About 3 weeks ago, a new member joined our list - Altino Demelo. An amusing name, I thought, since I had a photo of a man in a soldier's uniform named Altino de Melo. Altino, the man posting his genealogy question, was asking about finding some certificates for his mom's side in Ginetes. I responded how he could obtain them.
He wrote me back in private, thanking me for my answer. In the 2nd paragraph, he wrote that he would also like to work on his Melo line, from Ribeira das Tainhas and Ribeira Quente! WHAT?!?!?!?! HELLLLOOOOOO, that's in my signature line. Those are the freguesias I research in!!! The photo that I have of Altino de Melo is an army photo, probably from the 1940s. My dad was in the army in the early 50s and this photo of Altino looked older, so I guessed it to be the 1940s and that subject of the picture was probably born in the 1920s. This photo was in my great-grandmother's album. On the back, in Portuguese, it said something along the lines of "In love and friendship. I wish to know my uncle, aunt, and cousins better. Altino de Melo, A.D., A.D." This photo was shared with me in the 1990s. He had to be a son of one of my grandfather's brothers. According to Sister Hilda Correia, a cousin, both of my great-grandfathers sisters who lived to adulthood came to West Warwick, Rhode Island, one sister died young (found out later that wasn't true), and out of the remaining two brothers, one went to Canada and one went to Brazil. Because the back of the photo was written in Portuguese, I figured it was from the brother who went to Brazil. (One thing about family stories - there's usually a grain of truth. A brother, not a sister, died young (age 5), and the DESCENDANTS of one of the brothers went to Brazil and Canada). Back then, I showed the photo around, trying to get some identification on the uniform. No luck. I took it with me on one trip to the Azores. I was taken into Vila Franca and up to a house. They knocked on the door, told me the man was Altino de Melo. He looked at the photo and said it was not him. He was an older man, but not quite old enough. Rats. I think it was my 2002 trip. I went to the archives, knowing that I could see the books up to 1900. I searched Ribeira das Tainhas, looking for every Mello, writing them all down. I found the baptism of the sister who I was told had died young - she hadn't. Her margin had her marriage and death info. She died on Terceira. I kept looking for more siblings. In the 1900 book, I found the birth of my great-grandfather's youngest sibling, Antonio. Antonio was only 3 when his big brother left for America. He never really got to know him. My great-grandfather never went back for a visit sadly. Antonio's baptism also had his marriage and death info in the margin. He had married a woman by the name of Senhorinha. And he died only in 1990, in Nordeste. Nordeste. The name literally translates to northeast. It's on the northeast corner of the island. I am told that one day I must go there and get up before dawn to see the sunrise, as it is absolutely beautiful. Guess I should put that on my to do list. However, I'm not a morning person, but perhaps I will one day. I don't remember if it was that same trip or the next one. But I took that information from Antonio de Melo's baptism and was going to try to find his descendants. He died in 1990. That was a little over 10 years ago then. So I take my family group sheet and go to the praça where the taxis are. I ask for an English speaking driver. I ask him to take me to Nordeste to find my family. "Ah, Senhora, you must come back tomorrow, before dawn. I will take you to Nordeste. The sunrise is very beautiful. Come back tomorrow." On to the next praça and the next taxi stand. I ask for an English speaking driver. I get the same story about Nordeste. I told him I had been before, but wanted to find my family, but he insisted that I see the sunrise. So I walked over to the mall to those taxis. I found a driver, in his 20s. He spoke English. I asked him to take me to Nordeste. He starts in about the sunrise thing. ARGH!! I want to scream! I pull out my family group sheet and show it to him. I point to Antonio's name and his death date. I told him I wanted to find my family. He looks it over. He asks if I know how common the name Antonio de Melo is. I said, yes, I knew. But I pointed out his wife's name, Senhorinha. I said that was less common. He agreed, and said he would help me. We agreed on a price and off to Nordeste we went. I think it was a Sunday. I think there was a festa that was going to start up later that day. The taxi driver said that would be good as there would be more people to ask. As we get into Nordeste, Mr. Taxi stops at a bar and goes in to buy some cigarettes. I'm thinking, "Come on, come on, let's get going." He comes back out told me that the men in there told him to go looking for a certain old man. They told Mr. Taxi where the old man was. So off we go. And we find the old man. Mr. Taxi asked for my family group sheet. We approach the old man and Mr. Taxi asked him if he knew of an Antonio de Melo, married to a Senhorinha. Yes, he knew him, he had died maybe 10 years prior. His wife had died before that. He said Antonio had come from the other side of Sao Miguel (true, Ribeira das Tainhas is on the other side). I asked if he knew where any of Antonio's children were. He said he remembers Antonio talking about a son who went to Canada, but he could not recall the name or where any other children were. Perhaps in R. das Tainhas. So that is all the info I got. Just some crumbs. It's early Dec, 2010 and in my inbox is Altino Demelo. I knew it wasn't the same Altino de Melo that I had a soldier picture of. But Altino in my inbox wants to research his Melos in my freguesias!!! This is crazy and there would be a one in a million chance that he would even know about my photo. So I told him what my line was and I attached the soldier photo of Altino de Melo and what it said on the back. I asked if he had any idea of who the man was. I get up the next morning and turn on my computer. Altino is back in my inbox and there's a paper clip, with some attachments. Altino Demelo, new to our list, was named for his Uncle Altino who when to Brazil. Attached were some photos of Altino, the soldier, later in life with his family!!!!!!! Altino is technically my dad's 2nd cousin and my 2nd cousin once removed, although he's a couple of years younger than I am. He descends from the baby brother, Antonio and his wife, Senhorinha, that I went in search of in Nordeste. I descend from the oldest brother. I had photos of one generation back that I sent him. I wanted to tell the list that I had just found a new cousin, but he was working on this as a Christmas surprise for his family. If his brothers were poking around the Internet, they may discover what Altino was up to. So I had to stay quiet. Until now. Besides, this makes a good Christmas story, don't you think? So this makes Altino one of the Ponta Garca gang, an Antonio and Constancia descendant, a Count of Benevides descendant (I think), and I don't know what else. Nor did Altino know what he was getting into when he started this a month ago. He probably thinks we are all nuts. Feliz Natal, Cheri Mello Listowner, Azores-Gen Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada -- 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."
