Carlos, Not quite.
End of line is when you run out of the records. You take the line back probably to about the Middle Ages (1400s or 1500s, unless you hit a royal line). Brick wall seems like an end of line, but the person is probably stuck in the 1800s still. For the Portuguese researcher, it may be because it's the immigrant and the researcher doesn't know where to look next, or has looked and hasn't found the freguesia written on that document. They get the records that state "Azores" or "Western Islands." They haven't given up, they just haven't found the right document. In American research, ancestors get labeled brick walls because there are many courthouses that burned during the American Civil War (I don't know how many burned courthouses are in Canada). We don't think of these as end of line, but as a brick wall, because we think there has to be a better way around these records. I had one American ancestor, born 1814 in a "burned out county." That means that there was a fire at one time that destroyed all or most of the records that are kept in the American courthouse back then. I thought I knew who his parents were, but since the county burned, I couldn't look up the will that his father wrote. I knew he wasn't the end of the line, but I was blocked (brick wall) from doing any further research. I eventually used DNA to figure out that line and was able to take it to the 1600s. In my Portuguese research, I have Manuel Furtado & Marianna da Trindade. Both from Vila Franca (he's Sao Miguel Arcanjo and she's Sao Pedro). They should have married in the 1770s. We've searched about 5 freguesias west and 5 freguesias east and can't find their marriage. The Sao Pedro church has about 5 missing pages in the 1770s. We think that is where their marriage is. We don't think this is the end of the line because sooner or later we'll either find them as godparents or witnesses to something or I'll have to use DNA to figure it out. Does that explain the little bit of difference between the two? Cheri Mello Listowner, Azores-Gen Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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." -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
