Thank you for all the comments and perspective. The original reason for my post was to point out the difficulty of searching relatives when one changes their name. It was just a bit of luck that I found my uncle.
Len On Sunday, August 12, 2012 2:55:52 PM UTC-4, Dano wrote: > > Len (& others), > The anglicization issue is a really broad topic as we have seen w/ all > the reasons everyone has posted, but, consider this... Our parents and > ancestors did the best they could to fit in. Sometimes, that was > accomplished by becoming naturalized citizens, and anglicizing their > names, other times, they just lived in large communities with people > of their own culture and heritage. > For all of those who may have tried to eradicate their heritage, many, > many, more clinged to that heritage, and, thankfully, our culture has > survived. I could respond to each of the examples posted with my own > experiences, but, I would never finish this post. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > On Aug 11, 11:20 am, Cheri Mello <gfsche...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Repost for Len Silva, lensilva at lenstudio.com: > > > > I ran into a wall in tracing an uncle born in 1898. I had him through > the > > twenties, but then he just seemed to disappear. I finally found that he > > had so anglicized his name that I could not find him. Later, talking to > > his family members, I found that he did everything he could to hide his > > heritage. He was a well respected professional in Providence RI. He felt > > that he could not be successful in those professional circles with his > > heritage. > > > > Growing up in New Bedford, I never felt that in the least, but we were > blue > > collar and not striving for "upper crust" as they say. > > > > How common was this and have you found it in your own families? > > > > As an aside, I can remember my first generation grandfather and my > father > > speaking disparagingly of the "dumb greenhorns" that just got off the > > boat. I guess it's just a human condition. > > > > Len > -- 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."
