Through family history website Ancestry, I met my cousin Rachel. We have a common ancestor, Josephine Rossignoli. Together, we discovered that Josephine was the daughter of an Italian fencing master named Francis Rossignoli, who was born in Parma in 1754 and ended up living in Edinburgh via Dublin with his sister, Teresa, and his mother, Rosa. Rachel and I share a connection to Josephine through her son, James Adams, who is my great grandfather and Rachel’s great great grandfather.
We discovered that he had a younger brother named William, who survived the collapse of a tenement on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile in 1861, but our research then came to a standstill.
Since James left Scotland at the age of 18 and presumably lost contact with his brother, there were no further family stories to go on – although we did wonder whether we still had relatives in Edinburgh. We also didn’t know what the Rossignolis had been doing in Dublin.
In November 2017 I received a hint from Ancestry regarding the fencing master, Francis Rossignoli. Another user named Kath had posted information about his death and one of his places of residence.
On a wing and a prayer, I Googled Kath’s full name and the first person who came up was a member of staff at the University of Edinburgh. I sent her an email, and to my delight she turned out to be the great great granddaughter of William Adams.
I continued to share messages with Kath – keeping Rachel in the loop – before arranging for all three of us to meet up in Edinburgh last April. Rachel’s mother, Ruth, also travelled [see picture above].
Kath was a mine of information. She told me that William’s descendants had remained in Edinburgh for generations, with William’s daughter Lizzie (who lived near Holyrood Palace) and Kath being afforded a grandstand view of the Queen’s visit to Edinburgh after the Coronation. In fact, Lizzie appeared in a newspaper article at the time as “the other Elizabeth”!
Kath also provided further details about Francis Rossignoli and his sister Teresa, including the fact that a goldsmith named David Downie was a witness at Francis’ wedding. Downie was later tried for treason and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, but his sentence was commuted.
Through my own research, I had previously learned that the godfather of one of Francis’ sons was named Pietro Urbanis. However, Kath’s revelations spurred me on to be more proactive, leading me to discover that Pietro was a compiler of Scottish folk songs in addition to being the publisher for famed poet Robert Burns.
But the biggest surprise of all was the illustrious career of Teresa Rossignoli. She studied at the Royal School of Ballet in Parma and performed as a prima ballerina in various Italian cities and later in Dublin at the famous Smock Alley Theatre, alongside the wife of Pietro Urbanis.
Teresa is mentioned in a book, The Grotesque Dancer on the Eighteenth-Century Stage, and several other documents of the time, including the diary of a contemporary named Agnes Witts, who spoke of balls being organised by “Madame Rosignoli” or “Rosignol”.
More recently, Kath and I have both visited Parma to retrace Teresa’s steps. Kath uncovered many documents relating to her training and career there, while I was able to find a long entry in the Dizionario Biografico dei Parmigiani by Robert Lasagni – a work about famous inhabitants of the city.
