Antonio Justiniano Lopes

 Antonio Justiniano Lopes & his wives, Maria Claudia da Gloria & Zulmira dos Santos & his mother, Candida Lopes & his sons James Justiniano Lopes & Francisco "Frank" Adelberto Justiniano Lopes

This is an embroidery which shows:
Antonio Justiniano Lopes & his first wife Maria Claudia da Gloria Lopes & the little boy on the left is their first son James Justiniano Lopes.

Their second son was Francisco "Frank" Adelberto Justiniano Lopes & he is not shown in this embroidery.   

How many of us had grandmothers or mothers who embroidered?  My gram had an embroidery right near the back door.  I think my mother did it.  It may still be in that house. 

Antonio Justiniano Lopes was born in  Sao Nicolau in 1881, son of Candida Lopes.  (with the CV naming patterns his father must have been Justiniano but I have not found corroboration for that yet).  He was md first to Maria Claudia da Gloria & then to Zulmira dos Santos  His first wife died (1921) having their third son in childbirth (excessive ether).  His two sons were James Justiniano Lopes & Francisco Adelberto Justiniano Lopes.

Maria Claudia da Gloria is related to me in that we are descended from the same couple,  Nicolau Araujo Neves & Maria dos Santos.  She is descended from the daughter Francesca  & I am descended from Antonio Serafim dos Santos & (the daughter) Rosa Maria da Natividade. 

Antonio Justiniano Lopes can be found on the 1920 Census in New Bedford at 22 Madison Street at age 39 with his wife Mary 28, & his sons James 7 & Frank 2.  He worked in the cardroom at a cotton mill.  Also in the household is a boarder named Joseph Almeida who is 42.  In the 1930 Census the family is at 445 Purchase Street.  Antonio is 49y, he is now with his second wife, Zulmira who is 52y & also with James 17y & Frank 12y, as well as his mother, Candida who is 64y (these ages must be of, otherwise she would have had her child when she was 12y).  Also see the Standard Times piece REMEMBERING THE PAST by Susan Pawlaki Seaman.  (though he looks very different in that photo). 

Maria Claudia da Gloria was born in Sao Nicolau (SN) on 4/17/1881.  She was the daughter of Josepha Francisca do Rosario & Miguel Jose Lopes.  Miguel was the son of Francisca who was the daughter of Nicolau Araujo Neves & Maria dos Santos Neves.  (She & this compiler are descended from this couple.  This compiler is descended from Francisca's sister Rosa).  Maria Claudia immigrated to the US in 1910 (however I have yet to find the ship manifest).  The Massachusetts Death Index indicates that she died in 1921 & that she is buried at St. John's Cemetery.  An informant indicated that her sister was named "Maninha" but of course that means "little sister".  Her sister's name was actually Francesca.
(With the Sao Nicolau naming patterns it is odd that Maria's middle name was Claudia instead of her mother's middle name Josepha).  Maria Claudia died from the over administration of ether during childbirth (third child).  The child did not survive.  

One side of this family has roots in Goa, India.  Not sure which side at this moment.  

This writer is very close to this family as my mother married the "Frank" mentioned above & he was my mom's second husband.  They never knew that they were fourth cousins.  My mother is one generation further away from Nicolau & Maria. 

Known as Frank "Chico" Lopes he is shown above holding my parrot named "Walker".  His first wife was Leocadia & he had five sons who all lived in New Bedford.  Chico told many stories to this compiler.  He remembers going to the ship to meet someone who came in to the US after his mother died at age 31 during childbirth (too much ether).  He thought it was his grandmother & he says that he hid when he saw her because she was very tiny & all dressed in black & he thought that she looked like a witch.  He also said that my gram, Maria d' Mane, would call him "Quoitod" which means "poor little thing".  My grandmother had also been a "quoitod" as she had lost her mother at the very same age that Chico lost his mother (age 5).  This shared sense of loss created a bond between them.  Chico md my mother, Nita, when they were well into their senior years.

In late life Frank "Chico" married his second wife, Nita & they lived in L.A. (where they were a part of that City's thriving CV community), Las Vegas (where Chico worked at New York New York Casino as well as the Bellagio) New Orleans, & lastly, New Bedford.  I am told that he always went by the name Frank but started using "Chico" in later life.  I always called him that - maybe before that, Mr. Lopes. 

