Eileen, You have certainly come-a-long-way in just 3 years!! You are so right about everything, especially the cutting of words at the end of the line with no (-) to indicate anything! I’ll never forget my first look at a grandma Anna Machado. I THOUGHT it said Anna Machado of the villa (town) of Lobos because of the way the name was split. Come to find out her name was Anna Machado Villalobos!! It doesn’t help that some Priests don’t always capitalize a name, or at least it doesn’t look like it to me! So as you say, read carefully and keep an open mind. Jose especially can be Joze or Joseph and I have a Priest that loves to write Josepha as Jose pha so your wondering if he’s talking about a male or female!!
Rosemarie From: Eileen Leite Sent: Monday, September 02, 2013 8:31 AM To: azores@googlegroups.com Subject: RE: [AZORES-Genealogy] Esteves/Steves/handwriting There have been a lot of great tips shared for deciphering the handwriting in the records, thanks! After several years I still struggle every time a priest retires and the handwriting changes. Reading a new batch of records these past few weeks, I had some trouble, and returned to my reading old records roots. These tips may be useful if you are new at this: Before you start researching online, open up a Portuguese Paleography (handwriting) guide (available at Cheri and Rosemary’s wonderful website, and also at the Familysearch Portugal wiki) and a Portuguese numbers list in separate windows to have them available for reference. (You can google ‘Portuguese Paleography’ and ‘Portuguese numbers’.) Also a list of months if you are new. When you find a record online, be sure to save it and then rename it to reflect what it is. You can go back later when your skills have improved and find things you missed the first time. I always include the date as well as the person in the file name: ‘Baptism Jose Bento Daniel’ can be confusing if there end up being 3 Jose Bento Daniels! DO NOT assume the cursive you learned in your youth applies! In too many cases it will not. Letter shapes change though time and from priest to priest. What looks like one letter may be a totally different letter. A clear (to my eye) Capital ‘Y’ was in fact a Capital ‘S’. I was looking for da Silva, and almost missed this record because I thought I saw a “Y”. Plus, Silva was abbreviated to a capital ‘S’ with a superscript ‘a’. See attached if you’re curious. Right side, on top. The one with the Y in the margin, haha. Joze da Silva e Maria do Carmo. But this wonderful priest wrote the date in numbers, not words, so I love him. Re: abbreviations: it was the texting of its time. Shortening words became an art as they saved time, ink and paper. See ‘leg’ superscript ‘o’, after filho, fourth line of the attached record. (Record on top right, it starts immediately to the right of the ‘1848’ in the margin.) It is ‘legitimo’. “Filho legitimo”. Compare letters in unknown words with shapes in recognizable words on the same page. In the attached record, ‘Antonio de Santos’ appears in the middle of the left-hand page, confirming the “Y” shape is actually a capital “S”. Looking at surrounding records can also clarify dates. I first read the year on the attached record as 1843 – except the previous page shows clearly 1847, so I looked at the date again. It is 1848. Words may be arbitrarily split in the middle or run together, in the middle of the line or at the end. See ‘Ju nho’, first line to right of margin ‘1848’, top right record, in the attached. It’s one word, ‘Junho’ (June). In this time period the record starts with the date, so you are looking for a month’s name in the first line. if you have the list of months at your elbow, you can determine it. Spelling is not always what you expect. Jose may be Joze, my husband’s name Leite is sometimes spelled Leyte. Don’t skip past a record because you are looking for Jose Leite and it says Joze Leyte. Be of good cheer and do not be discouraged! Yyour eye adjusts and your ability increases as you do it. After years of effort, I still feel extremely inept at reading the records, but have found so many of my husband’s people. I’m the German/Irish side, his people come from Sao Miguel, Azores, but I have the genealogy ‘bug’ so I do the research. And the ability has come. Part of me feels that these people want to be found, and they want you to find and remember their children. They will help you. Also, be open-minded about names! After a thousand Marias and 300 Rosas, finding a ‘Laura’ or a ‘Michaelha’ can freeze your brain for a second. Haha. Eileen Leite Leite, Rebello, de Brum; Ponta Garca, Povocoao, and Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel -- 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. -- 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.
