Well written Cousin Sam.
I sometimes think some of us from "this era" misunderstand the
"drivers" that led our ancestors to success. They stopped at nothing. They
were
survivors ... would do whatever to give their children a better chance at a
more prospective future. That is what I "read" in the various attempts to
"Americanize" themselves (might be viewed as 'anglicized' in the current
day). It was competition in its rawest sense ... your family (farm?) against
the existing (old New England) farmer. You did (as a father or parent) to see
that your children (born in the country that YOU as an immigrant chose)
did whatever you perceived as advantageous to your children.
In my opinion ... THAT is what drove our ancestors to do as they saw
necessary in the remarkably competitive environment of those times. Would
you do less for your children? ... try to think in their shoes. I admire
their decisions as much as I regret the loss of heritage that such decisions
entailed.
I can recover that lost heritage through study. I could not recover
from death of my immigrant ancestors or their children from poverty driven in
part by a disgusting irreverence for the humans who came to US shores
driven by hope.
Best to you all.
In a message dated 8/11/2012 3:49:52 P.M. Eastern 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
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