While in New Orleans, Chico had a lucrative, interesting, & fun acting career.  While he was mostly a Background Actor he was "featured" in a few films (one based on an Anne Rice novel about a vampire - with Brad Pitt -- & Chico played a creole free man of color in the Anne Rice movie (& certainly looked the part, the Pelican Brief, another movie with Cicely Tyson .... etc.  ), he had a successful and long running commercial for the local telephone company where he was also "featured", & he did many many background appearances.  He & Nita did this together but in this area Chico was the "star".  They loved being on the set where they could talk to other people, eat the catered food, think up the most appropriate costume for the role, & get placed in scenes.  Even though he was CV he could pass as a New Orleans creole.  He was with an agency named Del Corral. 

Since Chico was nearly ten years older than my mother he had a perspective on CV life that my mom did not have.  He remembered my grandmother at an earlier age.  He said that she, Maria Antonia Encarnacao Santos Cruz/ Maria d' Mane was a "lady about town" & that she was "a lot of woman".  I think that meant that she was top heavy.  Pilda's was a jewish grocery store & Chico would see my mother there.  Chico went everywhere with his grandmother, Candida.  He went to wakes, dances, weddings, etc where he would dance for people. He told me that he often imitated the minstrel dancers by rolling his eyes back in his head.     He remembered that my grandmother would squeeze him to her chest.  He said that she was 'bruta" whch  means that she was sassy and that if she had something to tell you she would  say it. 

Like many CVs, Chico and my mom both defied old age.  They simply refused to think of themselves as elderly.  My mom, who had once been a beauty, managed this by turning down the lights or trading 60 watts for 40.  Chico continued to want to work & travel even during his very senior years.  He drove well into his late 80's and at least 3 people in my family observed him riding the wrong way down the streets of New Orleans.  I mean, how many times did he do this if all three of us saw him do it?  But he was not about to be held down by simple things like one way streets.  

I wasn't crazy about this late marriage.  My sisters though appreciated the "bonus dad". 

When Chico died I compiled a booklet & this is (in part) what I wrote:

"Chico" as I would call him was always very interested in the fact that I was a writer & a genealogist.  We had in common the wish to share with our families the interesting & sometimes fascinating facts that we knew about the lives of our ancestors.  And so I encouraged him to take an hour out of each day to write something down about his past.  I knew what he did not know at this point & that was that it is in this way that writers are born.

I never checked with Chico to see if he had actually ever committed anything to paper .  I didn't press the issue because writing is such a personal thing.  Imagine my surprise then when while dusting a table in his bedroom after he died I found a yellow lined pad that began with the words "I owe a great deal of gratitude to all of the people I met in the different chapters of my life to the present.  It was a life of happiness, sorrow, and excitement". 

