Maria Lima, It's a "c." It's just the way he writes it.
What I did when I was learning (and I do now too, if I get a different priest/scribe) is to look for a KNOWN word. The "c" in the middle is in question. So I look for a word that I know with a "c" in the middle. Like Francisco. Not a "c" at the beginning, as in casado, because those "c"s may be different. Luckily, this priest was pretty consistent with his penmanship. Next, I would look for ALL the kids of Feliciana and her husband. I would do this for 3 main reasons. 1) I'm really learning handwriting or penmanship (paleography) of that time period. 2) I'm really increasing my reading skills....after all, I'd be getting used to those weird "c"s in Feliciana. 3) To make connections with other researchers, I'd really need the siblings of my ancestor. And my genealogy program keeps them organized. Joao Ventura, the archivist, also gives a lesson in his speech about paleography. Although today, we would make that "c" by starting up at the top and curving around counter clockwise, not all letters were done that way back in time. Some letters could start at the bottom and go clockwise. I don't remember if the "c" was one of those letters or not. Studying letter formation over time may be of help to you. Since I come from a teaching background, I've had to read some pretty bad penmanship (students and other teachers or coworkers). I think that gave me a little bit of an advantage in reading these old records. Cheri Mello Listowner, Azores-Gen Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada -- For 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." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.
