ancestry of vicente jose pereira

There is one more of Jeff's fourth great grandparents on Aldina's (great grandmother) paternal line to write about.  It is Vicente Jose Pereira, husband to Anna Jacinta, the subject of my last post. Vicente's was born in 1789 to Manoel Pereira and Magdalena Roza.

Finding Vicente's Death Record
As with his wife Jacinta, I searched for Vicente's death record in the parish of Matriz, where they lived most of their family life.  I knew that he died before his wife as she was listed as a widow in her death record.  I found his death occurred on March 24, 1849, when he was about 61 years old.  The death record states he is married to Anna, but the second name for Anna is difficult to read.  I am not sure it is Jacinta in this record.

Finding Vicente's Baptismal Record
Vicente and Anna's marriage record states that Vicente was baptized in Conceicao, Ribeira Grande, which is where I found his baptismal record in 1789.  I wrote a little bit about finding this record and the conflicting age information that the marriage record contains in an earlier post.  This baptismal record; however, confirms his parents' names of Manoel Pereira and Magdalena Roza, and also states that they were baptized in the same parish of Conceicao.  I was able to find both Manoel and Magdalena's baptismal records (see below) and their marriage record, all in Conceicao. These records gave me Vicente's grandparents' names to research back another generation.

Manoel Pereira's Ancestry

Manoel Pereira was born July 31, 1762 in Conceicao, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel.  From this record I now have his parents' names and where they were baptized.  Manoel's mother, Catharina da Costa da Trindade, was also born in Conceicao, Ribeira Grande.  His father; however, Vicente Pereira, was born in a different area on the island of Sao Miguel; in Fenais da Luz, Ponta Delgada.  These villages are both on the northern part of the island, only about 8 miles apart.



I was able to find Vicente and Catharina's marriage record, which does have their parents' names on it, but I am finding it difficult to read.

Vicente's parents look like Antonio Pereira and Luzia Almeida.  I was able to find Vicente's death record, which gave an estimated birth year of 1729.  I spent some time browsing the records in Fenais da Luz from 1723-1732, but I was unable to find a baptism for Vicente.  I also browsed through the 1716-1729 Fenais de Luz marriage records, but was not able to find a marriage record for an Antonio Pereira and Luzia Almeida.  It is strange to me that I cannot find either record, which makes me think I either have the dates wrong or the wrong place of baptism for Vicente.

Catharina's parents are much more difficult for me to decipher from their marriage record.  Her name, Catharina, seems to be written twice on the record, then her father's name might be Jose da Costa and her mother's name looks like Maria do Reis.  With these possible parents' names, I then browsed through baptismal records for Catharina in Conceicao, but did not have much luck finding anything.  There was one Catharina which was a possibility, born in 1727, to Joseph da Costa and Maria Rodriques.  I am not confident enough to include this record in the family tree.  I did look for a Jose da Costa and Maria do Reis, and a Joseph da Costa and Maria Rodriques marriage in Conceicao between the years 1714 and 1727, but also had no luck  With the indeterminate names of Catharina's parents, I probably am not going to find much more information on this family.



Magdalena Roza's Ancestry

Magdalena Roza was born October 31, 1762, in Conceicao, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel.  Her parents are Antonio Dios Clemente from Conceicao and Maria Francisca from Matriz, also in Ribeira Grande.

Magdalena's parents, Antonio and Maria, were married on October 15, 1759 in Conceicao.

Maria's parents are Jose da Costa Japoya and Agada Vieira (deceased). I was able to find Jose and Agada's marriage record bringing the line back another generation.  Jose da Costa Japoya and Agada Vieira Carneiro were married on July 28, 1723 in Matriz, Ribeira Grande.  Their parents are Manoel Lopes Japoya (deceased) and Susanna da Costa, and Joao Carneiro and Maria Viera.  These are Jeff's 8th great grandparents.  I then exchanged a great deal of emails with JR from the Azores Google Group, who had many more marriages for Maria's ancestors.  With his help, I was able to go back with one line to the marriage of Jeff's 13th great grandparents, Jorge Gonsalves and Maria Mendes in the parish of Matriz, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel on January 15, 1546.  The marriage record only lists Maria Mendes' mother, as Isabella Mendes (Jeff's 14th great grandmother).   The chart for this line is too large to include here, but here is a link to Magdalena's pedigree.  Wikipedia has an interesting excerpt on the history of Ribeira Grande, which includes some of Maria's ancestry's surnames of the 1500s, such as Gonsalves, Carneiro, and Alvares.  Maria's line was probably some of the first settlers of Ribeira Grande on the island.      

