Joanna Defranceschi (Sestan), 1818 – 1889

Documented 30 September 2026; she had been carried on the family tree alone, with no note at all. The 1826 status animarum of Gologorica records her in house 3 as «Joanna eius uxor nata Defranceschi» — born 25 June 1818 — wife of Antonius Sestan, «def. Vincentii et Mariæ», son of the late Vincentius Sestan and Maria, born 29 June 1814. They married on 13 February 1843, and the provenance column records her coming «Ex Parochia Gallignanæ sub N.º 4» — out of Gračišće house 4. Six children are entered under them: Maria (b. 8 October 1843), Antonia (b. 16 July 1845, d. 4 August 1846 aged 1y 0m 18d), Antonius (b. 4 June 1849), Joannes (b. 6 June 1852), Franciscus (b. 31 January 1855) and Josephus (b. 2 February 1858, d. 4 February 1858, aged two days). The three eldest sons were all confirmed together on 8 June 1864. Her marriage is one of two in three years that took a Defranceschi daughter out of Gračišće and into Gologorica — hers from house 4 in 1843, and Francisca's from house 5 in 1840. (doc.) Gologorica Status Animarum 1826, house 3 — Džavni arhiv u Pazinu microfilm ZM34K-214, image M01069323, read 30 September 2026. Her husband's parents, from the page before hers (M01069324, house 1): Vincentius Sestan, civis, born 25 March 1780, married 12 February 1805, died 1 December 1842 aged 62y 8m; and Maria, born 1 January 1781, died 30 October 1843. The register joins the two households itself — against Antonius it writes «matrimonium inivit ut hic retro», he married as shown back here. ⚠ Maria's maiden surname is written but not legible to this archive — the capital is a P or an R and the ending -pros, -pras or -prod; no candidate is published, because no second construction of the word has been found in the book. (doc for the couple; her maiden name unread.) ⭐ 5 October 2026 — her eldest daughter's baptism, and it does not agree with the census. Gologorica baptisms, folio 104 (M01069118): «9bris 11 · domus 2 · MARIA nata 7 hujus · Antonius Sestan · Joanna nata Defranceschi · godfather Franciscus Defranceschi, with Catharina Ivich». Born 7 November 1843, baptised the 11th. (doc — DAPA ZM34K-214.)* ⚠ The 1826 status animarum gives this child as born 8 October 1843 in house 3. The register gives 7 November 1843 in house 2. A month and a house apart, and both are documents. The month figures were compared against each other on the same page — the «8bris» of the row above and the «9bris» of hers are plainly different numerals — so the gap is not a misreading here. It is left standing and visible* rather than patched, because the rule that the census records baptism dates does not close it. ⭐ And her second child agrees with the census exactly, which sharpens the doubt about her first. Folio 106 (M01069120), house 2: «Antonia nata heri», baptised 17 July 1845, so born the 16th — and the 1826 status animarum gives Antonia born 16 July 1845. An exact match. So the census is not generally unreliable about this family. The month-wide gap over Maria is an anomaly in one entry rather than a property of the source — which makes it a better question than it was, not a worse one. ⭐ 5 October 2026 — all five of her children found in the baptism register, and they test the census. The day of the month is right every single time. Where the two sources differ they differ on the month or the year — the signature of a figure miscopied when the household was written up, not of a source guessing. And the census omits Catharina entirely, so its list of a family's children is a floor and not a ceiling. The full comparison. (doc both ways — DAPA ZM34K-214.)* ⭐ And her son Joannes lived to 1935, closed by a later hand on his own baptism line eighty-four years afterwards. ⭐ A sixth child, and the census is out by two years this time. «Januarii 31 · domus 3 · FRANCISCUS natus hodie», folio 114 (M01069128) — born and baptised 31 January 1853. The 1826 status animarum gives him 31 January 1855. Day and month exact, year two out — the third failure of precisely that shape in this one household, and the reason the comparison is published rather than quietly reconciled. ⭐ And the family is finished: eight children, not six, and the census is short by two. Folios 117 and 119 add Francisca, born 30 May 1856 (M01069131) and Josephus, born 2 February 1858 (M01069133). Josephus matches the census exactly — it has him born 2 February 1858 and dead on the 4th, aged two days. Francisca it does not list at all, any more than it lists Catharina of 1846. So of eight children the census names six, gets three exactly right, and is out on three by a month, a year and two years — never by a day. The full table is published, because it is the only entry-by-entry test the 1826 status animarum has had in this archive. ⭐ A ninth child, 15 September 1859, house 3, godparents «Petrus Grossich et Francisca Defranceschi». (doc — DAPA ZM34K-214, M01069134, folio 120.) Nine children where the 1826 census named six.