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.