**** and then he continued by saying*****

I was born on October the 4th, 1917 in New Bedford, Massachusetts.  My parents were Cape Verdeans of Portuguese descent.  I would like to go back to my heritage which is very important to all.  During my lifetime whenever I travel to different states or different countries, they never heard of Cape Verdeans & I am always proud to tell them a little of my heritage.  Cape Verdeans were people of love & compassion - always singing & dancing.  My great grandparents - grandparents & my parents were all born in the Ilha de Sao Nicolau.  My father was born in 1878 & my mother was born in 1880.  America was one of the countries that the Cape Verdean men considered a land of opportunity.  The beginning of the 19th century at the age of 22 is when my father arrived in America to start a new life.  He came on a schooner & it took at least 45 days to reach the port in New Bedford.  This port was a big port.  In those days New Bedford was a large seaport for all types of imports & exports.  Also, one of the biggest industries was the cotton mill industry.  After a few years working in the cotton mills, my father sent for his bride to be & they got married in 1910.  Two years later they had their first son & 5 years after that they had me on St. Francis Day.  I was the second son.  Being a child it is hard to remember the first four years.  When I was four years old my mother passed away during childbirth & I was cheated in part of my life of her love & could not remember her.  During my life from the time I was a child to the time I became a teenager, was a life of excitement and love.  My grandmother arrived in America after my mother passed away & my father had remarried.  I remember when my grandmother arrived on the dock on a schooner.  This became a happy moment for my father & it goes without saying it became the happiest childhood for me because she took good care of me until the day she passed away at the time I was 12 years old.   It was a great loss for me.  I remember how she gave me so much love which I have kept within myself.  Being a child there were many beautiful memories.  One of the things I did was I went to most weddings, christenings, and wakes in our community because my grandmother was a cook & wherever she went she took me with her.  The Cape Verdean people are loving people.  They like to be surrounded by music.  They love to dance.  Since I was a child in the 20s I would do the Charleston.  All of the older folks would throw nickels & dimes when I started to roll my eyes & rub my stomach.  That was exciting!  Little did I realize this could be a career for me as a dancer.  I loved the stage.  After my grandmother died my whole life started to change.  When I look back I feel that if my mother and my grandmother had lived I would have been a better student in school.  My father was a scholar & his goal for both of his sons was that they would go to college & be professionals.  To this day I say to myself that if only my mother had lived I would have been someone of importance.  At 19 my father gave me permission to go to Boston to look for work.  I was fortunate to get a job in Brookline as an elevator operator.  A year later I forged my birth certificate (to reflect that I was 21 years old) & eloped and married Lucadia.  When my father heard about what I had done he disowned me as his son.  Six years before he died he accepted me back as his son.  Not only was he a good father, but my best friend.  Sure miss him. 

In another piece of writing he says "at the age of twelve .. we lived at 445 Purchase Street (1931" ..."that was a very bad year for the family ... my grandmother passed away  .. she came to this country when I was five years old and (my brother) was twelve ...she was very close to (my brother and I) ... our mother died seven years before that of childbirth, she was only thirty one .. (after our mother died) my grandmother came to this country on a Cape Verdean schooner which docked at New Bedford, it took forty eight days to arrive in America .. Our dad remarried two years after our mother passed away ... In those days they needed someone to care for the family.  my brother was a carbon copy of my father ... he was a man of principle and dignity.  At 17 he went to work on the Island Boat - Martha's Vineyard & Nantucket.  (my brother) took me to the dances at Roseland (Ballroom) & I saw & heard all of the big bands.  (my brother) started going to Providence where he met ... a lovely girl .... Mary ... (my brother) did all types of work to support his family ... he became one of the top men at the docks in Providence as a Longshoreman ... & Boss Man ... he had so much compassion & love for his fellow man ... he was a Pied Piper ...

This is Francisco "Frank/Chico" Adelberto Justiniano Lopes &

 Frank Grace (husband of Mary & father of Parky, Ross & Arnold Grace - sorry I don't know all of the siblings names). 

This photo was taken in New Orleans when they visited me for Thanksgiving.  We had a great time doing all manner of things including going to the races:

Frank "Chico" Lopes, Carol Haynes, & Frank Grace

at the New Orleans Fairgrounds

(which is the site of the yearly New Orleans Jazz Festival)

 

This section is dedicated to any person who was named "Justiniano Antonio Lopes" or
"Antonio Justiniano Lopes".

Antonio Justiniano Lopes
See the section preceeding this section which is about Antonio Justiniano Lopes & his wives (1) Maria Claudia & (2) Zulmira dos Santos. 
He was born in Sao Nicolau in 1881.  His mother was Candida Lopes.  Because of the naming patterns in Sao Nicolau I believe that his father must have been Justiniano (due to his middle name).  

Justiniano Antonio Lopes
b. around 1858?????
Husband of (1)  Maria Ignacia Soares/Almeida (b. 1863  d. 4/17/1897)
                    (2)  Antonia Maria Oliveira (b. 1872)          

da Lapa Obits 1890 - 1901 - 65/49 - On 4/17/1897, Maria Ignacia Soares died at 34y, w/o Justiniano Antonio Lopes. 
do Rosario Matrimonios 1891 - 1900 (BV tab) -  77/38 - On 7/10/1898, Justiniano Antonio Lopes, widower of Maria Ignacia Almeida, md Antonia Maria Oliveira, 26, (d/o Pedro Joaquim Oliveira (d) & Maria Antonia Ramos), witnesses - Francisco Xavier ?Crato & Joao Jose Lopes da Silva.