Online version of Ġuljana Masini register, covering 1554 to 1934, being launched today

If you are from Gozo or married in Gozo, tracing your ancestry or compiling your family tree has become easier. After years of hard work and a sizable budget, Minister for Gozo Justyne Caruana is today launching an online version of the Ġuljana Masini in a short ceremony at the National Archives Gozo.

The Primus Liber, recording baptisms at the Cathedral of Gozo since 1554, is the earliest source of the Ġuljana Masini. This is the oldest register still extant in Gozo.

The term ‘Ġuljana’ is commonly applied to a collection of data of the so-called acts of civil status, that is births, marriages and deaths. It is compiled by collating this vital information in alphabetical order by surname.

To compile a Ġuljana, one had to scrutinise all parish records of a territory and collate the names alphabetically in different volumes divided into births, marriages and deaths. Without the use of technology, it had to be done by hand and collated either on cards or in some other way to enable the researcher to easily find the name he requires.

The Ġuljana Masini – consisting of 88 manuscript volumes of various sizes – enlists all the births, marriages and deaths that took place in Gozo between 1554 and 1934.

To compile a Ġuljana, one had to scrutinise all parish records

It was in 1554 that the Matrice, the present Cathedral of Gozo, started keeping such records. This Ġuljana also registers the births of Gozitans in Malta and, sometimes, even abroad.

As Gozo was overwhelmingly Catholic, it is safe to presume that the records contained in these 88 volumes cover practically all the population of Gozo over 380 years.

The compilation of the Ġuljana was initiated by Notary Felice Attard (1802-1874) and adjourned by his son Pietro Attard (1836-1916), known as Tal-Ispettur.

After his passing away, an unknown person proceeded to keep the records. It was eventually acquired by Francesco Masini (1894-1962), a lawyer by profession, from the heirs of the late Pietro Attard.

Franco and Manola Masini, the donors of the Ġuljana to the Maltese nation.

In July 2011, the collection was donated by Francesco’s son, Franco Masini and his wife Manola to the government of Malta to be deposited at the NAG.

It has already been consulted by hundreds of people, from Gozo and Malta, Australia and Canada, France and England and many more countries, since it was deposited at the Gozo archives.

The NAG has also answered hundreds of e-mail requests inquiring information from or on the collection

Three additional values of the collection are: first, a considerable number of family trees that Notary Attard compiled to clients; second, many references to contracts, donations and other issues related to land property owned by his clients; and, third, references to such properties by their original toponym.

The Ġuljana can be accessed online from the webpages of both the National Archives of Malta and its Gozo section – nag.gov.mt.