1858 | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Prostamo |
| Concetta Russo | — | Scilla, Reggio Calabria | Russo |
| Maria Sofi | — | Scilla, Reggio Calabria | Sofi |
4× great-grandparents
| Name | Dates | Born | Line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Francesco Anile | 1843 | Potenzoni (Briatico), Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Anile |
| Orazio Arena | 1821 | Scilla, Reggio Calabria | Arena |
| Saveria Barbuto | 1845–1892 | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Barbuto |
| Domenico Donato | — | — | Donato |
| Fillipo Melluso | 1855 | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Melluso |
| Giuseppi Pontillo | — | Scilla, Reggio Calabria | Pontillo |
| Nunziatta Pontillo | — | Scilla, Reggio Calabria | Pontillo |
| Domenico Prostamo | 1820 | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Prostamo |
| Annunziata Sofi | — | — | Sofi |
| Giovanna Ventrice | 1825 | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Ventrice |
| Rosa Vitrale | — | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Vitrale |
| Giovana Zirilli | — | — | Zirilli |
5× great-grandparents
| Name | Dates | Born | Line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antonio Anile | — | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Anile |
| Giuseppe Arena | — | Scilla, Reggio Calabria | Arena |
| Antonio Barbuto | 1806–1876 | Potenzoni (Briatico), Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Barbuto |
| Domenica Birroca | — | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Birroca |
| Carmela Collia | — | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Collia |
| Maria Fragala | 1789 | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Fragala |
| Antonino Prostamo | 1785 | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Prostamo |
6× great-grandparents
| Name | Dates | Born | Line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fortunato Anile | — | — | Anile |
| Giuseppe Barbuto | — | Potenzioni, Catanzaro Calabria, Italy | Barbuto |
| Caterina Di Meio | 1762 | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Di Meio |
| Antonia Grasso | 1809 | Mandaradoni (Briatico), Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Grasso |
| Saveria Lesto | — | Potenzoni (Briatico), Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Lesto |
| Pasquale Prostamo | 1760–1829 | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Prostamo |
7× great-grandparents
| Name | Dates | Born | Line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antonino Prostamo | 1726 | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Prostamo |
| Caterina Scangiaterra | 1746 | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Scangiaterra |
8× great-grandparents
| Name | Dates | Born | Line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agnere Polito | 1699 | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Polito |
| Franco Antonino Prostamo | 1697 | Briatico, Vibo Valentia, Calabria | Prostamo |
Where it ends
At the tenth generation there are two people and they are Franco Antonino Prostamo and Agnere Polito , born at Briatico about 1697 and 1699. Everything above them is unsearched. The spine →