I also had some success with Antonio's line.   On Antonio and Maria's marriage record, Antonio is listed as a widow to Anna Francisca, with no parents named.  In order to find Antonio's parent's, I needed to find his first marriage.  It took a while, but I found that he was married 3 times before he married Maria.  One year with his first wife, one year with his second, and 20 years with his third wife.  His last wife, Maria (Jeff's ancestor), was around 30 years younger than Antonio.  She had at least two children with Antonio.  I am not sure how many other children he had, I will have to browse through many records to find them. These are his marriages:

1. Antonio's marriage to Maria Theresa, in Conceicao on February 7, 1737.  This marriage record has Antonio's parents as Joseph Cavaglo and Maria Clemente (deceased).
2. Antonio's marriage to Theresa Francisca, in Matriz on January 6, 1738.
3. Antonio's marriage to Anna Francisca, in the parish of Matriz on April 30 1739.    
4. Antonio's marriage to Maria Francisca, in Matriz on October 15, 1759.   

I was only able to find two more generations back for Antonio on his paternal side; but with the help of JR, mentioned above, I was able to go back much further on his maternal line.  We found ancestors back to the mid 1500's all in the same parish of Matriz in Ribeira Grande on the Island of Sao Miguel, which includes 4 sets of Jeff's 12th great grandparents.  Again, to follow this line, the link to Magdalena's pedigree is here.

I began this series of posts on my husband's Azorean ancestors a year ago, in March of 2015.  I started with his great grandmother, Aldina Pereira, who was born in 1889, in the parish of Matriz, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel.  When I began, I had no idea the records would lead me back to the 1500's in the same parish.  The past 14 posts only discussed Aldina's paternal line.  My next series of posts may be her maternal line, starting with Maria da Paixao Moreira, also born in Matriz, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel.

  

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

vicente jose pereira and anna jacinta - 4th great grandparents

I first started writing about my husband's Portuguese ancestors almost a year ago with some posts about his great grandmother, Aldina Pereira, who was born in Ribeira Grande on the Island of Sao Miguel in the Azores.  I then wrote about some of her paternal line, which included one set of Jeff's 4th great grandparents, Bento Soares and Josefa do Amaral.  For this post I am going to focus on my husband's other set of 4th great grandparents on Aldina's paternal line.  I was able to obtain their names, Vicente Jose Pereira and Anna Jacinta, from their grandson's, Antonio do Amaral Pereira, baptismal record (Jeff's 2nd great grandfather).



Family - Children
I wrote about Vicente and Anna's daughter Margarida in an earlier post and found that she was born in Matriz, Ribeira Grande, São Miguel, Açores.  Knowing what area this family was from helped me with my next step, which was to browse through the Matriz parish index (one of the few parishes that have an index available online) to find other children of Vicente and Anna.  I found a total of 8; the first one, Manoel born in 1810 and the last, Maria, in 1834.  All of the children's baptismal records that I have found for Vicente and Anna do have the same information on them with the parents' and grandparents' names.  Below is their family chart.



Marriage
With Vicente and Anna's children's birth dates, I was able to narrow down a possible marriage date for Vicente and Anna.  I was guessing they were married around 1809 in the Ribeira Grande area.  I started with the year 1807 and looked through the parish registers for the areas of Matriz, Conceição, and Rabo de Peixe.  Since I was not able to find their marriage I took to the Azores Google Group and posted to see if anyone had any suggestions.  Someone was able to find their marriage in 1806 in the parish of Conceição, Ribeira Grande  - if only I had looked one year earlier.  I am a little surprised however that they were married for over three years before they had their first child; unless they had their first child in the parish of Conceição, where they were married.  I have not looked through these records yet.

This marriage does provide some information which does not seem to fit in with this family.  The marriage record states that Vicente's parents are Manoel Pereira and Magdalena Rosa; which are the same names listed in Margarida Isabel Pereira's baptismal record as her grandparents.  This marriage record also has the correct parents for Anna Jacinta; which is, father unknown and mother is Francisca Ignacia.  The problem comes from the ages the marriage record lists in the margins.  Vicente's age is listed as 27, and Anna is 22 in 1806, the year of their marriage.  However; if Anna was 22 in 1806, she would have been 50 years old when she had her last daughter Maria in 1834 and Vicente would have been 55. These ages are unlikely, but still possible.  Finding their baptismal records would help solve these age issues.

