[AZORES-Genealogy] Re: Back from my research trip to the Azores, Lisbon and Dublin
Elaine ~ I'm so happy to hear you had a wonderful time on your trip. Reading your email warms my heart! We felt the same way and I can't wait to go back. There's still so much left that we'd like to do and other islands we'd like to visit. Maybe a MONTH next time! . Robin Borba Besotes . Researching: Bettencourt, Borba, Barbe, Da Rosa, Jacinto, Rodrigues, Mattos California Towns: Newman, Turlock, Crowslanding, San Jose, San Juan, Tres Penos, Hollister, Watsonville, Pacific Grove --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ To unsubscribe from this group, send email to azores-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more 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." -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[AZORES-Genealogy] Re: Property on the Azores Islands
In a message dated 5/16/2009 6:25:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time, ldfi...@hotmail.com writes: > I just wanted to inform as many people as possible of an issue that > has been affecting some of us who are currently living away from the > Azores but still have some ties with the Islands either through family > that are still living or deceased. > > I am a Portuguese Canadian, my parents were born on the Island of > Santa Maria and moved to Canada in the 70's. Most of my aunts and > uncles moved away from the island as well leaving both my paternal and > maternal grandparents on the Island. Any one familiar with the island > knows that as a result of the emigration of citizens over the recent > history of the Islands has led to many old homesteads and property > unclaimed by heirs who either have little knowledge of the inheritance > laws, do not have knowledge that they have even inherited property or > often feel that the difficulties in making a claim outweigh any > benefits. A lot of land and houses lay abandoned because of this. > > Over the past 15 years or so, there have been a number or unscrupulous > people who have taken advantage of this, there are numerous stories of > people selling property to unsuspecting buyers who in the end do not > have legitimate rights to do so. I would like to tell you of our > story. > > About ten years ago, a german woman approached my functionally > illiterate grandmother regarding a piece of property that included the > home that my grandfather had been raised in. My grandmother, was > convinced that this woman was genuinely trying to help her out by > taking over the maintence of the property. She understood and > explained to the german woman that the property was partly owned by > her children (my father and his brothers) and that there was no way > that it could be legally sold to her. She indicated that she > completely understood and that she was only looking for a place where > she could spend vacations and they agreed to a long term rental > agreement. > > Last year, just after my grandmother passed away, we noticed that my > grandfathers home was listed on the internet up for sale. Since then > we have traveled to Santa Maria a number of times and after speaking > with the land titles office have discovered that this woman has done > this to many families there. Currently there are eight claims against > her. We were extremely lucky to catch her before she actually sold > the property, but we are still in the process of getting the titles > changed to the legitimate heirs. One of the cases that has been heard > and won was for a German couple who purchased a home from her, gave > her the deposit that she had been asking for then after investing a > lot of money on renovations, discovered that the actual heirs lived in > California. They have since rectified everything, and were successful > in getting their deposit back from the person who sold it to them, but > even so, this woman continues to operate there. My parents found out > from city hall on Santa Maria that she has a reputation, that the real > estate agencies no longer accept her listings so she is operating from > Sao Miquel. > > I strongly urge people who still have family or ties in the Azores to > be aware of their property and land. I know that since then I have > been scanning the internet all the time for "land for sale on the > Azores". > This is a very old problem. Even for those in the Azores, people often die without wills and the "partilhas" (the division of the estate among the widow and surviving children) are often done by word of mouth and never registered in order to avoid legal fees and taxes. In my father's case, when he bought out his father's share of an estate, he found that the deeds were still in the name of his great grandparents! The other problem is that, just as in the US, if someone pays the taxes on a property, lives on the property, essentially occupies without interference from the owners, then, after seven years, that person has the right to insist that he be granted title to that property. I know of many people whose parents and grandparents owned property in the Azores. When the owners die, the heirs take no action to probate these estate (the so called "partilhas"), and trust friend and neighbors to work the land, pay the taxes etc. Unfortunately, some of those friends and neighbors, having paid the taxes for a number of years without reimbursement from the heirs, simply claim the property for themselves. The heirs feel cheated; the people who claim the land feel that, since they've paid the taxes on the land without reimbursement, they are entitled to claim the parcel of land as their own. I've always taken care to take care of these matters. My wife has been much more laissez-faire; as a consequence she has had the unfortunate experience of learning that a parcel she thought was hers now belongs to her cousins! The faul
[AZORES-Genealogy] Property on the Azores Islands
