It has been several years since I last posted here, but I'm still quite grateful for the help I received here. After a hiatus in my research, I have been getting back into the swing of things and could really use a helping hand -- or, actually, helping eyes -- again.
I have located what I believe is the baptismal record of my great-great-grandmother, who emigrated to Providence at age 9, and prior to her marriage to my great-great-grandfather Antone/Antonio Hurd (born Antonio da Terra on Faial, son of Manuel and Roza) was known in the US records as Anna Freitas/Frates/Fratis. Previously, I only knew that she was from Flores; that her parents were José and Anna; that she had Lourenço and Coelho relatives; and that the family Bible gave her birthdate as March 30, 1854. I had no freguesia for her, though. Having now gone through all of the Flores parishes on the CCA site, I have located an Anna who appears to be the only Anna born on Flores on March 30, 1854, to a José and Anna, with Freitas and Lourenço both among the surnames mentioned. (I don't see Coelho, but it might be one of the words I can't make out.) The record in question is in the records for what used to be known as the parish of the Fajãs but apparently now (after Fajã Grande, where this family lived, and other nearby places spun off to become their own parishes) is known just as Fajãzinha (retaining what had once been the church for the entire former parish of the Fajãs). The record can be found here: http://www.culturacores.azores.gov.pt/biblioteca_digital/FLR-LF-FAJAZINHA-B-1850-1860/FLR-LF-FAJAZINHA-B-1850-1860_item1/P52.html My own painful deciphering of the handwriting -- which was very helpfully aided by using as a template an 1854 baptismal record from the same parish already deciphered here a year ago for Katharine Baker, which appears in the same book and was apparently written by the same priest (Katharine, if you read this, your ancestor is No. 18 of 1854 and mine is no. 25 of that year, and both records include folks named Freitas, so I'd wager we connect somewhere there) -- has resulted in what I think is an almost complete transcription of Anna's baptismal record, but there are still some words and/or abbreviations I just can't make out no matter how long I stare at them (and of course I may also have made mistakes that I'm not aware of). This is what I get, following the same line breaks as in the original, with underlined spaces where I can't make out the words and brackets for miscellaneous comments: Anna [No.] 25 filha de Bernardo Jozé Lourenço _____ e de Sua m.er [mulher] Anna Emi- lia moradores na Fajangrande neta pela parte paterna de M.el [Manoel] Lourenço _____ e de Sua m.er [mulher] Catherina de Freitaz e pela ma- terna de Antonio Rodriguez de Freitaz e de Sua mulher Marianna de ________ o avo paterno natural da Ilha do Corvo ________ naturaiz e freguesoz da Par.al [Parochial, i.e. modern "Paroquial"] Igreja de N. [Nossa] Snr.a [Senhora] dos Remedioz da freguesia das Fajans da Ilha das Florez nascio [i.e., modern "nasceu"] aos trinta dias do mez de Março de mil oito centos cincoenta e quatro foi baptizada _________________ Par.al [Parochial] pelo ___ ____ Antonio Jozé de Freitaz [e?] lhe pos os Santos Oleos aos dois dias do mez de Abril do dito anno foi padrinho o __ Vigário Diogo Antonio Jozé de Freitas _____________ Antonio [or Antonia?] P.el [Pimentel?] e Jozé Jo- aquim. E para constar se fiz este termo que asignei era ut supra. De Antonio P.el [Pimentel?] De Jozé __ Joaq.m [Joaquim] O V.gro [Vigário] Diogo Antonio J. de Freitaz Any deciphering of what the blanks say, and any correction of any mistakes I have made, would be greatly appreciated. Also, this record has led to the following questions for me: 1. I know that this group periodically discusses some materials that one can use to help educate oneself to read the records' handwriting better, but I can't seem to locate a reference to where those materials can be found. Would someone please be kind enough to point me to them? I know it's only going to get harder as I go further back in time! 2. I have noted here recurring references to a book of Flores and Corvo marriages and to a book of Flores families... Where can one obtain copies of these books, if that is even possible (or, if not possible, does the LDS Family Center network have access to copies that one can borrow)? And a final, non-Flores/Corvo question, relating to Anna's faialense husband and his parents: 3. I have not found my Terra ancestors in the UMinho records, nor have I found them in the four Faial freguesias for which the CCA has records up right now. Does anyone have any idea when the remaining freguesias from Faial will be up on the CCA site? With many thanks for any answers or guidance on the above, David da Silva Cornell Miami, FL Researching the following surnames: Corvo - Lourenço Faial - Terra (unknown freguesia(s)) Flores - Freitas, Lourenço, Coelho (Fajã Grande, formerly in the parish of Fajãs) Pico - Silveira Cardoso, Macedo, Machado, Pereira Madruga, Ferreira, Cardoso, Cardoso Machado, Vieira, Bettencourt, Dutra, Castanho, Homem, Goulart, Quaresma, Moniz, Barreto, Silveira, Mancebo, Pereira, Álvares (all Lajes do Pico) S. Jorge - Silva, Botelho, Azevedo, Cardoso (Urzelina); Silva, Azevedo, Cardoso (Santo António in Norte Grande) -- For 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. 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