Birth
I was able to find Vicente and Anna's birth location from their daughter's baptismal record, Margarida Isabel Pereira.  Vicente was born in Conceição, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel, Açores and Anna Jacinta was born in Rabo de Peixe, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel, Açores.

Now knowing which parish to look through, I found a Vicente baptised to a Manoel Pereira and Magdalena Rosa in 1789 in Conceição, Ribeira Grande; which would make Vicente 17 when he was married, not 27.  It seems probable that the ages were written incorrectly on the marriage record.  To further confirm birth date, I think I found his death record, which states he was 61 in 1849, which would make his birth date around 1788.

I have not been able to find a baptismal record that matches perfectly for Anna Jacinta.  The closest I have found is Anna born in 1791 to a Francisca de Jesus.  If this is Anna, she would have been only 15 at the time of her marriage in 1806; which is possible.  This may also explained why they did not have children right away if she was so young.  But this baptismal record has the mother's second name as de Jesus, not Ignacia like all the 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.   I did find Anna's death record at the age of 68 in 1860, which would give Anna a birth year of about 1792.  This matches the first baptismal record I found for Anna.

After finding these baptismal and death records, it seems to me that the ages on their marriage record are incorrect.  This would mean Vicente was 17 and Anna was 15.  These are young ages to be married, but I have seen other marriages with spouses this young.  Perhaps Anna felt the need to marry at such a young age because her situation may not have been great, especially if she was living with her single mother who had her out of wedlock.

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.

bento soares and josefa do amaral

Bento Soares and Josefa do Amaral are my husband's 4th great grandparents.  They were married on November 5, 1804 at the church of Nossa Senhora da Anunciação, in Achada, Nordeste, São Miguel, Açores. 

marriage record of bento soares and josefa do amaral church of Nossa Senhora da Anunciação, in Achada, Nordeste, São Miguel

Their marriage record lists their parents' names, which I already had; but it also gives the baptismal dates of the bride and groom.  They were both baptized in the same church in Achada; Bentos in 1782 and Josefa in 1784.  Their baptismal records are below.

baptismal record of Bento Soares church of Nossa Senhora da Anunciação, in Achada, Nordeste, São Miguel

I love that the handwriting of this priest is so easy to read.  The only new information I have from Bento's baptismal record is his date of birth, May 1, 1782; and the churches his parents were baptized in.  Both parents, Antonio and Maria, were baptized in the same church as their son, Nossa Senhora da Anunciação, in Achada.  I also noted that his father Antonio's name only includes the surname Soares, and not Soares Robello; which was listed in Antonio's grandson's baptismal record.  The Robello surname was also not mentioned in Bento's marriage record. 

baptismal record of Josefa do Amaral church of Nossa Senhora da Anunciação, in Achada, Nordeste, São Miguel

Josefa's baptismal record shows her date of birth as February 13, 1784.  Josefa's mother, Antonia, was also baptized in the church in Achada, but her name is listed a little differently.  On Josefa's marriage record and on the grandson Antonio's baptismal record, Antonia has the surname of Amaral.  On Josefa's baptismal record, her mother is listed as Antonia de Jesus.  As I have seen before, this could be a name that has come from another generation.  Josefa's baptismal record also shows that her father Jose was baptized in the church of Nossa Senhora dos Neves in Relva, Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, Açores.  Now I have a place to start to find Josefa's parents' marriage and baptismal records.

antonio jacintho de amaral

Antonio Jacintho de Amaral is another one of my husband's third great grandparents.  He is the husband of Margarida Izabel, who I wrote about it my previous post.  I was able to find his baptismal record from the church of Nossa Senhora da Anunciação in Achada, Nordeste, Sao Miguel, Açores.

church where Antonio Jacintho de Amaral was baptized in 1815
Nossa Senhora da Anunciação in Achada, Nordeste, Sao Miguel, Açores

"Igreja da Achada, Nordeste, ilha de São Miguel, Açores" by José Luís Ávila Silveira/Pedro Noronha e Costa - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Antonio was born on September 12, 1815 in Achada.  His father is Bento Soares and his mother is Josefa do Amaral; both are also from Achada, Nordeste, São Miguel, Açores.  As I expected, Antonio's baptismal record includes both sets of grandparents.  His paternal grandparents are Antonio Soares Robello and and Maria do Santos.  His maternal grandparents are Jose de Silva and Antonia Amaral.


