Great story, loved reading it. On Thursday, December 26, 2013, Andrew Rapoza wrote:
> I'll try to keep this short, but from time to time I love reading a good > "happy ending" genealogy story, and since I am new to this group, I thought > mine might be a story worth sharing with all of you. ... > > I have been researching for 40 years. I remember paying someone travelling > to the Azores to find a single record for me - it was the only way back > then. I then went to the islands myself three times to do the research > myself, in the original records, for the first time. Handling the original > volumes with my ancestors' names is an unforgettable experience. > > In the early 1980s my wife and I went to Sao Miguel and while researching > in the Archivo, met the man from the Mormon church who was in the process > of microfilming the records. He took us to the little building near the > Archivo where he was set up and he showed us the process. What a blessing - > I rejoiced at the thought that in a few years I would be able to examine > microfilms in an LDS family history center a few miles from home ... and I > have spent many years and many hundreds of dollars renting and researching > those microfilms! > > Through these several different efforts I have had the good fortune of > finding 7 of my 8 great-grandparents, all born in Sao Miguel, and have > traced their lines back for anywhere from decades to centuries, depending > on the line. The 8th ggp, Maria Ricarda Gonzales, has eluded me because I > only knew her birth date and that she was born on Sao Jorge, but had no > idea what village. Her parents were circus performers in a small circus > that traveled through the Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands, Spain, and > France. Her father (Agustin Ribero Gonzales) was from somewhere in the > Canary Islands and her mother (Maria Ricarda Martins) was from Ponta > Delgada (and yes, I had their names as well). That was all I knew of her > origin for 40 years. It was ironic that I knew nothing about her birth > because she was also the only great grandparent I ever knew personally (she > died when I was just a young kid). > > In October 2012 I had the opportunity to make a short visit to my home > area of New Bedford for a family wedding. I wrote ahead to the local LDS > FHC librarian because I knew they had a lot of Azorean microfilms; I wanted > to know what Sao Jorge villages they had (figured it would save me a bunch > in rental fees if I could at least go through those while I was there). I > told her *only* the first name of my ggm (Maria), her birth date, and > that she was born on Sao Jorge (I wasn't expecting anyone to do research; I > just wanted to give her a better idea of what I hoped to accomplish when I > got up there). > > That was all: Maria + birth date + island. > > Then the big surprise came: a few days later, while sitting in the car > outside of a Garden Ridge store down here in south Texas, hoping my wife > would soon stop shopping (!), I felt my phone vibrate; a message had come > in from that FHC director. In that little text message she explained she > had given the information I provided to one of her patrons who specialized > in Azorean research and he knew about a website that I had never heard of > (the CCA website). He told her to let me know he had looked at *one*village > (Calheta; how he picked that one at random, I'll never know), and > he had found a birth of a Maria for that birth date, just in case I might > be interested. There she was in my little cell phone window: my great > grandmother! I was able to instantly identify her by her parent's names > (which I had *not *provided to the FHC director): the names of her father > and mother which were in the record along with the fact that her father was > from the Canary Islands ... not only that, but *specifically *the village > of Santa Brigida on the island of Gran Canaria! I had no idea what island > or town my great-great grandfather was from until that moment! My wife has > *never* seen such a look on my face after she has gone shopping before! :) > > In the year that has passed, I have (exclusively through the help of a now > dear friend in Gran Canaria) been able to discover many dozens of ancestors > in four of the Canary Islands, going back the same number of centuries as > my Azorean ancestral lines. There will always be more ancestors, more > finds, and more exciting moments, but having a brick wall completely > destroyed - because someone I have never met instantly pulled the needle > out of the haystack - still stuns me to this day. May all your Maria's also > be found in 2014! > > --Andy Rapoza > > A quick postscript: When I am done with this post, I will go to the CCA > website and do my research from the comfort and convenience of my own home; > for those who, like me, have experienced all the changes in research, isn't > it wonderful to be a genealogist in 2014? My goodness, the changes in my > lifetime! > > -- > 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] <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', > 'azores%[email protected]');>. > To post to this group, send email to > [email protected]<javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', '[email protected]');> > . > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores. > -- www.aldasplace.ca Alda B. owner/operator -- 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.
