A lot of those "expostos" were abandoned at the doors of (and fostered by) close blood relatives.
John, Thank you for your response. In my situation, my ancestor was a captain in the army. In looking through the records, there were many young men in town "soldiers" from many other areas. Many of them fathered children with local girls. I noticed that my ancestor, the captain, was godfather to many of these children. He must have been a friend to many young boys and they trusted him to be godfather to their children. When this infant, Jose dos Santos, was left on his doorstep, it must have been someone who knew the captain's family would care for the infant. Some young, scared couple that abandoned the child, but knew he would be cared for by this family. Only my speculation . . . Maria Sousa --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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." -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
