Re: SALADINO (Salah ed-Din) of Montemurro
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In reply to:
Re: SALADINO (Salah ed-Din) of Montemurro
5/17/01
Felicia,
Good to hear from you. The Saladino family of Montemurro came there from the village of San Martino d'Agri in the 1600s. Here is where it gets interesting... The village of San Martino was SUPPOSED to have been completely repopulated by Albanians in the 1500s. HOWEVER, the village of San Martino was originally a possession of the Knights Templar. The Templars were closely associated with Salah ed-Din (Saladin) in the Holy Land. Perhaps this is a coincidence? Or, perhaps there was a connection. I have some information on the early Saladinos in Montemurro back to the ones born in the 1500s in San Martino. Unfortunately, however, I can not even prove my own specific descent from these first settlers. The records simply are not available for all of the families in the 16 and 1700s. I may get more when I visit Montemurro this fall. Most of the records that would help us are owned by Enrico Schiavone in Rome (the Ragona Archives). I also descend from the de Ragona family, and many other Montemurrese families that you would remember, such as Mazzilli, D'Elia, Angerami, etc. I still have close cousins there and in Viggiano. But, we are ALL related if we have Montemurrese ancestry. The families interconnected many times. I think I have six different Angerami ancestries alone. Most of my family names appear at least two times in my tree. You may contact me directly at:
[email protected]
or, by post at:
Dale J. J. Leppard
144 Simmons Road
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
United States of America
Best wishes, and I will try to help.
Dale