rhode island families

I have been trying to write a post about my great grandparents that lived in MA, but it is taking me longer than expected. In the meantime, while data gathering, I found a great grand uncle that moved to Rhode Island. I have not done much research yet in Rhode Island, even though my husband's family is from that state, so I searched to see what kind of online databases were out there. I found a very useful one on familysearch.org, Rhode Island Deaths and Burials, 1802-1950.

I was able to find the death of my great grand uncle mentioned above. I will write about that in another post; but since I was in this database I could not stop myself from plugging in some names on my husband's side of the family. I was so excited to find some new information. I wanted to note it all down here, even though I did also enter it into my family tree. I like to have a record of what I have searched and what new information I found; sometimes that can get lost in all the names in my family tree. 

I started with my husband's maternal line. I already knew his great great grandmother, Hilma Sofia Myrhman, had died in Rhode Island sometime after 1920, as that is the last census I found her in. I found her very quickly in the above mentioned Rhode Island database under the name Hilma Sofia Anderson, with a death date of July 23, 1947 in Coventry, RI. Now I can search for her in the 1930 census, and look for her obituary. The death record also listed her father's name, which I did not have, as Per Mirhman (a little different spelling). I will also look for any other of her children which could be listed in this database, although their deaths may have occurred after 1950. Perhaps she had siblings that came to the US though?

I also new my husband's other great great grandparents probably died in Rhode Island in the early 1900s, so I searched for their names. I found Alfrid Carlson's death on March 25, 1914 in West Warwick, RI. This date is a year off from the transcrition of his stone I found online from The Rhode Island Historical Cemeteries Transcription Project. I also found his wife in the database with a death date of July 25, 1935 in West Warwick, RI. I already had the names of both sets of parents, which was the same as I found in the database. I will next have to search for their nine children in this database.

My husband's paternal side of his family also has people I was interested in finding in this Rhode Island Death database. This side of his family is Portuguese, and I have had trouble in the past searching in online databases because I find the names unfamiliar and a little confusing. They seem to switch between two surnames in the census, and sometimes use a name as a middle name. I was a bit hesitant to search, but I think I did find some new information that seems to fit in with this family. 
Here is the family chart to refer back to if need be :



My first search on this side of the family was for my husband's great grandfather Ernesto Francisco, (he has the easiest name). I have only seen his name written a couple of different ways, Ernesto Francisco and Ernest/o Francis. In this database, he is listed as Ernest E Francis. I believe his middle name is Gilbert, the E may be a transcription error. According to this database, Ernest died on October 28, 1941 in East Providence, RI. I did not have Ernest's parents' names before I searched this database, so that was another great find. They are listed as Joseph Francis and Frances Mattos. I had some indication that his father's name was Joseph, when I found what I think are Ernest's sisters on a ship passenger list; naming Joseph as their father and Ernest as their brother. It does seem likely that these are his sisters that came to Rhode Island from Sao Miguel, Azores. I did a quick search for these sisters in the Rhode Island database, but was unable to locate them. Their names on the passenger list are Maria Conceicao Tereira and Maria Ernestina, arriving in Boston, MA in 1914. Strange that their father's surname of Francisco is not listed. They travelled with an older woman, but I am not sure of her relationship to them.

Ernesto's wife, Aldina Pereira, died in 1971, so she would not be listed in this database. I do already have her parent's names from Aldina's social security application. According to Aldina's passenger record, she traveled to Boston with her brother, Annibal, whose death date I do not have. I am not sure where he was living or if he died after 1950, but he is not listed in the Rhode Island Death database either.

The more confusing side of my husband's portuguese family is another set of great great grandparents, the Gouveia/Martin's. I have found this family listed as Joseph Gouveia, Joseph Govey, Joseph Martin, Joseph Martin Govey; the last entry is how he is listed in the Rhode Island Death database. I previously had not had a death date for Joseph or his wife Theresa. Joseph died February 1, 1901 in Cranston, RI. The birth date for Joseph does seem to be a bit off from what I have in my family tree, I am not sure why the discrepancy, but perhaps this is not the correct death information after all. My original source for Joseph's birth was the 1900 census, which gave his birth about 1854. His death record shows his birth as 1865. If the Rhode Island Death database is correct, then Joseph's parents are Manuel Gouveia and Theresa. In this database, there is also a Frank Martin Govey born in 1879 with the same parents, perhaps Joseph's brother.

Joseph's wife Theresa has been a little more difficult to find. I have Theresa's maiden name as Andrade, from her daughter Mary's social security application. The death database does list a Theresa Martin Amorel Govey with a death date of 24 Feb 1912 in Warwick, RI. The parents listed though do not match her maiden name of Andrade - but are Antonio and Clara Amorel. The birthdate of 1868 is also different than the Theresa from the 1900 census of around 1856. I am not sure I am finding the correct couple with these different birth dates, but I am now beginning to think that the census was incorrect. I checked to see if I had Theresa in the 1910 census, and I did. This census does list her birth date of 1870, much closer to the death record I found. She is also living in Warwick, RI, the place the "other" Theresa died only 2 years later. I am inclined to believe this is the correct death record of Theresa. Perhaps the social security application noted her maiden name incorrectly, or some Azorean naming custom which I do not understand has come into play. Once again, the Gouveia's/Martins are giving me some difficulty.

Overall, I was happy with the information I found in this database. I am not done searching through it yet, but I do want to move on to my other task of writing about one set of my great grandparents.