One of the sons of my relative was disabled. He got around with crutches but was a hard worker. There is a photo of him sitting on the ground shearing his sheep.
A couple of brothers came to this area to start farms. They brought their parents over, but for some reason, their sister could not get the necessary papers and permission to come to the United States. So the brothers met this disabled man (the son of my ancestor), asked him if he would go back to the Azores and marry this woman so that she could come to California, too. He agreed, knowing it was to be an arranged marriage, just to get her here to California. When the woman and this disabled man met, they fell in love and did not want to have just a civil wedding, they wanted to marry in the Church. Her parents were very upset thinking that their daughter would have no future. That he could not support her. They married anyway, and she followed him not long after he came back to the United States. They had a happy marriage for about five years, producing two children. Unnfortunately he had a heart attack and died near the the fifth year of the marriage. It all worked out, as she moved to the Southern California area to be with her parents. Not long after that, her sister died leaving her children with their father. The widow and the widower got together two years later, married, and had a long marriage that all said was very happy. They then had one child in common. I think our ancestors made do with what was available and married whoever asked for the most part. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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, 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." -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
