Lisa, Cheri and all; Just a note as to how names changed.
Up to a certain point in time I had always thought my surname was Coelho from Santa Maria, Azores Islands. At least that's what my grandmother and my father used as a surname. Then as a young adult I made a visit to Lisbon, Portugal. On my return I said to my dad, I didn't know our surname was as common in Portugal as Smith and Jones is here. Coelho was on so many shops. Dad said, "Well, you know Coelho isn't really our surname. It's really Soares." That was the first I'd heard of it. Dad didn't really know the circumstances of the name change. In researching the records, it seems my grandfather went by the name of Jose Coelho Soares and on his ships manifest on immigration he lists his father as Cordeiro. How Coelho Soares and Cordeiro all tie together I don't know as I haven't been able to read the Santa Maria records well enough to get farther back in my research yet. So yes, Lisa, all daughters could be named Maria something or other and they would be called by that something or other name and records could be under the Maria name or the other name or a devotional name. Parents often gave a second son or daughter the name of a deceased son or daughter. Siblings could and often did have different surnames and surnames changed with time. Oh yes, and cousins married cousins too. You have to read those records very carefully for these and many other twists. This is such a fun hobby we have! J Sam in CA Researching: Soares, Coelho, Cordeiro, Tavares do Rego in Santa Maria, Faria, Catherina in Faial and Fraga, island unknown. From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Cheri Mello Sent: Friday, August 22, 2008 9:10 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [AZORES-Genealogy] Re: question on De Lima Lisa, Some of our grandparents loved to keep the kiddies mesmerized with a few embellished stories. To see if it is true, you will have to trace all lines back. Not the royalty forward. One of the people who are into the history will chime in here, but the king stuff stopped after a certain year. Now they have presidents or prime ministers, I don't remember which. But to take someone, such as one of the early kings from the year 1143 and try to find ALL descendants (and pray there's not missing records) and trace it from the continent to the Azores and probably Madeira (and maybe Angola and other Portuguese territories of the time) and across the Atlantic to you, will probably take a lifetime and a half. You will probably be diagnosed with migraine headaches, too. LOL I did find a brief history of Portuguese monarchs on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Portuguese_monarchs You will also find as you do more and more research that your de Lima line will turn into something else. I'm not really a Mello. I'm a Jacome. Cheri >From a whole bunch of peasants, hard working laborers, housewives, and one Knight of Santiago. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, 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." -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
