Last year I received information from Peter Moss of the Genealogical Society of South Africa (GSSA) regarding my deceased relatives.
Among these the name of Monica C Martinaglia caught my eye. Who is this member of the family? So I contacted Peter, who kindly supplied me with the grave number and date of death as 2.12.1938.
Still I did not click who it was, and so I decided to contact the National Archives in Pretoria through the internet. With further assistance from Derek Walker, a friend of mine on Facebook who had helped me before to research my family, a full Death Notice was found with her full name as Monica Cleone Martinaglia who was one year old when she died of gastroenteritis.
What amazed me as well is that she was buried at Burgershoop Cemetry in Krugersdorp – the same cemetery where my grandfather, Gugliemo Martinaglia who discovered the Sterkfontein Caves in 1896, was buried.
The Death Notice was signed by my cousin, Bernard Richard Martinaglia, who died 25 years ago, and whose daughter, Cleone Martinaglia, was named after his sister, Monica Cleone Martinaglia.
I immediately forwarded a copy of the Death Certificate to Cleone who now lives in Ohio, USA. She was also amazed. For many years we have been in touch with the Martinaglia family there, and no one ever mentioned the death of Monica Cleone Martinaglia. Sometimes it pays to dig into one’s family history, and for GSSA’s help in this matter we are all extremely grateful.
