Steve Patsy and I felt that our family left Soa Miguel not only for a better life for their family, but so that their sons would not be drafted. Out family left the island in 1880. I know that's about 15 years after your family, but I did find in researching that young boys were being drafted at 14 years of age. There is a bit of discrepancy with birth years from the ship's manifest and the island birth records. They were younger on the ship's manifest making them not eligible for the draft for another year or two. Ally Vieira Anselmo in Ribeira Seca, Sao Miguel Pinheiro, Nunes, Silveira in Praia do Almoxarife and Pedro Miguel, Faial Silveira, Rodrigues in Sao Jorge
In a message dated 3/29/2011 1:44:17 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: The family story is that "Caton" came to the US in 1865 or 66, having "stowed away" on a whaling ship in order to avoid military conscription. I have no idea if this is true, knowing how family stories can mutate over time. But a quick glance at Portuguese history shows no war going on at that time, so the draft dodging story seems a bit suspect. -- 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."
