Ancestry
Paca has been described as being of Italian ancestry.
According to Stanley South, "he rumor that the name was Italian came from a remark made in 1911 by James Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore, who commented that he thought a relationship existed between Paca and the Italian family Pecci". In a July 18, 1937, letter to the New York Times, a self-described descendant of Paca claims:
The ancestors of William Paca were of Italian and English origin. The name is said to have originally been spelled Pacci .
However, in an interview with Giovanni Schiavo, the letter writer apparently attributed the suggestion that the name was Pecci to Cardinal Gibbons. Schiavo also reports that Paca mentioned Pope Leo XIII (1879–1903), whose surname was Pecci, during the interview. Stiverson and Jacobsen report that spellings of the surname of William Paca's immigrant ancestor Robert include Peaker, Pecker, Peaca, Peca, and Paka. Neither "Pecci" nor "Pacci" (nor "Pacca") are attested.
Read more about this topic: William Paca
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