magarida isabel

Margarida Isabel (Izabel) is my husband's third great grandmother.  She was born January 13, 1816 in Matriz, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel, Açores, and baptized at Nossa Senhora da Estrella in this parish.  Her marriage record from the last post included a surname of Viera.  I am not sure if I am reading it correctly or it should be Pereira, as that is her father's surname.  I have seen her name also include the surname Pereira in at least four of her grandchildren's baptismal records, so it could just be an error.  It could also be that Viera is another name that comes from generations past.  Her birth record brings this line back one more generation with the names of her grandparents, but none have the surname Viera.   

baptismal record of Margarida Isabel
Nossa Senhora da Estrella, Matriz, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel
I am getting a little better at reading these documents.  I already knew her father's name was Vincente Pereira and her mother was Anna Jacinta, but this document also provides the names of the parishes where they were from.  Her father Vincente was from Conceição, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel, Açores, and her mother Anna was from Rabo de Peixe, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel, Açores.  The Conceição parish registers go back to 1699 on the CCA website, and Rabo de Peixe goes back to 1577.  Neither church register has an index online though, so I will have to browse through many years to find Magarida's parents' baptisms. 

Margarida's paternal grandparents are listed on her baptismal record as Manuel Pereira and Magdalena Roza.  Margarida's maternal grandparents were much more difficult to read on this document.  After studying the document for a while, I believe the grandfather is listed as "incognito", and the grandmother is Francisca Tynalia or Jynalia.  Incognito could mean that the name was not known or was just not recorded, maybe other records would list his name, such as siblings of Margarida.



So now we have three names (3 out of 16) of Aldina's 2nd great grandparents (this makes the total for my husband's known 5th great grandparents 19 out of 128).  My next document to find will be Margarida's husband, Antonnio Jacintho de Amaral's, baptismal record.  Perhaps we will find four more of Aldina's 2nd great grandparents.

antonio de amaral and margarida izabel

I had some trouble finding Antonio de Amaral and Margarida Izabel's marriage record.  I first browsed through the Matriz parish records and the Achada marriage records beginning with the year 1838, as the first child I had for them was born in 1843.  I chose the parishes of Matriz and Achada because that is where Antonio and Margarida were baptized, according to their children's baptismal records.  I was unable to find the marriage record by browsing, but Rick Pimentel from the Google Azores Genealogy Group directed me to a possible record from Matriz. (picture of church).

marriage record of Antonio Jacinto de Amaral and Margarida Isabel Veira
church Nossa Senhora da Estrella, Matriz, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel


The names of the married couple in this record from 1842 are Antonio Jacinto de Amaral and Margareda Isabel Viera.  I probably did not notice this record while browsing because I have never seen Antonio's name with Jacinto included.  Also, Margareda has an added surname which I have not seen before, Viera.  Looking at the parents of Antonio; though, they match our Antonio - Bento Soares and Josefa do Amaral.  The record is a little jumbled at the end and I was unable to see what Margareda's parents' names were.  Again, the Google Azore Genealogy Group came to the rescue and noted that the record does not state Margareda's parents, but it does mention she was a widower of Bento Joaquim de Araujo.  This is information that I have not had before.

I browsed through the Matriz marriage records again to look for a marriage between Bento Joaquim de Araujo and Margarida, but I was unable to find it.  They may have married in another parish, or I may have just missed it.  This marriage record is not all that important right now, but it would be nice to have in my files. 

Getting back to the marriage record for Antonio and Margarida, I now have their ages at the time of marriage.  It looks like they were both 26, which would make their births to be about the year 1816.  I know from previous records that Antonio was from the parish of Achada in Nordeste, Sao Miguel; and Margarida was from the same parish they were married in, Matriz in Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel.  I already located Margarida's baptism in the Matriz index and will look at this record next. Then hopefully I will be able to find Antonio's baptismal record in the Achada parish book now that I have an approximate year.