A second cousin of mine sent me this nice little story with no source information but I thought I would post it as it gives some insight in the life and times of this woman who lived in Sao Migues during the Depression era.. Susan Vargas Murphy
103 and still smiling and going strong Born in a tenement on Coggeshall Street in New Bedford during Teddy Roosevelt's presidency, plucky Maria Cabral DeMelo has a long history sprinkled with courage, daring, and resolve. "Mom was the oldest of five children, and is the last survivor among her siblings," said youngest daughter Linda Wisniewski, 63, who works as a financial officer at Hygrade Ocean Products in New Bedford. "She celebrated her 103rd birthday recently." DeMelo's parents emigrated from St. Miguel, Azores to the United States where her father got a job in a factory making furniture to support his young family. While working in the factory he was injured lifting heavy crates, developed a hernia, and lost his job. Struggling financially, "the family returned to the Azorean archipelago when my mom was five years old," Wisniewski said. "It was the time of the Great Depression in America." Baptized at St. John's Church in New Bedford, DeMelo was raised on the Azorean Island of Sao Miguel, where she met her future beloved husband, Ernesto. Married at 16, she toiled in the fields beside her husband to support their expanding family. Life in the Azores was not easy. There was political strife and there were physical hardships — no indoor plumbing, no electricity, and no telephone, only poverty. To help her family survive, Maria Cabral DeMelo, who had U.S. citizenship, returned to America alone. "She came with a contract to work for the priest at Mount Carmel Church," said her caregiver and daughter, Salome Cordeiro. "It meant a long painful separation for the entire family." In 1952, she began working at the States Nightwear clothing factory in New Bedford as a stitcher. Her daughters said DeMelo lived meagerly, saved her money and eventually brought her precious family to New Bedford. She continued to work tirelessly even after they were reunited. "Now, mom says that she loves to do nothing and loves to sleep," Wisniewski said. Up until eight years ago, DeMelo crocheted fine lace patterns. "Also, she sat on the floor surrounded by pieces of fabric which she cut into different sizes and then stitched together to make patch quilts," Wisniewski said, adding, "My sisters and I all have at least one of those quilts in our homes." While she has experienced some vision and hearing loss, DeMelo is alert and looks much younger than her age. A big smile unfolded across her face as she fondly recalled childhood years spent in the Azores. Through an interpreter, DeMelo told how she and her brother sat in separate baskets harnessed over a donkey's back as they traveled to the fields or the nearest village. For DeMelo, living in the countryside meant cooking over an outdoor fireplace and baking bread twice week, said Cordeiro. In Sao Miguel, farming was labor intensive, with oxen plowing fields, and crops harvested by hand. In DeMelo's village, when neighbors returned from fishing trips, they shared their catch, and in return, DeMelo always gave them something of equal value, for example, chickens or eggs. To this day, her favorite foods include kale soup and grits, and an occasional glass of wine, said Cordeiro. "My mother has a lot of inner strength, vigor and courage," she said. "She would get around this house without her walker if I let her get away with it." DeMelo has eight living children ranging in age from 63 to 85 years of age. All told, she had 12 children — four sons and eight daughters — with three dying in early childhood. She has 31 grandchildren, 58 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren. . -- 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."
