MYSTERIES may well be the reason why we set out to search for the people of our past. We often beat ourselves up that we didn't listen more - or better. We are proud that though we spoke different languages we were able to get confident information at all!.
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As a child my grandmother would remind me that she had been orphaned
around 5 years old & that a woman who "already had seven children"
(though she said this - and everything else - only in kriolu) took her in and
raised her. Two days ago, on CV DNA, a member asked me if I knew who
raised my grandmother and I repeated my gram's oft told woeful account
of this tragic circumstance. Her father , Manoel Roza Varella/Manoel Joao Almeida was still alive when her mother, Antonia Roza da Encarnacao, died (& the parents had never married) but her father had
another woman with a child of the same age, this woman was very young (17y), & she was not yet
married to the father though they would later marry.
Then,
yesterday, a light went off. Could it have been the godmother who
raised my grandmother? Godmothers are often chosen to raise the child
after the death of a parent and certainly to make sure of the child's
religious education. If I studied the godmother of my grandmother would
I find that she had seven daughters
at the time that my great-grandmother Antonia died? Was she related? She had
the surname of my great-grandmother's half siblings/cousins.
So the journey begins, and I will take you along with me.
The facts as I know them now:
Maria Antonia Encarnacao
THIS IS MY GRANDMOTHER --
Maria Antonia Encarnacao (Varela/Almeida) dos Santos
was born in Pico Agudo, Sao Nicolau, on 7/8/1892 d/o Antonia Roza da
(Cruz) Encarnacao & Manuel Joao Almeida/Manoel Roza Varella (b.
18??) (both of SN - Covoada). Pico Agudo is on the top of a mountain
and it is north of Estancia de Bras. She
had a half sister who was about five years older than she was named Antonia Roza da
Cruz Encarnacao & younger half sister Josepha (probably later
Josepha Antonia Encarnacao). All of the children had different
fathers.
This prior birth means that my great- grandmother must have been at least 20 in 1892 when my grandmother was born. (Again, her mother
died when she was about 5 yrs old (1897) & she was taken in by a woman
who already had about 7 daughters (by oral history from her to this
compiler). Her maternal grandmother, Rosa Maria da Cruz died in
1898 at 71 (so b. 1827) (which means that her mother & her
grandmother would have had to have been pregnant around 30plus years of
age each - or one was significantly "old" to have children. To this
compiler it almost seems as though a generation is missing. Also, why didn't her grandmother take her in or one of the aunts?
da
Lapa - Baptisms - 1892 - 1894 - 77/17 - On 3/18/1894, Maria was
baptized, b. 7/8/1892, from Pico Agudo, (natural d/o Manoel Joao Almeida &
Antonia Roza da Encarnacao), both of her parents were “trabahadores
naturaes”/agricultural workers, both of her grandfathers were “avo
incognito”/unknown, her paternal grandmother was Rosa Antonia Varella,
her maternal grandmother was Roza Maria da Cruz. Her godfather was Jose
Joao Almeida (single & he was her father’s half brother) & her
godmother was Antonia Maria de Brito (single). Also mentioned is Joao
Manoel Ramos (married) & the fact that “no one knows how to write”.
Analysis:
So we can see that at the time of my grandmother's baptism, her godmother - Antonia Maria de Brito - was single. It is not likely that she could have had seven daughters in five years time. Here is what we know about Antonia Maria de Brito:
Her mother was Maria (if the traditional naming pattern was followed). She was a Brito & my grandmother's grandmother had married a Brito. So there must have been a friendship & also quasi - related relationship between the two women.
