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The Counts of Ghajn Tuffieha

 

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The First Grantees of this Ancient title were the following. The Santa Sofia family in 1361, Pellegrino family in 1440, de Guevara in 1446, Forregioni in 1465, Inguanez family in 1513 and the family, the present grant , the Teuma Castelletti family in 1792.

 

The title of Ghajn Tuffieha , a fief was bought, sold or Extinct through to the Present Grant.

 

The earliest Teuma was Niccolo Teuma who founded the Benefice “Ta Viet” at Gozo in 1519 which was to follow his descendants. His son Franco was the stem of the Teuma family explosion intermarrying with other landed gentry families such as the Xerri, Bonici, D’Armenia, Burlo, Gucciardi, Allegritto families. Also several descendants had become Knights of Malta and also were Nuns and Priests.  It was Franco’s grandson Dr Pietro Paolo Teuma JUD who married into the famous Castelletti family who were almost hereditary Governors of Gozo hence the formation of the surname till this day from 1640.

 

The Castelletti legacy was quite rich and deep rooted in Sicilian nobility. Their arriving into Malta was in 1497 from Palermo marrying a royal descendant of the Navarra family.

The Castelletti family held the title of the Barony of Marsa and was regranted to a few descendants. Most of the nobility today can claim to be a descendant of this family, as it intermarried with many of the landed gentry and the nobility through heiresses. The male line died out in the seventeenth century. Hence why the only connections today are through the Teuma Castelletti family, even till this day, a handful lay in Malta and in Canada.

 

The great grandson of Dr Pietro Paolo Teuma JUD, Ferdinando Teuma Castelletti JUD a Jurat of Notabile and Deputy was created Count of Ghajn Tuffieha in 1792 by the Grand Master de Rohan-Polduc, with remainder to his issue in perpetuity.

 

During the last years of the Order of Malta, Hompesch appointed three Counts (Manduca, Barbaro and Teuma Castelletti) and one Marquis ( Mallia-Tabone) as Jurats of Notabile.

 

Ferdinando was one of the leaders of the Maltese uprising against the French in 1798, and dying in 1821.

 

An interesting note, that the first Count had married to the daughter of the Count Preziosi, and had a very large family. This family also intermarried into much interesting connections. The most famed connection was through their daughter Antonia who married in 1810 at Mdina to Gio Batta dei Marchesi Bonici Mompalao. Their descendants  are the present day Counts of Catena, Viscounts Monckton of Brenchley, Counts de Salis, de Traffords, and the Stricklands.

 

The Second Count, succeeded in 1821, Gio Francesco Teuma Castelletti, married in 1805 to the daughter of the Marquis of Fiddien and had four children which survived infancy. Gio Francesco also a lawyer continued the legacy of his father with the British administration dying at a young age in 1828. Much of their descendants intermarried with the Maltese and Sicilian nobility. Their daughter Aloisea had married in 1841 to a grandson of the 2^nd Count Preziosi. Another child, Vincenzo Teuma Castelletti, had married to a Sicilian noblewoman and migrated to South Africa, where their descendants still live.

 

 The Third Count, Pietro Paolo Teuma Castelletti succeeded the title at a very young age of 21 and also followed into a career into the British administration in Malta. Pietro Paolo traveled also in the services of the Foreign Services of the British Empire in various posts and upon his retirement settling back in Malta, marrying his first wife, the daughter of the Baron of Tabria in 1865, shortly dying in childbirth.

Pietro Paolo had taken on local political postings around Malta and also administrating his estates which kept him very busy. His second marriage was to his first cousin, a daughter of the Marquis of Fiddien in 1875, whom successfully had four children whom survived infancy.

 

Pietro Paolo dying in 1884 in Malta, succeeded by his eldest son, who was a Priest. The second son, Major Giuseppe was noted as the “Contino di Ghajn Tuffieha” had married twice without any surviving issues. Though was awarded by the British Government an MVO for his services to the Royal Malta Militia. Major Giuseppe had died in 1942 and his younger brother Saverio Alfonso succeeded as heir to his priestly brother.

 

The Reverend Francesco Teuma Castelletti succeeded as the 4^th Count of Ghajn Tuffieha dying in 1959. His surviving brother Saverio had married outside the noble circles and was shunned upon. Thus migrating to Canada with his whole family. Succeeded as the next heir as the 5^th Count of Ghajn Tuffieha. This lead to the Teuma Castelletti’s in North America. Saverio Alfonso’s eldest son Pietro Paolo had married a Canadian women and dying in 1965. Their only child Mary Frances becoming heiress succeeded her grandfather several months after her own father had past away. Both her father and grandfather passing within a year.

 

At present, the titleholder Mary Frances Teuma Castelletti holds the title as the 6^th Countess and married in 1952 to Donald Robert McCutcheon and having four children. Her eldest son, Peter Donald McCutcheon held the title of Contino di Ghajn Tuffieha until his passing in 2002. Peter Donald had married to Judith Anne Petch and produced two daughters. The eldest daughter Kimberley, who at present is the Continessa di Ghajn Tuffieha, is married to a Canadian born David Walsh and have two children of their own.

 

References:

1)  Gauci, C.A.," The Genealogy and Heraldry of the Noble Families of Malta", Gulf Publishing Ltd, Malta, 1981.

2)  Gauci, C.A.," The Genealogy and Heraldry of the Noble Families of Malta, Volume Two", Publishers Enterprises Group (PEG) Ltd, 1992.

3)  Gauci ,C.A and Mallet, P.,"The Palaeologos Family- A Genealogical Review" ,Publishers Enterprises Group (PEG) Ltd, 1985

4)  Gauci, C.A.," A Guide to the Maltese Nobility", Publishers Enterprise Group (PEG) Ltd, Malta, 1986.

5)  Montalto, J., "The Nobles of Malta-1530-1800", Midsea Books Ltd, Malta, 1980.

6)  Giles Ash, S., "The Nobility of Malta", Publishers Enterprises Group (PEG) Ltd, 1988.

7)  Said Vassallo, C.M., Unpublished research papers.

8) Said Vassallo, C.M., Maltagenealogy.com Research site.

9) Walsh McCutcheon Teuma Castelletti, Continessa Kimberley, personal communications.