On Saturday, March 17, 2018 at 10:07:32 AM UTC-7, Mickey Blue wrote: > > Hi All, can anyone direct me to book(s) or information, hopefully > translated into English, which describe social customs and life in general > on Pico in 1825/35 when my Great grandfather Manuel Jacinto was born and > left Pico? Were children of that era literate? Was school available to all? > What work was expected of children under 10 years of age? Why would a ten > year old leave home? Are there shipping records to Trinidad or Madeira (he > possibly went to Madeira first). >
Hi Mike, Some books that might be helpful to you: Stormy Isles <https://openlibrary.org/books/OL22499195M/STORMY_ISLES_AN_AZOREAN_TALE_-(EURO_15.66)> (aka Mal Tempo no Canal) by Vitorino Nemésio - the classic Azorean epic novel set in 19th century Faial (just across the channel from Pico); I honestly found it a bit tedious, but there is a lot of detail about the culture of that era. Dark Stones <https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Stones-Dias-Melo/dp/0943722055/ref=sr_1_16/259-2966987-3138415?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1522334004&sr=1-16&refinements=p_27%3ADias+de+Melo> by Jose Dias de Melo - good short novel about growing up on Pico. Home Is an Island <http://www.portstudies.umassd.edu/pas/home_in_an_island.htm> by Alfred Lewis - novel about growing up on Flores in the early 20th century and emigrating to California. Azoreans to California <http://library.csustan.edu/sites/default/files/Bob_Santos-Azoreans_to_California.pdf> by Robert Santos is a good history of Azorean emigration, and has pertinent info about the conditions that caused people to leave in the 19th century. A lot of 19th century Azoreans - not just children - were illiterate. People were very poor and education was a luxury, and this lasted well into the 20th century. (The fascist dictator Salazar actively encouraged the myth of the "happy, noble/ignorant peasants" who were too simple to ask annoying political questions; his regime ruled until 1974.) Children were often put to work at an early age, farming or as shepherds, and in the whale processing plants, and when they were old enough they also went out on the shore-whaling boats. Many people had large families and could not afford to feed their kids, and boys who were old enough were often sent off on foreign whaling ships by their parents, or they left on their own. This was often done secretly at night, because there were military patrols watching for draft-age stowaways leaving illegally; there was mandatory military service for boys 14 and older - another incentive for taking off on a whaler. Hope there's something helpful in there for you. Steve -- 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 https://groups.google.com/group/azores.
