ancestry of ann jacinta

Anna Jacinta is my husband's 4th great grandmother, born around 1791 in Rabo de Peixe, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel, Açores.  As I wrote in my last post, I know that Anna's mother's name is Francisca Ignacia, and her father is unknown; as stated in Anna's marriage record and her children's baptismal records.


Finding Anna's Baptismal Record
I browsed the baptismal records for Rabo de Peixe through the years 1783-1792 and found only two Anna's that could be likely matches.  I wrote a little bit about this in my last post.  The record that seems to match the best is for an Anna born in 1791 to a Francisca de Jesus.  This baptismal record has the mother's second name as de Jesus, not Ignacia like all of Anna's other records.  This discrepancy does not mean the record is not Anna's, as second names change in the portuguese documents frequently; however, it does not help confirm it is the correct record.  I did find another Anna born in 1783 to a married couple, mother's name Francisca Ignacia.  But according to all the other records, Anna's father is unknown; so I find this record more unlikely.   

Finding Anna's Death Record
I browsed through the parish of Matriz, where Anna spent her married life, to see if I could find a death record; which I found in 1860 (Anna's death record).  When Anna died in 1860, she was 68 years old.  This would give Anna a birth year of about 1792.  This matches the first baptismal record I found for Anna, making me confident enough to include it, and all the information it contains, in my family tree. 

Anna's Grandparents
Since Anna's father is unknown, I will not be able to find any information on her paternal line.  Her maternal line; however, can go back at least one more generation, as Anna's baptismal record lists her mother's parents.  They are  Manoel da Silva de Pimentel and Eugenia Rosa.  The record also states that Manaoel and Eugenia are from Porto Formosa, Ribeira Grande, on Sao Miguel.  I looked for a baptismal record for Anna's mother Francisca Ignacia in this parish between the years 1766-1780 and found what I think to be a match.  The name does not exactly look like Francisca, but the year seems to be right, 1768.  This would have made Francisca about 23 years old when she had her daughter, Anna Jacinta.  I also looked before this date to see if I could find more children of Manoel and Eugenia.  I did find two of Francisca's siblings by browsing through the Porto Formoso records.  I have not checked the records after Francisca's birth yet to find more possible siblings.  Below is the family I have found for Manoel and Eugenia.

Anna's Great Grandparents and beyond

The baptismal records for this time period did not include grandparents' names, so my next step was to find Manoel and Eugenia's marriage record in hopes of bringing the line back another generation.  I started the year their first child was born, 1764, and made my way backwards in the records until I found it.  Manoel and Eugenia were married in April of 1763 in Porto Formoso.  The record does list their parents' names, (Francisca's grandparents), but they are a bit difficult to read.  It looks like Manoel's parents are Joam da Silva (with another surname I am unable to read), deceased, and Maria de Pementel.  Eugenia's parents are also difficult to read, her father's name looks like Manoel de Souza Santo and I can only make out her mother's first name of Anna, deceased.  I put a query into the Googles Azores group, for some help with reading these names a little better, and of course I had two quick responses.  It seems Anna's last name is probably Viveiros, and Joam's surname I was unsure of is Fajoeira. Their marriage record also states that Manoel and Eugenia were both baptised in Porto Fomoso; however, baptismal records do not go back far enough in Porto Fomoso to include Manoel and Eugenia.  Fortunately, Porto Formoso's marriage records go back further, and now that I have another generation of names (Manoel and Eugenia's parents') I took to the records again.   Starting twenty years earlier -  1737 - I browsed for marriage records for Joam da Silva Fajoeira and Maria de Pemental, and for Manoel de Souza Santo and Anna Viveiros.  Below are what I believe to be their marriage records, but the earlier you go in these records, the more difficult I find them to read.  I did get some help translating from the Azores Google group again.

Joam da Silva Fajoeira and Maria De Pementel
This marriage record in 1733 for Joam and Maria looks like a possibility.  Although after posting to the google group again, it does not seem to be the correct couple.  This seems to be for the marriage of Joao da Silva and Maria da Ponte.  I browsed the Porto Formoso records back to 1695 and did not find them.  The marriage records were hard to read, so I could have very well missed them.  They could also have been married in another parish.

