RE: [AZORES-Genealogy] CCA site

[pico]

So very well said, Eileen.

For me, I didn't do research before the films were already available in the Azores.

But what you say about those conditions still apply to my German and some Hungarian research.

I have been stuck in the middle 1800s for almost 25 years on my direct maternal line from Hungary, because I believe the marriage record I need comes from modern Romania and they still live in the dark ages in many ways.

Doug da Rocha Holmes
Sacramento, California
Pico & Terceira Genealogist
916-550-1618

www.dholmes.com

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: [AZORES-Genealogy] CCA site
From: "Eileen Leite" <eileenle...@seleite.com>
Date: Sun, December 15, 2013 7:36 am
To: <azores@googlegroups.com>

The majority of my husband’s family comes from Vila Franca do Campo. The next largest group, from Ribeira Grande. (Deep sigh…)  It is an understatement that I am ready to see those records come online!  My pencil is in my mouth and my fingers are ready to hit the keys, just as soon as the records are posted! Haha. 

 

However, despite the wait, my overwhelming feeling is of deep gratitude that these records are being put online. I recall the old days of squeezing in an hour at the Family History Center on my way home from work, sitting in the darkest corner of the room to eliminate light washout of those dark films, trying to focus ancient and sketchy microfilm viewers and then squandering a half hour of my precious time juggling the film over to the copier and tweaking its settings so I could save a copy of the record I found, stifling my cry of “NOOOOOOOOOOO” as I realized that the records ended before the baptisms and marriages of some critical people: those years have made me appreciate the contrast of sitting in my pajamas at my computer at 1 in the morning with (mostly) clear, enlargeable, easy to copy and save images.  We live in marvelous times!

 

Some of you may remember how it used to be done before there was internet access to family history records, before there were online indexes, before many microfilms available now had even been filmed. In those days direct physical contact was required.  Remember the “SASE”? That means “Self Addressed Stamped Envelope”, which is what you included (often with a donation check) when you wrote an inquiry letter to a potential source. Then you often waited for months for a reply.  Finding the basic details of my Irish line involved driving 1000 miles to New Jersey, visiting court houses and cemeteries and rectories, and negotiating with the priest who wanted to deny me access to his parish records because he was sure I was violating the privacy of his parishioners who died in the 1860’s. In those days it could take close to a year to track and receive a single birth record. Committing to fill in a four-generation pedigree chart meant you were in for the long haul. If you didn’t have patience, you didn’t do family history.

 

Realizing that those Vila Franca do Campo records may be online before next Christmas has touched me deeply and filled me with great happiness.  It will happen so soon! When those last Sao Miguel records come online, I will do the dance of joy.

 

Feeling grateful in Chicagoland,

 

 

Eileen Leite

Researching Ponta Garca, Ribeira Grande, Povoacao, and more in Sao Miguel.

 

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