In the book, Azores, Nine Islands, it talks about Rodas or Casas da Roda, where a baby could be left anonymously, much as we now have "safe houses" in the United States, when someone gives up a baby. It states that most municipalities in the second half of the 19th century had these places. The baby was then raised by a nannie to age 7 years, paid by the government. Having a registry of nannies was begun during the 16th century.
Does anyone know of this custom? Did the registries record the babies somehow, or were they just keeping track of the nannies? If the babies were anonymous, that meant they weren't baptised or given names? The book says that the total surpassed 1,000 babies (probably a total of all the municipalities, though it does not say) that were cared for in this way in 1858. In 1879 this strategy was abandoned and the mothers were paid to keep and care for the children. After this, there were many fewer babies abandoned. That must have been such a terrible situation for families, no wonder they left the Islands. That is a lot of children to not be accounted for, so I wonder if there was some record or if anyone knows. Char --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To unsubscribe from this group, send email to azores-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