Manoel de Souza Santo and Anna Viveiros
The marriage record of Manoel and Anna, translated from JR on Azores Google group "March 16 1727 Manoel de Souza filho de Sebastiao de Souza ja defunto e Luzia? Pachequa natural de lugar de Maya ...onde contrahente foi baptizado com Anna de Viveiros filha de Sylvestre de Viveiros e de Maria Ferreyra ja defunta moradores neste lugar de Porto Formozo ...onde foi baptizada.."  My rough translation from this is that Manoel de Souza son of Sebastiao de Souza, deceased and Luiza? Pachequa, native of parish of Maya, where he was baptized, with Anna de Viveiros, daughter of Sylvestre de Viveiros and of Maria Ferreyra, deceased, of the parish of Porto Formoso, where she was baptized.  So one more generation back!  Some other helpful information from this google group post was from Sandra Perez who writes that a sister to Anna de Viveiros is Catarina.  Other siblings are also mentioned, Francisca and Barbara.  JR from the google group also mentions another marriage for their father, Sylvestre de Viveiros, occurred in 1714; which would mean that their mother Maria Ferreyra was deceased by then.

Since the marriage records in Porto Formoso go back to 1695, I looked for Anna's parents' (Syvestre de Viveiros and Maria Ferreyra) marriage.  I was unable to find their marriage though, they do not seem to be in the Porto Formoso records from 1695 - 1704.

According to Manoel and Anna's marriage record, Manoel was not from Porto Formoso, but from Maia, in Ribeira Grande.  The records go back further in this parish for baptism and marriages, and I was able to find 3 more generations back for Manoel's line, which would be Jeff's 10th great grandparents, Antonio Bulhoes and Maria Cabral and Pedro Vieira and Maria da Costa.  I included this ancestry in the pedigree chart below.

From aldina pereira francisco

ancestry of bento soares

In my last post, I wrote about Josefa do Amaral's parents.  This post I will focus on Josefa's husband's ancestry, Bento Soares.  I obtained Bento's parents' names from Bento's son's, Antonio Jacintho, baptism record.  They are Antonio Soares Rebello and Maria dos Santos, my husband's 5th great grandparents.

I like looking at these descendant charts because you can see how often the surnames change between generations.  I have found that most of my husband's Azorean ancestors have taken their mother's surname.

Both Antonio Soares Rebello and Maria dos Santos were baptized in Achada on the Island of Sao Miguel in the Azores.  I have a picture of the church in Achada from an earlier post about Antonio.

Antonio Soares Rebello ancestry

I was able to find Antonio's parents through Antonio's marriage record, Jose Soares Carreiro and Maria Rebello, who also spent their lives in Achada.  I did find Jose and Maria's marriage record in Achada, but it is missing some parts on the parish register, so I was not able to get the entire names of Antonio's grandparents, which makes bringing that line back another generation a little more difficult.

Jose Soares Carreiro's parents:
It looks like Jose's father's name begins with an M, and his mother is Maria Soares.  I looked for a marriage record for this couple in Achada around 1700, and found a possible match in 1698; but I am not certain it is correct as I do not know Jose's father's name.  This record shows the marriage of Manoel Rabello and Maria Soares.  If this is the correct couple, these would be Antonio's grandparents.  (I included the pedigree chart at the end of this post, but I did not include the names of the possible grandparents)  I may have also found Maria Soares' death record in 1729 in Achada.  Jose's marriage record does state Maria is deceased at the time of his marriage in 1734, so this could be her.  This Maria is about 50 years old at the time of her death, so she would have been born around 1679.  The husband stated on this record is the above Manoel Rabello.  Again; I have no evidence that this is the correct Maria, other than Jose's father's name begins with an "M" and that Maria died before 1734.  I have not looked for Manoel Rabello's death yet. (NOTE - azores genealogy group has information on this line with a second marriage for the above Manoel Rabello which links him with Carneiro surname - Manoel is listed as Manoel Rabelo Carniero.  With these new connections, I did add these names as Jose's parents.)

