Several years ago when a researcher located the will of Jean Baptist Pinta, father of Joseph Pinta, it appeared that Joseph's name was listed as Joseph Dayant Pinta. (See posting of 5 Nov 2010) Many of us blindly took the information as fact and changed all of our records to include the middle name of Dayant. Well, there is an example of jumping to conclusions, especially considering: 1) the document was in French and none of us were fluent in the French language, 2) it was a handwritten document which was difficult to read due to deterioration of the original document and the microfilmed image was rather messy. A kind sole eventually translated the will, but still, that particular name was not clearly determined. However, we continued on our merry way thinking he had a first and middle name.
It soon dawned on me that other acquired documents did not include a middle name or initial for Joseph. I did a survey and pulled every document in my possession. This consisted of viewing 69 various records which showed his name. This included city directories, baptismal records, census, successions, death records, tax assessments, obituaries, marriage records, notary records and deeds. Well, guess what....not one of them listed Joseph with a middle name or initial. In my opinion, his real name is....Joseph Pinta.
Hello Edna,
ReplyDeleteYou are completely right!
The sentence is: "... et Joseph, ayant 4 ans..." (...and Joseph, 4 years old..), but a "z" with a big loop on the line above modifies "ayant" in "Dayant". Your conclusion is correct: last son of JB Pinta is Joseph Pinta.
Congratulations for your investigation!
Michel
Thanks, I really appreciate your opinion and I am glad you agree.
ReplyDeleteIf any Pinta people are still out there, I have the answer to the problem with "Dayant" Joseph did not have a middle name, if you examine Jean Baptiste's will he lists his children: Charles Bovilaine âgé de 16 ans, Silvanie Anne, âgée de 14 ans, Henri, âgé de 10 ans, Claude Folsé, âgé de 9 ans et Joseph ayant 4 ans. (Translation: Charles Bovilaine 16 years old, Silvanie Anne, 14 years old, Henri, 10 years old, Claude Folsé, 9 years old, and Joseph ( there is a flourish at the end of the "h" in Joseph followed by the word "ayant" translated as "having" four years. In French you use the verb "avoir ( to have), followed by the number of years to express age. So it is translated as Joseph having 4 years, or as we would say, or Joseph is four years old.
ReplyDelete