David, I ran into a similar problem tracing marriage records for that time period in Providence. Let me tell you what I found. The only RC church in the Portuguese community area of India/Fox point was an Irish church ... St Joseph's at 90 Hope St, Providence. I wish you luck ... the Irish did not record anything but witnesses. I actually learned more from the civil record because at least that gave the anglicized names of their parents. Hope you make out with better luck. In my case it was my great grandmother who came to Providence from Flores and married my great grandfather at St Joseph's in 1876. He was from Sao Jorge. Interestingly, none of their children were baptized at St Joseph's ... most likely they were done by a visiting priest from Fall River. They were tasked to meet the needs of the Portuguese community in Providence for decades. Until 1895 when Holy Rosary church opened (actually a bit earlier because the parish was temporarily established in a civilian meeting hall for some number of years while Holy Rosary was built). I'd love to one day locate the files of those baptisms in Fall River. FYI ... here is a link to info on my great grandmother: Anna Emelia Silveira (who I thought was maiden name SILVA because that is what every US record gave as her maiden name. I only discovered it was SILVEIRA with the help of DNA. http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=butchrose&id=I335 Al Rose In a message dated 4/21/2013 12:12:14 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, dsdscorn...@gmail.com writes:
Thanks much, Eric. I know the 1870 federal census lists my g'g'grandmother as 18, and her Providence marriage record, but the family bible kept by her daughter, my g'grandmother, lists the 1854 date I have been searching, and has so far been accurate as to all other dates. Moreover, her death certificate in Jan. 1905 lists an age of 50, which would be consistent with a birth year of 1854 (as in the family bible), while other censuses and records suggest still other years: the 1880 federal census, about 1853, and the 1900 federal census, about 1855. Our family assumed she upped her given age from 16 to 18 at the time of her marriage, and then later in life started subtracting years, but that the family bible and death certificate were the most accurate sources. However, as I just noted in a separate reply to Cheri Mello, I downloaded the Casais das Flores book and have gone through it and -- while you're right that there appears to be no marriage record for Bernardo Jozé Lourenço -- I found three children of his and Anna Emilia's getting married in the parish of Fajãs. Unfortunately for me, one of these marriages, of an Ana Bernarda, appears to be of the same person whose baptismal record I was deciphering, so presumably that Anna is indeed not my Anna after all. In order to make the leap back to the CCA records and the Casais book, it looks like I'm going to have to pursue next something I've tried to obtain but not had luck with so far -- Anna's Roman Catholic marriage record, as opposed to her Providence marriage record, which of course doesn't give a freguesia, and only gives her parents' anglicized first names and no surnames. The Providence marriage record doesn't list the church where Anna married Antonio/Antone/Antoine/Anthony Hurd/Hard/Heard (all of these variants of his anglicized name appear in various records), but does list the priest who married them: William Halligan. I've tried to locate via Google the parish he was serving in at the time of the marriage in 1870, but have only found parishes where he served in later years. (Apparently, Halligan helped start or grow a number of RI parishes.) Unfortunately, the marriage occurred in an odd period for the records of RI RC churches, right before the Diocese of Hartford (which was based not in Hartford but in Providence) in 1872 spun off the Diocese of Providence (moving the see city of the Hartford diocese -- later raised to become an archdiocese -- back to Hartford). It's not clear to me whether church archives covering RI churches before the 1872 diocesan separation (a) stayed in Providence and were inherited by the new Diocese of Providence, (b) got moved to Hartford and remained in the possession of what is now the Archdiocese of Hartford, (c) got moved somewhere else entirely, or (d) fell through the cracks and have disappeared. Calls to the Hartford archdiocesan and Providence diocesan archives have not been returned, so I'm at a bit of a dead-end in trying to figure out what church Fr. Halligan was serving in 1870. The work-around I came up with is to reach out separately to each RC parish within the city limits of Providence (since the marriage was recorded in Providence's city records) and ask whether Fr. Halligan served there in 1870. (And I'm hoping he didn't perform the wedding at a church other than where he was assigned.) It's also possible he was serving a church that has since been closed, so I'd also need to find out where such churches' records have been transferred (and hopefully not to the unresponsive diocesan archives). However, rather than just contacting every RC church in Providence, it would be ideal to know which churches were open there in 1870. If anyone has any sources that could help determine that, it would be greatly appreciated. Failing that, I'll just have to go through all of the CCA's baptismal records for all Flores parishes for all the possible birth years other than 1854... Ugh. But thank you for searching your Flores databases for Anna. Regarding my Terra line from Faial, through Anna's husband Antonio Hurd / António da Terra: The obit you found is indeed that of my great-great-uncle, Antonio/Anthony Hurd Jr., and I'm glad to learn that his father's name was not just António da Terra (as all family sources indicated) but more specifically António Inácio da Terra. (Oddly, the obit also says that his mother -- Anna -- was from Faial, but the family oral history is emphatic that she came from Flores, and while I don't have it handy right I'm pretty sure her death certificate says so too, if I'm recalling correctly...) However, I'm sure my António Inácio da Terra is different from the one born in Pedro Miguel in 1800, because all other records indicate an 1844 or 1845 birth date for him. Also not sure what to make of the António Furtado da Terra; no family record or civil record that I have seen mentions Furtado. Thanks again, David da Silva Cornell On Friday, April 19, 2013 2:12:33 PM UTC-4, luiznoia wrote: Flores marriage book doesn't show anything record for Bernardo Joze Lourenco. The 1870 census shows Anna is eighteen, as does her marriage record of the same year. That puts her birth at 1851-1852. Obit for their son from Diario de Noticias attached . I've searched my Flores databases for Anna with out success. I have many Coelho, Lourenco and Freitas families related to mine. I think this is the origin of your Terra family in Faial : António Inácio da Terra Nascido a 25 de Abril de 1800 - Pedro Miguel Casado a 29 de Maio de 1841 com Rosa Perpétua de Jesus 1808 Pais Manuel Inácio Furtado da Terra 1773-1848 Eugénia Rosa de Jesus 1771-1834 The obit shows that Antonio Inacio da Terra was known as Antonio Pequeno This article shows that Antonio Furtado is known as Antonio Pequeno. Eric Edgar On Thu, Apr 18, 2013 at 11:38 PM, David da Silva Cornell <_dsdsc...@gmail.com_ (javascript:) > wrote: 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.http://www.culturacores.http://www.culturacores.<WBhttp://ww w.culturacores.<WBR>http://www.culturacores._ (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_ (http://m.er/) [mulher] Anna Emi- lia moradores na Fajangrande neta pela parte paterna de M.el [Manoel] Lourenço _____ e de Sua _m.er_ (http://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/http://group_ (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." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to _azores+un...@azores+un...@<WB_ (javascript:) . To post to this group, send email to _azo...@googlegroups.com_ (javascript:) . Visit this group at _http://groups.google.com/http://groups.goog_ (http://groups.google.com/group/azores?hl=en) . -- 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. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to azores+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to azores@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores?hl=en. -- 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. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to azores+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to azores@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores?hl=en.