Hi Dano, I hear people addressed as Senhor and Senhora all the time in Pico....it seems to be the equivalent of Mr. and Mrs..........as I mentioned out of all my female neighbors only one is addressed as Dona and I'll find out why this summer. Nancy Jean Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2014 11:11:04 -0700 From: dpai...@gmail.com To: azores@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: [AZORES-Genealogy] use of "dona"
Well, Doug, and Nancy, not having been born, or grown up in the islands, I can't speak definitively about the customs. However, I was brought up to respect persons in the community. In my case the terms I was to use were Senhor e Senhora - that, and the fact that I didn't speak a word of English before entering parochial school, one might say that I was brought up as a Portuguese [expatriate]??? On Tuesday, April 29, 2014 12:22:26 PM UTC-4, Doug da Rocha Holmes wrote: Estimada Dona Nancy, You are talking about modern usage where every adult female is dona.I was recently looking at civil records in Rio de Janeiro and every bride was Dona in the early 1900s - 100% of them. It has now become common and shows respect, no different than Mr. Coelho or Mrs. Johnson. But in the older church records, before 1910, it is far more sparingly used. It evolved from the early 1600s when it was way more uncommon to being more like today's usage by the time we get to 1910, but still way more uncommon than today. Doug da Rocha Holmes Sacramento, California Pico & Terceira Genealogist 916-550-1618www.dholmes.com -------- Original Message -------- Subject: RE: [AZORES-Genealogy] use of "dona" From: nancy jean baptiste <fishso...@hotmail.com> Date: Tue, April 29, 2014 8:54 am To: azores group <azo...@googlegroups.com> I think the use of "dona" can be applied very arbitrarily. I've seen many old records where it appears to be noble families but it's also simply used as a sign of respect.....our bankers on Pico always call me "Dona" Nancy and that's certainly not because of a noble rank! We have a neighbor who is the wife of a professor and she is always referred to as Dona Manuela. Nancy Jean From: pi...@dholmes.com To: azo...@googlegroups.com; dpa...@gmail.com Subject: [AZORES-Genealogy] use of "dona" Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 23:17:22 -0700 Hi Dano, I just wanted to mention that I have many ancestors who were capitao, alferes, sargento and one tenente, plus another ajudante, not one of them whose wife was called "Dona." Mine are from Pico and Terceira - mostly Pico for my military ancestors. I do know they were "from old and noble families" or some such wording in priest applications. I guess they just didn't get that higher level treatment for some reason. Come to think of it, I even have some Capitao-mor ancestors or sons of my ancestors and still their wives were not "dona." But you are right in most cases that on other islands we would see "dona" for their wives. I guess it's just a quirk on Pico, but "dona" was certainly found on Pico. I have one single ancestors with "dona" and she was the wife of an administrator of a "vinculo" so I guess that finally was enough to qualify. But her mother was not a "dona." It came from her husband, yet his mother was not "dona" either! Since my only comment was about the use of this word, I changed the subject. By the way, your comment about your failing eye sight came as a surprise, since you still show no sign of it preventing you from reading the records well. Impressive, but sorry to hear about that. Doug da Rocha Holmes Sacramento, California Pico & Terceira Genealogist 916-550-1618www.dholmes.com -- 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. 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. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.