When I entered these names into my tree on ancestry.com, I found another user had done some research on this family.  It looks like Antonio had a sister, Margarida, who had a son, Joao Soares Andrade.  Joao apparently took his family to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he died.  This would be Antonio's nephew and Antonio de Amaral Pereira's cousin.  I know that many people from the Azores immigrated to Hawaii; I did not know my husband had ancestors there, and probably still has distant cousins there.   

I will have to look in the records to see if I can find Antonio's sister, Margarida.  I will also have to browse through the records to find other siblings.  I think my next record to find; though, will be Antonio's parents' marriage and baptismal records, Bento and Josefa. 

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. 

antonio do amaral pereira

I have an approximate birth year for Antonio do Amaral Pereira of 1849 in the parish of Matriz, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel, Açores.  His baptismal record was easy to find with this information; Antonio was born on November 13, 1849 (from Centro de Conhecimento dos Açores (CCA) website).

baptismal record for Antonio do Amaral Pereira
Nossa Senhora da Estrella, Matriz, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel, Azores
This record gives us some new information, such as Antonio's grandparents.  The handwriting is difficult for me to read, but I have interpreted his paternal grandparents as Bento Soares and Josefa do Amaral and his maternal grandparents as Vicente Jose Pereira and Anna Jacinta (which shows the origin of the Pereira surname is indeed from Antonio's maternal grandfather and the Amaral name comes from his paternal grandmother).  There is also some information on the margins that I am unable to read. (UPDATE : I posted a question to the google Azores Genealogy group for a translation of the margin notes, it is Antonio's death date of 1937 in the parish of Conceição, Ribeira Grande).

pedigree chart for Aldina Pereira (updated)
Since I have been looking in the parish of Matriz, I thought it would be a good time to look in the 1800-1899 index from the CCA website for other baptisms that took place here in Antonio's line.  Now that I know his mother, Margareda Izabel's, parents' names, I could locate her in the index.  This index shows her baptism was recorded in register volume 37. 

I also tried looking for the marriage record of Antonio's parents, Antonio de Amaral and Margareda Izabel in both Achada and Matriz between the years 1837-1850.  I am not sure which parish they were married in, but I had no luck finding them in either parish register.  There is no index for marriages for these years, so I had to browse through the individual records.  (UPDATE: with help from the Azores Genealogy Google group, someone posted what I believe is their marriage record, names Antonio Jacinto de Amaral and Margarida Isabel Viera - I will write about this in my next post)

Antonio and Margareda also had another son Luiz that I happened upon while browsing for children of Antonio do Amaral Pereira and Maria Paixao.  I found Luiz's son Manuel's baptismal record.  Luiz is listed in the Matriz index for volume 47; I will have to look into that also.

I did try to find some more children of Antonio de Amaral and Margareda Izabel, but since the index is organized by first name and not year, it is not easy to scan for parents during a certain time frame.  I attempted to look for common Portuguese names to see if they had Antonio and Margareda as parents and I was able to find two additional children for this couple.  Maria born in 1848 and another Antonio born in 1843.  So I have found three siblings so far for Antonio do Amaral Pereira; Luiz, Antonio, and Maria. 

I am sure Antonio had more siblings than three, but I would have to browse the index or the actual records to find them.  I will try this when I have some more free time, and I thought I would focus on finding records that might be a little easier to locate.   As I mentioned above, I have the marriage record of Antonio de Amaral and Margareda Izabel, which will give me their approximate birth dates and enable me to find their baptismal records to bring the family back another generation.   

antonio do amaral pereira and maria da paixo

Below is a picture of Antonio do Amaral Periera and Maria da Paixao, my husband's 2nd great grandparents.  This picture was handed down to my husband, but I am not sure of its origin.


Antonio do Amaral Pereira and Maria da Paixao
Antonio do Amaral Pereira married Maria da Paixao on November 15, 1886, at the church Santíssimo Salvador do Mundo, in Ribeirinha, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel, Açores.  As I mentioned in my last post, Rick Pimentel directed me to their marriage record through the Azores Genealogy group.  A picture of the church they were married in is below.


