Loved it. Experienced some similar things also. Wish everyone would share these stories. They so warm the heart
Sent from my iPhone On Sep 23, 2013, at 8:59 PM, Nancy Hoopes <nch...@sbcglobal.net> wrote: > Lisa, thanks for sharing the cousins found story. I had a similar > experience on Sao Miguel last May. Taxi driver found the family name in the > village and I met a few cousins and saw the old lava rock home. It was a > joyful happy tearful experience for me after searching microfilms for so long > for my grandmothers side. Everyone was so helpful and friendly. I also had > documentation and pictures with me. Hope you get to go soon. It's so > beautiful. Nancy H. > > From: "lisahb...@aol.com" <lisahb...@aol.com> > To: azores@googlegroups.com > Sent: Monday, September 2, 2013 7:12 PM > Subject: [AZORES-Genealogy] Azores Trip - Cousins Found > > Hello Everyone! > > I gathered some genealogical clues for my uncle who took a trip to the > Azores. This is his story which he gave me permission to share. I thought > everyone here on the list would enjoy it! It's inspiring me to plan my own > trip!!! > > Lisa Caetano Harley > Southern Cal > Researching: Topo, Sao Antao and Ribeira Seca on Sao Jorge > Piedade, Lajes do Pico on Pico > > > Lisa, > > We had a great trip ! 13 days in Terceira visiting with Shirley's > 7000 cousins and one day in Sao Jorge looking for any relatives I might find. > > I was concentrating on relatives of Isabella (on the Caetano side) > since she stayed in Sao Jorge and the Descendants list you gave us had her > husbands name and the names of her 5 children. We went to the Civil Registry > office in Angra de Heroismo in Terceira because all of the records for the > central group of Azorean Islands are now kept there and are fully > computerized. However, since the data we were interested in was old , we > could only get it in the Civil Registry in Calheta in Sao Jorge. They did > call Calheta and they sent us some information (not much). > > Through some of the folks on Terceira who knew somebody who knew > somebody in Sao Jorge , we arranged for a taxi driver who was originally from > the Topo area and was old enough to possibly know many of the families in > that area. We flew to Sao Jorge (Velas) , met our driver, Antonio, and took > him for coffee at a small café to discuss what we wanted to do . At first, > he didn't seem like a very outgoing guy and we were concerned that he > wouldn't be as helpful or as interested as we might like to be able to > accomplish our mission. He later proved us wrong ! He said that he knew some > people in the Topo area with that name. Our first stop after that was the > Civil Registry office in Calheta. There were two people working there and no > other customers. It was slow at first when we asked for information but > after a little bit (we showed them the 2 old family photos which I figured > were from 1894 and 1914) they really got into it and were whipping out old > tattered books and and getting pretty excited looking for Goncalves family > information. They found information starting from Isabella's children down > (4 of the five were deceased (no surprise there) and we ended up with some > information about Isabella's grandchildren, and where they might live. At > that point, our driver said that he thought he knew one of them. By that > time, we had been there about 40 minutes to an hour or so. > > So we drove to Santo Antao (which looked like the end of the world to > me) and our driver stopped at a small store (really small) to ask a guy he > knew about the family. The road at the corner was Canada de Castanha > mentioned in the death certificate for my great grandmother, Victorina. The > man said that the house was still there but uninhabited. He also told us > where to find one of Isabella's grandsons. We walked up the road and took a > picture of the old, small house . There was a cow in front and I looked in > the windows but couldn't see much but Shirley took some pictures. > > Then we went to the house where he said the grandson lived. In the > Azores, they don't seem to have doorbells so you just stand outside and shout > and hope somebody comes out so that's what the driver did and a guy looks out > the window and comes outside. We explained who we were and we were looking > for possible long-lost relatives. He was skeptical at first but then , after > showing him some documents and the pictures of our great grandparents, he > became interested. We talked to him at length and found out that he was > Angelo Goncalves, son of Jose Silveira Goncalves , son of Isabel. He is 72 > years old, but he looked young, like in his late 50s, a nice-looking guy, > short and was friendly once we established our relationship. His wife had > passed away and he lived with his son in a small but modern-looking house. > As we were talking, his son came home for lunch – he is a bombeiro (fireman). > He's a handsome-looking fellow, tall and dark and quite friendly also. His > name is Antonio Goncalves. We took pictures and then Angelo told us where > his sister Natalia lived up the road a piece. > > Went there, our driver Antonio shouted again at the door and Natalia > appeared. Introduced ourselves and she too became immediately engaged – > friendly and welcoming. She got out tons of family photos. Her husband was > present – also very friendly. She told us about her two cousins who lived up > the road a piece and we went to meet them also. In the meantime, because > Antonio had expressed to her how interested I was to see the Faja de Alem, > she phoned her son to arrange for him to take Roger down to the property. > The Faja de Alem was where our great-grandfather lived when he died. > (Note: There are several "Fajas" in Sao Jorge – these are small relatively > flat areas below cliffs close to the ocean that people inhabit and farm > because the land is quite fertile. Our family's Faja is no longer inhabited > but Natalia's family still has property there and a few crops. > > Her son, Natalia and her husband were gracious enough to take me down to the > Faja (Shirley and Antonio stayed at a little drink shack in Faja de Sao > Joao). He had a jeep pickup truck with 4-wheel drive which turned out to be > the only way we could navigate along the side of a steep cliff. The entire > dirt road with boulders sticking out al over the place, was quite narrow and > barely fit only the 4 wheels of the truck. When I first got in I started to > put on my seat belt and Natalia's son looked at me, laughed and said, "you > don't need to do that"! So I took off my seat belt figuring, "okay, you die, > you die" and I didn't want to look "chicken". Besides, even if I had my > seatbelt on, the fall off the cliff would kill us all anyway! > > After about 3/4 of a mile, the road ran out and we had to go the rest of the > way on foot. After a 5 minute walk, we arrived where the house was situated. > It was a cluster of about 5 lava rock houses – one where they cooked, one > where the children slept, one where they kept supplies, etc. The rock houses > were obviously built by hand with no cement to hold the rocks together. It > appeared to me that the rocks shown in the photos you gave me of the > great-grandparents were of similar structure as the ones that I saw. I went > inside the house that was the kitchen and they showed me the rock furnace > oven where they cooked. I also went into two of the other houses/rooms. > Everything was extremely primitive. Roofs were intact but I'm sure they were > not the originals , added after the great-grandfather died, because surely > the originals had collapsed due to earthquakes, storms etc. These are > basically "ruins". > > The family still does some "farm" activity there…but it appeared to be > minimal. When we were walking toward the houses, the son brushed aside some > leaves of a plant on the trail and took off a cluster of purple grapes and > handed it to me to eat. Which I ate while taking photos – the cluster in one > hand and the camera in the other. I probably spent about an hour there – > taking photos, talking to the relatives and taking in the sheer magnitude of > where I was…indescribable feeling !! > > Walked back to the place where the so-called "road" ended and all of us > watched as the son, guided by his father, maneuvered the pickup back and > forth against the edge of the cliff about 10 times before he completed the > reversal of direction. Then we renewed the terrifying ride back to the Faja > de Sao Joao where Shirley and Antonio were waiting. Said our goodbyes to the > cousins then made our way back to Velas. > > That's it for now…more later. > > Uncle Rog > -- > 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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