I will throw in my two cents worth as well. My grandfather came to the US, specifically Sacramento, CA, in 1905. They did not anglicize their name and the neighborhood they lived in was culturally diverse for the time with many Azorean families as well as Italian families and Asian families. However, I have been told that in their house the children were only to speak English; they were Americans now and wanted to assimilate. Their father learned English but their mother reportedly never learned to speak English so presumably they only spoke Portuguese when they were speaking directly to their mother. My great great grandfather came to the US (California) about 1854. He did anglicize his name going by Perry rather than Pereira or Beirao. According to the census, he and his wife both spoke English. In a message dated 8/11/2012 12:49:52 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
I was born in 1946 and am the youngest of 6 children. Both my parents were Portuguese, 1st generation for one a 1st & 2nd for the other. My mom’s mother was an immigrant but; her father was born in the U.S. My parents spoke Portuguese to each other but; if one of us children came into the room they switched to English. They definitely wanted us to be known as Americans! Not Americans first, Americans period. My older siblings tell me they experienced prejudice even though there were many Portuguese descendents in our town in CA. I know neither of my grandmothers ever spoke to us about where they were from or their early life. My grandfathers were both dead before I was born. None of my family were striving for “upper crust” stations in life. They were quite happy to be successful farmers. I think prejudice against Portuguese people must have been very real for them but; it probably depended on where you lived and perhaps, your level of education as well. Just my two cents worth, Sam in CA From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Gayle Machado Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2012 10:50 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AZORES-Genealogy] Anglicization of names Len, My grandfather's first wife was Irish. Her family looked down on the Portuguese as the N(word)s of Europe.(Sorry, not a word I would use. ) As a result, he anglicized his name. His children from that marriage used Marshall. His wife died young. When he decided to remarry, my grandmother's family were not biased against his heritage (being Portuguese themselves) so his second family returned to the Machado surname. However, outside the family, my father would never acknowledge his heritage or the fact that he spoke Portuguese fluently. To my great disappointment, he refused to teach my sister or I saying this was the U. S. and English was the only language we needed. Gayle -- 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_ (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."