Santíssimo Salvador do Mundo, Ribeirinha, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel, Açores

From Panoramio Google Maps: Kris Verhoeven

marriage record for Antonio do Amaral Pereira and Maria da Paixo Santíssimo Salvador do Mundo, in Ribeirinha, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel, Açores
Their marriage record gives Antonio's age as 37 and Maria's as 19.  This is a large age discrepancy, I am not sure if this was a normal occurrence or perhaps Antonio was married previously.  The ages at the time of marriage give the approximate date of birth for Antonio as 1849 and Maria as 1867. 

The record also states that Antonio's father, Antonio do Amaral, was a native of a different parish on the island, Achada.  Antonio's mother and Maria's father were both from the parish of Matriz, where all of Antonio's and Maria's children were baptized.  I did not highlight the part where it states which parishes the married couple were from, but Antonio was from Matriz and Maria was from the parish they were married in, Ribeirinha, as was Maria's mother.

One thing I have noticed from this marriage record is the naming traditions of the Azorean's is different than other areas I have researched.  For instance, Antonio do Amaral Pereira's parents are Antonio de Amaral and Margareda Izabel.  Neither have the surname Pereira, which is what Antonio includes in all of the records I have found for him.  Researching the Azores records are new to me, so I searched google for some explanations.  It seems that surnames were not always used and that they could either come from the father or mother's side of the family.  I did find one record which states Margareda Izabel's name as Margareda Izabel Pereira (Anibal Pereira's baptismal record - Antonio do Amaral Pereira's son), so the surname does seem to have come from Antonio's maternal line.

This marriage record gives enough information to find Antonio do Amaral Pereira's baptismal record around 1849 in the parish of Achada and Maria da Paixao's baptismal record around 1867 in the parish of Ribeirinha, both on the island of Sao Miguel, Açores.  My next post will focus on finding Antonio's baptism; perhaps showing the origin of the Pereira surname.

aldina pereira francisco part 3 (parents and siblings)

Aldina Pereira's birth record from the church, Nossa Senhora da Estrella, in Matriz, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel, Azores, was the gateway record to finding more about her family on the island of Sao Miguel.  With help from the Azores Genealogy Group, I was able to transcribe the record enough to obtain her parents' and grandparents' names and the churches they were baptized in, as seen below in her pedigree chart.  Rick Pimentel also directed me to Aldina's parent's marriage record, which I will write about in my next post.

Below is a map (google maps) of the island of Sao Miguel, where the Pereira family is from.
     

pedigree for Aldina Pereira Franciso
I wanted to see if I could find some siblings of Aldina by browsing through the records for the church Nossa Senhora da Estrella.  I knew she had a brother Anibal, which I found quickly since I had a birth year of about 1886.  I browsed through many years looking for their parents' names in the baptismal records, until I came across an index to baptisms for this church through the Google Groups, Azores Genealogy.  The index looks to be from the University of the Azores, and breaks the years up into two books for baptisms, Baptismos Livro 1 (1860-1884) and Baptismos Livro 2 (1885-1910).  The index is organized alphabetically by child's first name, then alphabetical by parents' name.  I still had to browse through many pages, but it was much quicker and easier to look through this table than to sift through each baptismal page looking for parents' names.  Amazingly, I found 10 children for Antonio do Amaral Pereira and Maria da Paixao.  Their last child, Maria, was born in 1908, when Antonio was 59 years old and Maria was 41. 

family chart for Antonio do Amaral Pereira and Maria da Paixao

aldina pereira francisco part 2 (records)

In my last post I transcribed the baptismal record of my husband's great grandmother from Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel, Azores.  In this post I will go over some of the other records I have for Aldina, and the order that I found them in.

Starting with what is known, Jeff's grandfather's name: Gilbert Ernest Francis born in 1915 in RI.

Gilbert is listed in the 1920 census with his family, Ernest Francis and Aldene Francis in Providence, RI.

• Residence 1920: 368 Wickenden St, Providence, Rhode Island
• states Aldene was born in the Azores around 1898, and she immigrated in 1905.  The birth year seems young, as she would have had a baby when she was 17 years old.
• Source: Ancestry.com, 1920 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010), Year: 1920; Census Place: Providence Ward 1, Providence, Rhode Island; Roll: T625_1676; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 172; Image: 909; Name: Aldene Francis.

