Hi Andy….Such a wonderful story! I can relate so much as I also have been on this Azorean research road for such a long time…..with such a similar story. I would not give up the experiences of going to the Biblioteca and experiencing such joy as the realization that this work COULD be done….for me, back in 1983!……but it is so wonderful that now the records are so accessible and stories like yours give us all hope that we should never give up on those brick walls! Happy New Year!! Susan Vargas Murphhy
On Thursday, December 26, 2013 4:58:29 PM UTC-8, 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. 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