I am no expert on genealogy, but I would not wait to find the frequesia to proceed. It certainly makes life easier, but you can do some other things first. As far as going to São Miguel to look, I wouldn't expect to find much without more information unless you have more details. I think that is why you are being told to get the frequesia. In my case, the frequesia was one of the last things I found, and it took a couple years. I had very little to go on. I talked to people and then followed hunches. For example, i was told that people from one island tend to immigrate to certain towns in the US ( e.g. Santa Maria and Hudson, MA). I looked into that but it isnt a hard and fast rule, so was a dead end. I started by googling the name I had (which was wrong), then i made some guesses including saying the Portugues name to hear what it may have been Anglicized to. I just kept searching (including on ancestry.com). Some ended up as dead ends, so you may need to be persistent. I found information in the US first and followed it back until I found the family leaving the Azores. This record showed the frequesia. I always try to cross confirm things with more than one fact. Sometimes that includes going forward in time to see if my hunch is correct. Last year when I was in São Miguel, someone told me that many people from Vila Franca went to Bermuda. You might try starting to look in Vila Franca to see if you can find anything.
Boa sorte! Yvonne -- 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."