Maria Rebello's parents:
The only parts of Maria's parents' names I can gather from her marriage record are the surname of Rebello for her father and her mother's name as Cecilia Furtado.  Maria's marriage record also states that her mother, Cecilia, is deceased at the time of her marriage in 1734.  I looked through the Achada death records between the years 1703-1734, and the closest record I found was for a Cecilia Corvalda in 1729.  The surname does not match, but I have found other surnames change throughout time.  The husband's name of this Cecilia is Baltazar Rabello, which would fit with the Rebello last name on Maria's marriage record.  (It almost looks like the missing parts of his first name in Maria's marriage record could end in "ar"). This Cecilia is 60 years old at the time of her death in 1729, so she would have been born around 1669.   I also looked in the death records after 1734 up to 1745 for a Baltazar to see if Cecilia may be listed with surname of Furtado as wife; but the records are in bad shape for these years in Achada and I did not see any possible matches.  The death records then jump to 1753, so I think I will not be finding Baltazar's death.  This may be the ending point for this family line. (The marriage records for Achada beging in 1690, so I could look for a Baltazar Rabello and Cecilia Corvalda or Furtado here; but records are not in great shape.  There is also Canto's index which goes back a bit further, but I do not have access to it)



Maria dos Santos ancestry

According to Maria's baptism record, her parents were not from Achada (A) like her husband Antonio's parents.  Maria's father, Manoel Furtado Sengo, was baptized at the church in Achadinha (B); and her mother, Francisca Rodriquez, was baptized on the southern part of the island, at Agua do Pau (C).  (Note that Maria did not take a surname from her parents).  Below is a map of these areas of Sao Miguel.

Since Maria's parents, Manoel and Francisca, were from different areas of the island before they came to Achada and had Maria, it is more difficult to find their marriage record.  I browsed through the parish registers of Água do Pau and Achadinha, but did not find anything.  Many of the records during the late 1600's to early 1700's are illegible, so I very well could have missed it.  I have not looked that closely at the records in Achada for this couple, where they eventually settled and had their daughter Maria.  I have a possible baptismal record for Francisca; but I really need the marriage record to confirm parents.

ancestry of josefa do amaral

My last post left off with Bentos and Josefa's parents' names and location of baptisms.  I am focusing this post on Josefa do Amaral's parents, Antonia de Jesus de Amaral and Jose da Silva, my husband's 5th great grandparents.


I did not get that far with Josefa's mother, Antonia de Jesus de Amaral's line, because Antonia's parents are listed as Maria Amaral and father "incognito" or unknown (from Antonia's marriage and baptismal records).  Without a father's name, it is too difficult to trace back her mother, especially with a common name as Maria Amaral.  I need another name attached to Maria to identify her in the records, which I do not have.  Maria could have married at some point, but without her parent's names, it would be nearly impossible to identify her.

I had much more success with Josefa's father, Jose da Silva, who was baptized in Relva, Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel.  I was able to take Jose da Silva's maternal line back four more generations with the records in Relva, Ponta Delgada; and his paternal line back three more generations with the records in São Sebastião, Ponta Delgada.  These would be my husband's 9th great grandparents and his 8th great grandparents.  So exciting that these records are available online.




As you can see from the pedigree chart above, at some point Jose da Silva left Relva, Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel, for Achada, Sao Miguel; where he married his wife, Antonia de Jesus de Amaral.  Below is a google map of Relva (A) and Achada (B), 32 miles apart by car on opposite ends of the island of Sao Miguel, Azores.  The family only stayed at Achada for about two generations, when my husband's second great grandfather, Antonio do Amaral Pereira, was baptized in Ribeira Grande (C) on the island.  Ribeira Grande is where his immigrant ancestor, Aldina Pereira Francisco, was baptized.



Jose's mother, Antonia, was baptized at the same church in Relva, the church of Nossa Senhora dos Neves.  Jose's parents were also married here.  Jose's maternal grandmother's ancestry seems to be from Relva, where I was able to find records going four geneartions back.

Church at Relva, Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel; Nossa Senhora dos Neves from igreha acores website

Jose's father, Manoel, and paternal grandmother, Ursula, were from another part of Ponta Delgada, as they was baptized at São Sebastião, the central part of Ponta Delgada.  Jose's maternal grandfather, Antonio, was from a more northern part of Ponta Delgada, Fenais da Luz; and Jose's paternal grandfather was from Sao Matheos, Ponta Delgada, according to the records.

The records online end in the late 1600's for most parishes, so I am not able to go further back than the names I found above.  Maybe there are some published genealogies for the island that can lead me further back.  It would be great to find out when my husband's ancestors arrived on the island of Sao Miguel, and if they were some of the early settlers there.