There are a number of women with this name in the Sao Nicolau church records:
*******************************************
Antonia Maria:
(1)Antonia Maria de Brito (probably b. around 1860)
Wife of Lourenco da Graca Talho
Mother of Anna (b. 9/10/1882) & Jose Lourenco da Graca (b. around 1880); Maria Antonia de Brito Ganeto (b. around 1880);
Grandmother of Manoel (b. 5/10/1899
da Lapa Baptisms 1875 - 1895 - 261/87 - On 11/1/1882, Anna was baptized, b. 9/30/1882, of Fanja de Baixo, d/o Lourenco da Graca Talho (s/o Antonio da Graca Talho & Roza da
Silva Monteiro) & Antonia Maria de Brito (d/o Miguel Diogo d'
Andrade & Maria de Brito), godparents: Joaquim Antonio
Lopes & Anna Rita Soares; da Lapa Baptisms 1899 - 1900 - 63/121 - On 9/23/1900, Manuel was baptized, b. 5/10/1899, of Fanja, s/o Jose Lourenco da Graca (s/o Lourenco da Graca Talho & Antonia Maria de Brito) & Joanna Antonia Araujo (d/o Manoel Luiz Araujo & Antonia Catharina Araujo), godparents: Joquim Manoel de Brito & Margarida Anna do Rosario. da Lapa Baptisms 1899 - 1900 - 65/126 - On 10/21/1900, Manuel was baptized, b. 5/9/1900 in Fanja de Baixo, s/o Julio Manoel Ganeto (s/o Manoel Antonio Ganeto & Candida Josepha de Brito) & Maria Antonia de Brito (d/o Lourenco da Graca Talho & Antonia Maria de Brito), godparents: Julio Antonio Salustiano & Maria da Piedade Soares.
(2) Antonia Maria de Brito - (probably b. around 1875) Wife of Manoel do Carmo Silva do Rosario 1897 Baptisms which are erroneously filed in theBV da Luz 1899 - 1900 Obits tab - 259/43 - On 2/27/1897, Julia was baptized, d/o Manoel do Carmo Silva & Antonia Maria de Brito (d/o Jose Joao Monteiro & Maria Joanna de Brito). Both parents were proprietarios.
(3)
Antonia Maria de Brito - (probably b. around 1862) Wife of Miguel Joaquim Rodriguez,
do Rosario Matrimonios 1874 - 1882
- 167/13 - On 5/20/1882, Miguel Joaquim Rodriguez, no ages given, (s/o
Joaquim Jose Soares Y& Gertrudes Anna Soares) md Antonia Maria de
Brito (d/o Bartholomeu Manoel Lisboa & Maria Francisca Neves).
Both single. The witnesses were Jose Antonio de Carvalho, widower &
Francisco Joao Soares, md.
(4)
(5) Antonia Maria de Brito
Wife of Manoel Jacintho dos Santos
Daughter of Jose Joao Monteiro & Joanna de Brito (see index - Antonia Maria de Brito dos Santos)
(5) The following are Antonia Maria de Brito - who were godmothers or witnesses without other identifying information:
do Rosario Baptisms 1852 - 1864 - 36/- On 7/?/1854, Domingos was baptized, the godmother was Antonia Maria de Brito; do Rosario Baptisms 1852 - 1864 - 54/ - On 7/22/1855, Luis was baptized, the godmother was Antonia Maria de Brito, widow; do Rosario Baptisms 1852 - 1864 - 75/- On 2/19/1857, Joao was baptized, the godmother was Antonia Maria de Brito; da Lapa Baptisms - edit for volume & years- 209/81, On 6/13/1881, baptisms of the child Antonia.
Antonia Maria Brito was the
godmother.
Maria's godmother could not have been Antonia Maria #1 as she already had a few children before Maria was born. BUT -- she could still have been single and had children. I will need to look at the records more closely to see if the children were natural or legitimate.
Maria # 2 is at another church - far from the mountain peak on which Maria was born. Need to see when she was married.
Maria # 3 is also at another church - far from the mountain peak on which Maria was born. Also, it could not have been her because she was married when Maria was born.
Maria # 4 .....
This leaves Maria #2 as the only viable alternative even though she was single. However, at this point we need more records to be translated to see if there were more women named Antonia Maria de Brito.
Should
be noted that sometimes the child is named after the godmother but in
this case both the mother of Maria and the godmother of Maria had the
first name of Antonia. So Maria's middle name would have been Antonia
(or Maria the child of Antonia).
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