Hello Carla! Thanks for your reply :-)

Good you have several similar names to choose from, as I cannot think of any Corsican name that looks even close!

The family reportedly fled to Constantinople at the time (and because of) the French Revolution (so that would be by around 1790 - 1795).

No idea where in Corsica the family would have been from (that's one of the things we're trying to find out). As for trade, I'd say "aristocrats", as the reason they fled the French Revolutionaries is that they were "nobles" (I believe the original ancestors were known as "counts of [de] Zamafta"). It's very likely the spelling has been modified in the last 200 years though, and I think that's the main stumbling block, to get the "original" spelling of the name (or town/village/region).

By the way, now that I'm on it, are there any records or lists of families/names associated w/ Paoli's government/army? I find interesting this family (and many others) found necesary to flee Corsica at a time when others just chose to make nice w/ the French (such as the Bonapartes), thus there's the possibility that these "fleeing families" were too closely associated w/ anti-French activites (or simply were too anti-French themselves) to consider living under a French government in Corsica. Let me know...

Thank you!