Hello, I haven't mentioned my husband's grandparents in a while; because of his serious health problem for the winter, I had to stop genealogy for 6 mos. I just read the message about what happened to a widow and young children when her husband died. I cannot answer the question, but I can tell a brief story about my (now) husband's great- grandparents. Part of the story is only a guess, and I still don't know where the family originated.
The couple was Francisco MOURA and Philamina (sp) ROSE and they had 5 children that I know of. I'm guessing at the order of the children: "Elsie" MOURA, b~1883, Rosa "Rosie" MOURA, b~1885, Francisco "Frank" MOURA, b1880's, Manuel "Manny" MOURA, b1880's, Carolina "Carrie" MOURA, b1880's. This is part of the mystery: "Elsie" came over to the US at Age 12 to become an indentured-servant for 7 yrs. She went to a family on Beacon Hill in Boston. Rosie might have done the same thing, but no proof. * I have not tried hard to find out about their travels and who they traveled with. Elsie told her children that she came over to earn enough money to send to her mother so that she could also come over. Elsie arrived ~1905. We don't know how she met Antonio "Tony" PACHECO, but, when her 7 yrs. had passed, they married. They married ~1911 in Cambridge, MA, and raised their family there. Rosie married Charlie PERRY (PEREIRA??), and they lived in the Cambridge and Somerville, MA, area with their children. Their younger sister, Carrie, married Frank? MEDEIROS, and they also lived their with their children. Their 2 brothers are a mystery as far as their time in Massachusetts. I believe they both married in MA after arriving, but it is possible they were older and had already married in the Azores. ?? I do know that the son, "Manny" MOURA, moved to Brooklyn, NY, and remained there. The son, "Frank" MOURA moved to the San Francisco, CA, area, and remained there. They remained in touch with their sisters near Boston, but I don't think their descendants kept in touch after the 1960's. I found out that there were several MOURA families in Brooklyn, NY, in the early 1900's. And, there was a Francisco MOURA there. So, one of my guesses is that ~1900-1905, the couple, "Frank" and "Phoebe" MOURA, "separated" and, when he went to Brooklyn, NY, she, with her daughter's help, took her youngest daughter with her to go to Boston, MA, to join the older daughters. I'm guessing this because there is no mention of Philamina "Phoebe" MOURA's husband in MA/US in the early 1900's. One "family story" is that he was a "whaler," so he might have died at sea. All 3 sisters lived long lives in Cambridge, MA, all dying in the 1980's, and all were widowed early. Charlie PERRY ate poisonous mushrooms; Frank MEDEIROS died of an Epileptic seizure; Tony PACHECO was killed in a car accident. The widow was pregnant with twins and she delivered a month later. Both boys died before they were 2, and she had also lost other babies. She was left with 5 children to raise. I'm saying this from memory before 7 am, so I can't offer specific details right now. Betty (near Lowell, MA, USA) * 2 of Rosa PERRY's children just passed, and I'm not sure any are left. I only met one daughter briefly, so I wasn't able to ask for "family stories." I am in touch with a MEDEIROS son. And, 3 PACHECO children are still alive, but 2 are over 90, and one is not well. (When "Elsie" married in Cambridge, MA, her parents were written down as Frank and Phoebe MORRIS; she used the correct name later.) (My husband knew his great-grandmother MOURA until he was about 6.) -- 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."
