Hi Cheri,Deb& Elaine I don't think it matters if I'm a Silva,Barabosa, Mello or Mendona, we are all from the same gene pool. My grandfather left his beloved country to find a better life. He left first, and saved enough money to have my grandmother and their four children come to the greatest country in the world. Why because the opportunities were so great. He work very hard, and started a new life, never to look back. Now, 100 years later, I make the trip back to were he started. That in in it self, is quit amazing. Think of these people, who had such great courage to make the voyage to a strange and unknown world., They are the heroes of this story. Yes, I would like to know the town they came from, and if I still have relatives there, but in the bigger scheme of things it really does matter. I will go there and see the beautiful world he left. He and my grandmother afforded me the greatest life, I now enjoy so much. I will never forget my heritage, and never forget what this man and woman have done to create such a great life for myself and of my relatives now experience.I never met my grandfather he died at 62 years of age after being hit by a car. His & my grandmothers sacrifice has enriched all of the Silvia's life's and I can't even count how many now live here. The sad part is many may never give it a second though. I look forward to going to the old country, and seeing all the great people and things that he and my grandmother once enjoyed. I hope that all you get to make the trip at least once in your life. I will let everyone know how it all worked out. I'm heading there April 20.
Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. Mario Silvia On Sat, Mar 16, 2019 at 10:44 PM Elaine Mello <emello1...@gmail.com> wrote: > Mario, > > It might help to think of this more like a treasure hunt - or a mystery to > investigate. Even on the U.S. side I'm finding digging up information to > be a challenge - my grandfather came over via the passports as Antonio De > Mello Barbosa, but got listed in the first U.S. Census here with his > parents as Silva (after his mother's maiden name) which was mislabeled on > Ancestry as Liba since they couldn't read the name properly - he got > married as Silva and later on was listed as both De Mello and Mello on > various Massachusetts documents. > > What helped me get back further than that was finding his naturalization > documentation which listed the village (or freguesia) and led me to this > group here. I found his naturalization papers on Ancestry, which listed his > home on Sao Miguel. The church documents do take some time to go through, > but the more you do, the better you get at reading them, recognizing > handwriting and appreciating when there was a priest who wrote with a > clearer hand that makes it easier to read as you go along. It does improve > with time as you work your way through the documentation. But it does take > a bit of detective work to find out information to lead you in the right > direction. > > Don't give up looking! > > Elaine > > -- > 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. > -- 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.
