Timya, d'...de...do...da... All prefixes mostly mean "of" or "of the." The d' is like a contraction in English. They left off the vowel. "De" is of. "Do" is "of the" in masculine form. "Da" is "of the" in feminine form.
It's probably up to you to figure out how to handle it. My "de" was dropped somewhere between the east coast and California. Because I don't have the "de" I have all my ancestors listed as Mello and my genealogy program allows me to put the de/da/do stuff in a pre-surname field. For my cousin, Altino Demelo, whose family kept the "De," I do have his surname spelled as Demelo (that's his legal name after all), but my genealogy program allows me to sort him with my Mellos. I've also listed ancestors with the first name of "Manuel de" and last name Mello as well. So that's another work around for the de/da/do stuff. Other people on this list have other ideas as well. Your ancestor who married in the 1920s...she was probably born in the late 1890s or around 1900. She was born in the Azores in the time period where women didn't use surnames or maiden names. So she comes to America and when asked about her name she says "Maria Candida" and they take the Candida as her last name. As she learns English and starts to understand American customs, she learns what a maiden name is and starts to give her mom's maiden name of Rocha as her own maiden name. Think about this...early part of the 20th century and your ancestors are probably in a Portuguese community or working with other Portuguese. Probably speaking the Portuguese language. Sunday Mass back then was in Latin. So it takes awhile to acquire the English language. My grandfather, George, was born in 1912 in California to Manuel Mello and Maria da Gloria Correia. Birth registry in California began in the fall of 1905, but it took a few years to reach full compliance, so the early ones are spotty. And they contain different information than the ones do today. So my grandfather's birth reads he's the son of Manuel Mello and Francisca Correia. Not Maria da Gloria Correia. That's not even close! Those early ones did not ask for the informant either. But I know who the informant was. It was the father, Manuel. They asked him who the father was. He was a proud father, so he gave his name. The next box asks for the mother. So they asked him for the mother's name. So, with his limited English and understanding the word "mother," he gave HIS mother's name of Francisca. Not his wife's name. They didn't ask him for his wife, after all. They did say the word "mother." He just didn't understand that they meant the baby's mother. Think about scenarios and what it was like back then. Think about limited language. And little to no education. And some of these things our ancestors did start to make sense. 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."