Gilbert in the 1930 census with his family, father Ernest Francis, mother Aldine Francis.

• Residence 1930 : 10 Ingraham St, East Providence, RI
• states Aldine Francis was born in Azores around 1890, immigrated in 1911, and married at the age of 23, about 1913.  So if she immigrated in 1911, or in 1905 as the 1920 census states, she was married in RI.  The 1930 census birth date seems more likely, especially if she married in 1913.
• Source: Ancestry.com, 1930 United States Federal Census (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2002.Original data - United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, 2,667 rol), Year: 1930; Census Place: East Providence, Providence, Rhode Island; Roll: 2172; Page: 28B; Enumeration District: 212; Image: 303.0. Name: Aldine Francis.

Next I looked for Ernest Francis and Aldina's marriage record in Rhode Island around 1913, to find Aldine's maiden name.  

• Marriage: 14 Sep 1912 in RI
• This is just an index, so the only additional information, other than marriage date, is names of Ernesto Francisco and Aldina Pereira
• Source : Ancestry.com, Rhode Island Marriages, 1636-1930 (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000.), Name:Aldina Pereira.

Now I have Aldina's maiden name and two dates to keep in mind for a passenger record for Aldina Pereira, 1905 (from the 1920 census) and 1911 (from the 1930 census).  I found an Aldina Pereira traveling with her brother Anibal Pereira in 1907.  

• Arrive: 28 Nov 1907 in Boston, Massachusetts
• states Aldina was born around 1889 in Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel, Azores; lists her father as Antonio Pereira from Ribeira Grande.
• Source : Ancestry.com, Boston Passenger Lists, 1820-1943 (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2006.Original data - Boston, Massachusetts. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Boston, Massachusetts, 1891-1943. Micropublication T843. RG085. Rolls # 1-454. National Archives, Washington, D.C.Bo), Name:  Aldina Percira.

Now that I have this passenger record, I need to connect this Aldina Pereira with Ernesto Francisco, and then I can be sure that this is Aldina's passenger record and that she was born in Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel, with a father of Antonio Pereira.  Her marriage record, which I do not have, would list her parents.  Also, her death record would list her parents' names.

I did find a death record from the Social Security Death Index for a Aldina Francis.

• Death: Dec 1971 in Rumford, Providence, RI
• Source: Ancestry.com, U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-Current (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2011), Number: 037-05-1115; Issue State: Rhode Island; Issue Date: Before 1951.
• Burial: Gate of Heaven Cemetery, East Providence, RI
• She is buried with three of her daughters, Doris, Hilda and Anna, all seem to have not married as they all have the surname Francis.  No Ernest Francis on headstone from picture.
• Source : findagrave.com, Find A Grave; Find A Grave Memorial# 135473210.

headstone of Aldina Pereira Francis (from findagrave member J. Benjamin Chrismond #47684041)

Back in 2008, I actually sent away for Aldina's SS-5 application to obtain more information, and I wrote a blog post about it.  Unfortunately; I cannot find this application, but according to my post, this record shows that Aldina's parents are Antonio Amaral Perry and Mary Moreira.  The father's name matches the Aldina that immigrated in 1907, just a little americanized as Perry rather than Pereira.  I did not write it in that post, but I am sure they must have listed Aldina's husband as Ernest Francis, or I would have noticed otherwise.  It seems very likely to me that the passenger record in 1907 is the correct Aldina Pereira, as the SS-5 application links the surname Francis to Aldina Pereira with a father of Antonio Perry (Pereira).  The headstone at Gate of Heaven Cemetery also connects Aldina Francis who dies in 1971 to her children Dora, Hilda and Anna from the censuses.

I wrote in my last post how I found the baptismal record of Aldina Pereira Francisco in the church records available online.

• Birth:  19 Jul 1889 in Matriz, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel, Azores; parish Matriz da Estrela
• The birth date is a bit off from the SS-5 application of June 24, 1889.
• Source : Matriz da Estrela (Ribeira Grande, São Miguel, Azores), Registos Paroquiais, Estrela, Batismos 1885-1889 > 1889 > 0062 (accessed 3/23/2015). baptism aldina pereira. Centro de Conhecimento dos Açores (CCA).