I just wanted to inform as many people as possible of an issue that has been affecting some of us who are currently living away from the Azores but still have some ties with the Islands either through family that are still living or deceased. I am a Portuguese Canadian, my parents were born on the Island of Santa Maria and moved to Canada in the 70's. Most of my aunts and uncles moved away from the island as well leaving both my paternal and maternal grandparents on the Island. Any one familiar with the island knows that as a result of the emigration of citizens over the recent history of the Islands has led to many old homesteads and property unclaimed by heirs who either have little knowledge of the inheritance laws, do not have knowledge that they have even inherited property or often feel that the difficulties in making a claim outweigh any benefits. A lot of land and houses lay abandoned because of this. Over the past 15 years or so, there have been a number or unscrupulous people who have taken advantage of this, there are numerous stories of people selling property to unsuspecting buyers who in the end do not have legitimate rights to do so. I would like to tell you of our story. About ten years ago, a german woman approached my functionally illiterate grandmother regarding a piece of property that included the home that my grandfather had been raised in. My grandmother, was convinced that this woman was genuinely trying to help her out by taking over the maintence of the property. She understood and explained to the german woman that the property was partly owned by her children (my father and his brothers) and that there was no way that it could be legally sold to her. She indicated that she completely understood and that she was only looking for a place where she could spend vacations and they agreed to a long term rental agreement. Last year, just after my grandmother passed away, we noticed that my grandfathers home was listed on the internet up for sale. Since then we have traveled to Santa Maria a number of times and after speaking with the land titles office have discovered that this woman has done this to many families there. Currently there are eight claims against her. We were extremely lucky to catch her before she actually sold the property, but we are still in the process of getting the titles changed to the legitimate heirs. One of the cases that has been heard and won was for a German couple who purchased a home from her, gave her the deposit that she had been asking for then after investing a lot of money on renovations, discovered that the actual heirs lived in California. They have since rectified everything, and were successful in getting their deposit back from the person who sold it to them, but even so, this woman continues to operate there. My parents found out from city hall on Santa Maria that she has a reputation, that the real estate agencies no longer accept her listings so she is operating from Sao Miquel. I strongly urge people who still have family or ties in the Azores to be aware of their property and land. I know that since then I have been scanning the internet all the time for "land for sale on the Azores". --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ To unsubscribe from this group, send email to azores-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more 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." -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[AZORES-Genealogy] Back from my research trip to the Azores, Lisbon and Dublin
Well, after 3 weeks, here I am back from my genealogy research trip. Had a wonderful time and to those who hesitate to go to the Azores because they do not speak the language, don't hesitate any longer. We speak no Portuguese and found everyone so very willing to help us in every aspect of our trip, airport, restaurants, hotels, etc. Our hotel in Terceira was close to the Archives and we walked there several days to do research. They are very helpful and it is wonderful to see the actual records in their books. The cost to make copies was minimal and I can't stress how nice the people working there are. Matter of fact, in both Terceira and Sao Miguel, the people were the nicest, helpful and most kind of all we met on our trip. I also did research in Dublin, Ireland, at the Library there and it was very easy, also very helpful staff so if you have any Irish research to do, take a trip to Dublin. I guess we lucked out as the entire time we had only 1/2 day of rain in Ponta Delgada and most of it we were in the airport or on the plane. I wish I had allowed more time there as I did not get to see much of the island. I did, however, get to go to the orphanage where my aunt was and they are going to research to see if any of her sisters were there with her. They took us on a tour and the children"s rooms are spacious, with little chairs in front of their beds and big dolls on them. They also have daycare for other children, I believe the age range was 1-3. They are now developing an area for unwed mothers and we got to meet a couple of the girls and their babies and it made me sad. I have donated to the orphanage before and intend to continue to do so, especially in the support of these girls and their babies. We went to Mass at the Cathedral in PD and after mass, they baptized a baby...how special for us to witness. Had we been able to stay through this weekend, we would have been there for their festival. We did have a wonderful tour of Terceira, great food, rice pudding that I absolutely loved and hope I can find a recipe for, and with much help, that I am truly grateful for, found several family records but the biggest bonus was finding out today that the death record for my Antonio Victor has been located! What a find, I had tears in my eyes when I heard the news! I can never really express how grateful I am to such special people. While I still have not found my grandmother's baptism record, being there where she lived and walking some of those same streets has filled my heart with great joy and I am still hopefull I will find it one day. This was a wonderful time to go as there are not so many people from the US visiting the islands and I feel we got to see much more because of this. Went on to Lisbon and our cousins took us to Irieciera (sp?) and Mafra. Sat on the beach as the weather was great and watched the men catch fish. We gave a dinner party at our hotel for our cousins there and 23 came this time, so again, a great success. They say the only time they get together is when this cousin comes from America! If you have any specific questions about the trip, please email to my personal email address. Happy to be back and thankful my husband loves to read books, which he did while I did research. "E" --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ To unsubscribe from this group, send email to azores-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more 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." -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[AZORES-Genealogy] Re: Thank you
Laura, I believe people email the corrections to the NEPS site if they have read otherwise in their record search. Cheri Mello Listowner, Azores-Gen Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ To unsubscribe from this group, send email to azores-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more 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." -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
