Nancy Jean, it just goes to show that your persistence has paid off. Hopefully you will see some photos of the "missing" family soon!
Rosemarie ----- Original Message ----- From: nancy jean baptiste To: azores group Sent: Friday, July 16, 2010 9:27 AM Subject: RE: [AZORES-Genealogy] Gracia Greetings Group, Just an update regarding finding Annie's descendants..... When I called Wed. and got the recording I left my name and message that I lived in Arkansas and would like to speak to Frank Gracie...(I pronounced it GRAHCY....he says GRAYCY)...no other info regarding my reason for calling. He didn't call me back so last night I called him again and he was waiting for my call. (He'd googled me! Found out I was an artist in Ar.....not too scary) I began by saying that his grandmother, Annie and my grandfather, John were siblings....his response was "OH....wow!"...and it went very well from there. He knew nothing of my families existence....he knew there was some kind of a link to the Baptiste name but he didn't know what it was.....he and his father both use the name Frank S. Gracie......he and his dad never knew for sure what the S. stood for!!!!! They just used it because of Annie's husband, Frank S. senior......he said his father thought it might stand for Silva or Soares and I was able to confirm that it is Soares and that his grandfather came from Sao Jorge in 1905 as a boarder to Annie's mothers rooming house and got her pregnant when she was 16 and married he when she was 17 a few days before Mary, the first of their 5 children was born.....he had no idea! He also said that his father, Frank thought the family name might really be Gracia but they weren't sure! ( I think Azoreans prefer "E to A" since my family went from Baptista to Baptiste and his from Gracia to Gracie....) The family left New Bedford for Dartmouth in 1927 and have been Gracie ever since. He confirmed that Annie's youngest daughter, Dorothy, b. 1930, is still alive, married and summering in Nova Scotia but lives in Mass. I'm hoping to talk with her. There are female descendants from Annie's 4 daughters so hopefully sometime in the future I will be able to have Catarina's MTDNA....One of these is a young genealogist and he's putting us in touch! I asked him if he might have an old photo's of his grandmother, Annie or her parents....he said he has a couple of boxes of old stuff in the attic but doesn't know if there might be any photos. I hope Dorothy or some of the children will have a picture of Caterina, Antonio and Annie and John.....just a long shot but I so much would love to see them. The greatest piece of info he had was regarding my grandfather, John.....since my dad and uncle were estranged from him I have no idea what he looked like or where he is interred....at one point in our conversation Frank said..."Oh, that explains who that is buried in our family plot......his name is John Baptiste"!!!! Wow....he's going to go to the cemetary and take pictures for me and who knows he might even find Antonio.....I think Caterina was buried at Mt. Carmel instead of St. Johns.....not sure. So he was as pleased to hear from me as I was to find him and we will remain in touch via email etc......we were both born in 1949....6 months apart. I told him a bit about Caterina's connection to King Afonso VI and some of her other illustrious ancestors and also a bit about Antonio's connection to noble families in eons past. He said he'd never had any previous interest in genealogy but as he's gotten older he's realized that it's important to know where and who you come from for self understanding and that this whet his interest. He had no idea which islands his ancestors were from. We talked for a good hour and could have gone on longer but my voice was wearing out!......so again, my sincerest thanks to all of you who have helped me so very much......you are my truest Azorean family. Nancy Jean ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [AZORES-Genealogy] Gracia Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:33:37 -0700 I LOVE to hear stuff like this!!! Good luck Nancy ~ hope he is the right person and he will be helpful to you!! J Tracy From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of nancy jean baptiste Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2010 3:57 PM To: azores group Subject: RE: [AZORES-Genealogy] Gracia Oh my gosh......I just saw this and googled as you suggested! I'm amazed to think it might be possible to talk with this missing family link. I'll keep you posted. "E", you have helped me so much the last few years! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Nancy Jean > Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:52:50 -0700 > Subject: Re: [AZORES-Genealogy] Gracia > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > > Nancy Jean, > > Don't know if you got my message I sent to your email address. If you > google Frank S. Gracie, Dartmouth, you will info for Frank S. 3rd or > 4th, who apparently is living. I would call/write him and see what he > has to say about the family. There are also some family obit, etc. > posted using google. Use www.switchboard.com to find phone # and > address. > > "E" > > -- > 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." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The New Busy is not the old busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox. Get started. -- 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." -- 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." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The New Busy is not the old busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox. Get started. -- 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." -- 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."
