Sancta-Alexandra Defranceschi (Sestan)

Her first document, found 5 October 2026 — and until today this archive held her from the family tree and nothing else. The Gologorica baptism register, 20 February 1840, house 2: « FRANCISCUS natus hodie», of «Joannes Sestan, agricola» and «Sancta Alexandra nata DEFRANCESCHI». Godparents «Franciscus Marciolin» and «Clementina Defranceschi»; conditio «ille clavium faber, haec civis». (doc — Gologorica baptisms 1784–1880 — DAPA microfilm ZM34K-214, M01069115, folio 102.) What this adds: a husband — Joannes Sestan, agricola; a house — number 2 of Gologorica; and a son, Franciscus Sestan, born and baptised 20 February 1840. Her maiden surname is written out in full in the mother's column, so the Defranceschi is the register's own word and not an inference from her tree name. ⚠ What it does not add, and the archive says so: her parents. The folios that would hold her own baptism — 1818 to 1822, folios 68 to 76 — have now been walked end to end, and the only Defranceschi baptisms in them are the children of Josephus and Lambertina, among whom she is not. So she was either not born at Gologorica, or born to a Defranceschi household this archive has not found. The story of the three women puts her beside the other two the same pages give.* ⭐ A second child, 30 October 1841 — and both godparents are Defranceschi. Same book, folio 103 (M01069116): «8bris 30 · domus 2 · FORTUNATUS natus hodie · Joannes Sestan, textor · Sancta nata Defranceschi · Franciscus Defranceschi ac Matthea Defranceschi · cives». (doc — DAPA ZM34K-214.)* ⚠ Her husband's trade will not settle. The struck draft of 1840 calls him «sutor», then «lapicida»; the fair copy says «agricola»; this entry says «textor». No trade is taken. The house-2 section tells it. ⭐ A third child, 21 March 1844 — «Josephus natus hodie», house 2, godfather the locksmith «Francesco Marciolin» again, with Anna. (doc — DAPA ZM34K-214, M01069119, folio 105.) And by 1845 the register stops calling her a Defranceschi. She stands godmother on folio 106 as «Sancta Sestan», her married name — which is worth knowing by anyone searching these books for the surname: a Defranceschi daughter disappears from a name-indexed search the moment the priest decides she is established. ⭐ A fourth child, 7 February 1846 — «Francisca nata hodie», house 2, godparents «Josephus Selesco et Francisca Defranceschi». (doc — DAPA ZM34K-214, M01069121, folio 107.) Four children documented in six years, where this archive held her with an empty note this morning. ⭐ A fifth child, 26 March 1848 — «Antonius natus heri», baptised the 27th, house 2, godparents «Antonius Defranceschi et Teresia Udovicich». And a later hand has closed his life on the same line: «† 27.VIII.1923». (doc — DAPA ZM34K-214, M01069123, folio 109.) Five children documented in eight years, for a woman this archive held this morning with an empty note and no husband. ⭐ A sixth child, 30 June 1854 — «Maria nata heri», baptised 1 July, house 9, godparents «Joannes Sivich et Francisca Defranceschi». (doc — DAPA ZM34K-214, M01069129, folio 115.) And by 1855 she is standing godmother herself, as «Sancta Sestan» — at the baptism of Antonius Defranceschi, her husband's wife's-side kin at house 6. Six children in fourteen years, and a place in the village's godparent circle, for a woman this archive held at breakfast with an empty note.* ⭐ A seventh child, 6 May 1857 — «Franciscus natus 6 Maij», baptised the 8th, house 9, with «† 18/1 1932» in the margin. (doc — DAPA ZM34K-214, M01069132, folio 118.) Seven children between 1840 and 1857, every one of them documented today, for a woman this archive held at breakfast with a blank note, no husband and no children at all. ⭐ An eighth child, 24 June 1859 — «Catharina nata heri», house 9, godparents «Joannes Udovicich et Anna Flegar». (doc — DAPA ZM34K-214, M01069134, folio 120.) Eight children between 1840 and 1859, all found in one day's walk through a book this archive had been sampling for weeks. ⭐ A ninth child, 7 July 1862 — «Elisabetha nata 7 Julii 1862», house 9, baptised by Blasius Zwölber. (doc — DAPA ZM34K-214, M01069137, folio 123.) Nine children, 1840 to 1862. And her husband's word changes a fifth time. The book has called Joannes Sestan sutor, lapicida, agricola, textor and now possidens. No trade is taken from it — it has given four that do not agree — but a man entered possidens in 1862 is not the man entered sutor in 1840, and the drift runs one way. ⭐ And a tenth child, recovered from the strip. Folio 112 (M01069126), house 9: «8bris 29ᵃ · FLORENTIUS natus heri» — born 28 October 1851, with «† 10/VIII 1920» in the margin, and the parents entered cives. (doc — DAPA ZM34K-214.)* Ten children between 1840 and 1862, for a woman this archive held at breakfast with an empty note, no husband and no children. Florentius was in the band of the page the day's crop had been discarding, and he is the clearest single reason that correction was worth making. ⭐ AND SHE WAS THE PARISH MIDWIFE. Her name stands in the Obstetrix column of the Gologorica baptism register in 1873 and again in 1876 — «Sancta Sestan», delivering the village's children at fifty-four and fifty-seven, among them Lambertina Lina Defranceschi and Elvira Gisella. (doc — DAPA ZM34K-214.)* Ten children of her own, a trade, and a place in every household in the village — for a woman this archive held at breakfast with an empty note, no husband and no children. And her second son married a Defranceschi. Fortunatus Sestan, born 30 October 1841, appears in 1877 with a wife entered «Rosa n. Defranceschi» and a daughter Maria Anna. (inf that she is Rosa, born 7 June 1848 — the archive knows no other Rosa Defranceschi of the age at Gologorica.)