The following are some other records I found for Aldina Pereira Francisco:

1. Residence 1915 : 134 Brook St, Providence, Rhode Island
• Source : Ancestry.com, Rhode Island, State Censuses, 1865-1935 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013), Enumeration Year: 1915; Township: Providence Ward 1; County: Providence; Enumeration District or Census Tract: 224; Line Number: 43; Household number: 170; Volume Number: 11; Name: Ida Francis.
2. Residence 1925 : 10 Ingraham St, East Providence, Rhode Island
• Source: Ancestry.com, Rhode Island, State Censuses, 1865-1935 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013), Enumeration Year: 1925; Township: East Providence ; County: Providence; Enumeration District or Census Tract: 119; Line Number: 20; Household number: 1; Volume Number: 14; Page Number: 3; Name : Huldina Francis
3. Residence 1941 : 10 Ingraham St, East Providence, Rhode Island
• Source: Ancestry.com, U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011), Publication Title: East Providence, Rhode Island, City Directory, 1941; name: Ernest Francis.

I still have not found Ernest or Aldina in the 1940 Federal Census or the 1935 RI census.  I did find their children Arthur and Hilda (age 13 and 14) in the 1935 RI census, living at 10 Ingraham St., but no one else in the family seems to be listed. This census is filed differently than others, with each person on their own individual card. I cannot find a way to find an entire household.  As for the 1940 Federal census, Ernest and Aldina are listed in the 1941 East Providence directory, still living at 10 Ingraham Street. I searched for this street on the 1940 census, and it is included, but the enumerator seems to have missed house number 10. Perhaps the Francisco family were not home on this day. 

aldina pereira francisco part 1 (birth)

Aldina Pereira Francisco is my husband's great grandmother from the Azores, Portugal.  It has been passed down to him that she is from the Island of Sao Miguel, but I have not ventured into any Portuguese records yet.  I have searched a little for her records in the US, but have found the Azores naming traditions to be difficult to follow.  Sometimes their surnames will be completely different from one census to the next, which makes tracing the families very difficult.  I thought I would give it another try though by starting with reading some guides on Azore genealogy.  This is how I came across the Azore Genealogy group on Google groups.  They brought me to the Centro de Conhecimento dos Açores (CCA) website, which is done by the Portuguese government and includes parish records all the way up to the 1900s.  As suggested on this Azores Google group, the easiest way to link to this site is through the tombo portal.

To use this site, I would need to know which part of Sao Miguel Aldina was from.  I had already found her passenger record which states she and her brother Anibal were from Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel, Azores.  The record gives an address for their father Antonio A. Pereira of R. Gonçalo Bezerra.  After looking this street up on google maps and looking at the wikipedia article on Ribeira Grande, I knew that this address would be part of the Matriz parish.  I browsed through the year 1889 (estimated birth date from passenger record) in these parish books and was very excited to find Aldina's baptismal record.  These records not only give Aldina's parent's names, but her maternal and paternal grandparents.  The record also states that her parents were from, and married, in another parish of Ribeirinha, Ribeira Grande at the church of Santíssimo Salvador do Mundo.


baptismal record for Aldina Pereira from Matriz, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel

I have tried to translate this record, with a little help from the Azores Google Group...

"On the thirteenth day of the month of august/
of the year one thousand eight hundred eighty/
nine in the mother church parish/
of Nossa Senhora da/
Estrella, council of the town/
of Ribeira Grande, diocese/
of Angra, baptized solemnly/
an individual of the feminine/
sex to whom I gave the name of Aldina/
and that born at one hour/
in the morning on the nineteenth day of/
the month of July…/
legitimate daughter of Antonio/
de Amaral Pereira, carpenter, and of/
Maria de Paixao, …/
domestic, natives of/
Santissimo Salvador of the/
place of Ribeirinha where they where/
married …, /
paternal granddaughter of Antonio de Amaral/
and Margareda Izabel, maternal/
of Jose Jacintheo Moreira and/
Maria do Espineto Santo.  For/
godfather Jose …/
.../
...godmother Filomena de/
Jesus…"

Below is a photo of the church Aldina Pereira was baptized in.

By José Luís Ávila Silveira/Pedro Noronha e Costa (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons"
Matriz da Ribeira Grande, Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Estrela, Ilha de São Miguel, Açores

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.