Monigatti FamilyMuch of this information has been taken from "Monigatti Memories" by Edwin S Borthwick, a grandson of John & Isabella Monigatti.
Thank-you too to Hans Fumberger for clarifying some of the dates for me and shipping information for various Monigatti family members.
OUR MONIGATTI FAMILY
Including Moore and McPike :
Monigatti families in Australia
Several members of the Monigatti family emigrated to Australia in the mid 1800's, arriving in Melbourne on different ships. They were probably attracted by the promise of work and reward on the rapidly developing goldfields in Victoria and it is believed that they first spent some time in Bendigo before going on to the Walhalla area in Eastern Victoria. The first Monigatti known to have reached Australia was Pietro.
Pietro was born on 17 April 1837 at Brusio, Switzerland and was the son of Giovanni Maria di Pietro MONIGATTI and Cattarina di Angelo BONGULIELMI.
Pietro arrived in Melbourne, Australia on the "White Star" in March 1856. He settled at Walhalla where he was a miner and a shareholder of the Empress mine. He was naturalized in 1877. Around 1880 he returned to Brusio and he married Maria Margheritta ZALA on 21 May 1882. Maria was born on 17 December 1838.
Pietro died on 25 January 1898 in Brusio.Angelo was born on 30 August 1840 and was the son of Giovanni Maria di Petro MONIGATTI and Cattarina di Angelo BONGULIELMI and a brother of Pietro.
He arrived in Melbourne on the "Empire of Peace" in May 1860. Angelo settled in Walhalla where he was a miner and a shareholder of the Empress mine. He became naturalized while living in Walhalla in 1879. Angelo returned to Brusio around 1885 and married Ermelinda FANCONI on 15 September 1886. Ermelinda was born on 26 June 1851 and died on 2 September 1905. Angelo died on 2 January 1898 in Brusio.Pietro was born in Brusio, Switzerland on 29 February 1816 and was the son of Lucio di Petri MONIGATTI and Anna di Domenico ISEPPI. He was a cousin of Pietro (born 1837) and Angelo. Pietro married Maria Elisabetta CURSCHELLAS on 22 July 1838 in Brusio and they had a family of five children including Lucio Antonio, Anna Maria, Fedele and Johannes Thomas.
Pietro arrived in Melbourne, Australia on the "Sussex" in March 1862 and settled in Walhalla. After Maria's death on 5 December 1879 Pietro returned to Brusio around 1880. He married Anna Maria ZANOLARI on 9 January 1881. She was born on 8 September 1831 in Brusio. After Anna's death Pietro returned to Australia for a time and then went on to New Zealand around 1890 where he lived with his son Johannes. Pietro died in 1901 in New Zealand.Agostino was born on 23 March 1828 in Brusio, Switzerland and was the son of Lucio di Petri MONIGATTI and Anna di Domenico ISEPPI. He was a brother of Pietro (born 1816) and a cousin of Pietro (born 1837) and Angelo. Agostino married Maria Margherita ISEPPI on 17 June 1851 in Brusio. Maria was born on 4 March 1819 and died on 25 July 1894.
Agostino arrived in Melbourne on the "Sussex" in March 1862 and also settled in Walhalla. Agostino and Maria had a son Lucio who was born on 1 January 1857. Around 1880 Agostino returned to Brusio and he died there on 29 November 1891.Lucio ( Luigi ) was born on 12 August 1813 and was the son of Pietro di Pietro MONIGATTI and Domenica di Antonio ZALA. I believe he arrived in Melbourne, Australia on the "Great Tasmania" in March 1863. Luigi settled in Bendigo and was a charcoal burner. I believe he returned to Brusio around 1890.
Luzius ( Lucio ) was born on 16 June 1843 and was the son of Giovanni Maria di Petro MONIGATTI and Cattarina di Angelo BONGULIELMI. He was the brother of Pietro (born 1837) and Angelo, and a cousin of Pietro (born 1816) and Agostino.
I believe Lucio arrived in Melbourne on the ship "Great Tasmania" in March 1863 although he lists the "Brittania" on his application for naturalization. He settled in Walhalla where he was a miner and a shareholder of the Empress mine.
In 1870 Lucio married Margaret Mary COLLINS. Margaret was born around 1848 in Kildare, Melbourne. Lucio applied for naturalization in 1877 but he died later that year before being naturalized. Margaret later re-married and she died in Flemington in 1924.
Anna came out to join the menfolk and arrived in Melbourne on the ship "Somersetshire" in December 1871. She married Lucia DELLA CA in 1872 in Castlemaine, Victoria and they had four children. Around 1877 the family returned to Brusio where a further six children were born.
