Repost for Linda Souza Leitz, dlleitz at gmail.com (a thread with a title of "Off Topic" is getting deleted by many and no one may see this family that got attached to the thread about the Today show). ===================== I have been researching very infrequently the last few years when I came across the Azores Gen Web site. Of course, I loved it since my family is from Pico. I found all of my grandparents names and printed out their info - and set it aside. Last year I went back into it and found this group. This year I received Family Tree Maker for Christmas and my goal is to get to work on this.
My paternal great grandfather is Joaquim de Sousa Bettencourt - born 21 Feb 1853, died 24 Mar 1945. His first marriage was on 16 Feb 1885 to Catarina da Conceicao. She died on 3 Jul 1888. He remarried on 11 May 1891 to Maria Vicencia do Nascimento. They had only one child, which was my grandfather Manuel Joaquim de Sousa, born 10 Mar 1892. I was told my grandfather dropped the Bettencourt when he came to the U.S. because it was too common and went by Souza. I do have a lot of information to work with, but I was wondering if anyone might be related? Cheri - I liked your info regarding picking surnames. I have a grandmother whose brothers and sisters seem to have picked whatever name they felt like. I'm glad to know that it was not uncommon to do that. Linda Souza Leitz -- 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."

