Pustianaz and the “von Priel” claim

Three levels of evidence, without shortcuts. This page distinguishes statements found in contemporary records, family usages or accounts, and questions that the available documents do not yet answer.

• 1907 : Josephus Henricus PUSTIANAZ, son of Michael Pustianaz and Euphemia Sandri.
• 1954–1983 : The surname PUSTIANAZ still appears in the surviving Australian archives.
• 1983–1985 : “de Priel” appears in a death notice, followed by “PUSTIANAZ VON PRIEL” in a marginal annotation.

A documented Istrian surname [Back to contents]

Pustianaz is not a surname invented at a late date. Historical sources record it in Istria, particularly around Sanvincenti, now Svetvinčenat. The Gazzetta Ufficiale of 22 November 1934 publishes several prefectural decrees dated 1931 concerning Pustianaz families from that municipality, whose surname was then Italianised as “Postiani”.

Essential context: these decrees formed part of the Fascist administration’s policy of Italianisation. They document the surname’s local presence; their language of “restitution” does not constitute linguistic or genealogical proof.

Pola, 1907: the central record [Back to contents]

At the time, Pola was part of Austria-Hungary. This 1907 record is the source closest to the event and provides the strongest evidence for the name and parentage.

From Ajaccio to Australia, 1934–1983 [Back to contents]

A “de Priel” claim attested as early as 1983 [Back to contents]

A family death notice from December 1983 already uses the expressions « baron de Priel » and « baron du Saint-Empire ». It therefore demonstrates that the claim existed before the 1985 marginal correction.

The March 1985 correction [Back to contents]

The anomaly reported between 2014 and 2019

Correspondence from 2014, 2016 and 2019, preserved by the project, reports that a copy or extract issued in 2014 did not show the annotation visible on the 2019 certified copy. The exact 2014 document and the municipality’s reply are still missing: an omission from one copy, an incomplete extract, or another explanation remain possible. The file therefore does not establish that the annotation was physically added after 2014.

Where the claimed lineage breaks down [Back to contents]

The first connection to d’Adda is contradicted by the contemporary 1907 source and the 1983 corroborating record. The published line to the d’Adda, Borghese and La Rochefoucauld families is therefore not established. This does not demonstrate the absence of any theoretical kinship through another branch; it invalidates the documented connection as presented.

The Loyasse vault: a lineage carved in stone [Back to contents]

This photograph of the funerary monument in Loyasse Cemetery, Lyon, brings together on a single stone the names Ziulu, Brun, La Sausse, von Geramb, Pustianaz “von Priel” and Cheynet de Beaupré. It therefore creates the appearance of a continuous lineage that the records located to date do not confirm.

Transcription of the visible inscriptions

Why “von Priel” and Cheynet de Beaupré have no documented connection to the La Sausse–von Geramb family

Recently altered inscriptions

Photographs held by the Lyon Municipal Archives in December 2011 and March 2012 still show blank side panels. In a photograph from February 2017, the inscriptions for Mathieu Ziulu, Marie Brun, Jean Ziulu and Marie Cheynet de Beaupré are present. The association visible today was therefore assembled or completed between March 2012 and February 2017.

Lyon’s cemetery regulations explain how such a physical association can arise without kinship: Articles 33 and 34 provide that vaults returned to the City’s private estate may be sold and acquired “as is”. The official Loyasse page also states that already-equipped concessions are offered, notably at auctions. A new concession may therefore retain an old monument and receive recent names; sharing one stone proves neither descent nor a hereditary transfer of the vault.

Moreover, Pierre Beuf’s 1834 inventory, presented as a survey of all Loyasse monuments and inscriptions, mentions neither Geramb nor Marie-Madeleine La Sausse. It records only a grave for Pierre Lasausse, who died in 1823, as no. 273. A later transfer cannot be excluded, but Marie-Madeleine La Sausse’s presence in this vault is not documented at that date.

Conclusion: the stone establishes only the wording visible when the photograph was taken. Juxtaposition does not replace genealogical proof, date the carving, or demonstrate that every named person is buried in the vault.

Records still being sought [Back to contents]

• the public prosecutor’s decision of 8 March 1985 and its supporting file;
• the exact copy issued in 2014 and the reply from the Ajaccio civil registry;
• the marriage record of Giuseppe Pustianaz and Dora/Dorotea in Trieste;
• the original records concerning Michael Pustianaz and Euphemia Sandri;
• any independent instrument granting or recognising the title “von Priel”;
• the Loyasse vault concession file, burial or transfer registers, and any records that can date its inscriptions.

Provisional conclusion

The corpus establishes documentary continuity of the surname Pustianaz from 1907 to 1983, followed by the use of “de Priel” in a 1983 death notice and the appearance of PUSTIANAZ VON PRIEL in a marginal annotation dated 1985. As it stands, the corpus does not establish an old-established use of the form “von Priel”, a title of nobility, or the claimed lineage to the d’Adda, Borghese and La Rochefoucauld families.

Institutional sources and cited records

1. Državni arhiv u Pazinu — register inventory and the reproduction of the Pola register held by the project.

2. Gazzetta Ufficiale del Regno d’Italia, 22 November 1934, no. 274, prefectural decrees published on pages 5354–5356.

3. National Archives of Australia — RecordSearch, files 1467632 and 5914451.

4. Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria — historical search, death no. 28411/83.

5. Lyon Municipal Archives — “Tombe de la Baronne Von Geramb”, March 2012, 80PH/40/30–31.

6. Pierre Beuf, Le Cimetière de Loyasse, 1834 — survey of monuments and inscriptions.

7. Lyon Municipal Archives — views of the monument, December 2011, and a photograph from February 2017.

8. City of Lyon — cemetery regulations, Articles 33 and 34: sale and resale “as is” of certain vaults.

9. City of Lyon — Old Loyasse Cemetery: already-equipped concessions.