Lucia died on 25 June 1910 and Anna died in Brusio on 28 April 1927.
He arrived in Australia on the ship "Somersetshire" in February 1869. He was the proprietor of Pension Suisse around 1880 and a miner and vine grower at Walhalla around 1890. Fedele was naturalized in 1895 at which time he was a wine merchant and was living in Melbourne where he remained until at least 1903. He married Ellen GARDINER on 8 May 1897.
John was born on 6 February1846. He lived his early years in Brusio, a village in the Canton of Gregioni in Switzerland, near the Italian border. His parents were Pietro MONIGATTI (1816-1901) and Maria Elisabetta CURSCHELLAS
In 1864 John travelled from Australia to the West Coast of New Zealand where goldrush fever was gaining momentum. He was about 18 years old at the time and may have arrived on his own.
Sometime before mid 1870 he returned to Australia to rejoin his relatives and on 5 June 1870 he married Edith BATES of Hobart at Walhalla, in Eastern Victoria. There was one child, a son Henry who died at the age of 10 weeks in 1872. The marriage appears to have ended around 1881.
John applied for New Zealand naturalization in May 1886 at which time he had resided in New Zealand for fourteen years. About this time he took over the Sergeant's Hill Hotel in the Westport area. The hotel then became known as Monigatti's Railway Hotel. Some years before this John entered into a de facto relationship Isabella Ellen Moore. They later married after waiting the statutory minimum period before his first marriage could be annulled on the grounds of his first wife's desertion. Isabella was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1860 and was the daughter of Charles MOORE and Ellen McPIKE.
John Thomas died on 10 June 1934 in Nelson, NZ and Isabella died in 1933 in Lower Hutt, NZ.
Children of John and Isabella :Arielle Georgina Charlotte born 26 July 1880 in Westport, New Zealand. Tragically, when five and a half months old she was bitten by a rat while in her cot and died from blood poisoning on 12 January 1881.
John Thomas ( Jack ) born 6 April 1882 in Buller, West Coast, New Zealand. He was accidentally killed under a gold-mining quarry-face rockfall on 14 April 1910 in Westport.
Charlotte Elizabeth ( Cis or Cissie ) born 28 July 1884 in Buller, West Coast. She married John Adamson BORTHWICK on 5 July 1911 in Christchurch. John had a daughter, Jean, from his previous marriage (his wife had died about three years earlier). Charlotte and John had two children of their own, Edwin and Betty.
John died in May 1944 and Cissie died of a sudden heart attack on 1 June 1966.Peter Fidelie born 27 October 1885 in Buller, West Coast. He served with the NZ Expeditionary Force to the Middle East during World War One. Peter married Francis Julia FRANKLIN in November 1919 and they had one child, a daughter Joan born in 1921.
Peter died around 1972 in Bournemouth, England.William Tell born 22 October 1887 in Buller, West Coast. William married Louisa Susan JONES on 12 December 1915 in Rangiora. Louisa was born in 1888 and died in 1926. A few years after Louisa's death William married Elsie MITCHINSON and they moved to Auckland.
William died around 1948 in Auckland.Isabella Ellen ( Bella ) born 1 January 1890 in Westport. She married Walter Daniel McPIKE on 6 October 1906 in Westport.
Isabella died on 18 September 1966 in Onehunga.Charles David Luci born 6 August 1893 in Buller, West Coast. He served with the 14th Reinforcements during World War One. Charles married Edith Florence JONES on 15 September 1920. Edith was born in 1893 and was a sister of Louisa Susan JONES. Charles and Edith had two sons, Rex and Jack.
Charles died on 2 December 1960 and Edith died in 1975.Alexander Augustus Dominick born 12 June 1896 in Buller, West Coast. He married Eileen Beatrice GROOBY around 1923 in Nelson. Eileen was born in 1901 in Motueka and died in 1979. Alexander and Eileen had a son, Noel and later adopted a daughter named Patricia. Alexander died on 21 August 1949 in Lower Hutt, NZ. Eileen died in 1979.
Lily Jane Maria born 20 October 1899 in Buller, West Coast. She married William Ernest TREVETT on 20 January 1919 in Nelson. They had three children. William was born in 1888 died in late 1965. Lily died 1973 in Nelson. She was 74 years old at the time and had the distinction of being not only the youngest, but also the last surviving member of the first Monigatti generation in New Zealand.
Isabella was born in 1890 in Westport, New Zealand. She married Walter Daniel McPike on 6 October 1906 in Westport and they had five children Cecil, Gwendolyn, Jacqualine, Walter and Isabelle.
Isabella died in 1966. Walter died in 1957 and was buried at Waikaraka Cemetery, Onehunga.
