Ricardo C, You made lots of points. Let me try to address some of them.
Why does "de Souza" become "DeSouza?" Why did the trumpet in high school band have the last name "Vandewater?" I'm sure it was "van de Water." All I know is that in school, the computer programs that creates the roll sheets capitalize the first letter of the last name, because everyone knows that your name is capitalized. As to the removal of the space, maybe it doesn't accept spaces? I've even have kids with hyphenated names and it wouldn't take the hyphen. I don't know if the programmers do the same thing in the courts and the Department of Motor Vehicle registration, but they may. I'm guessing it just probably comes from an egocentric view going back when people in America were named Jones, Smith, and Brown, before we had so many immigrants. However, I can write up list for the 100% Portuguese band director and I will write José de Sousa and he will type up and print out José DeSousa. However, he is American born and does not study genealogy. And you can't explain surnames and presurnames to him. He already knows everything! One of those types! As for 2nd, 3rd, etc generations in America, I have a theory. I'm 3rd generation. So is my sister. Growing up, my dad told us about being part Portuguese, that our ancestors (his grandma) was from the Azores and Sao Miguel. He brought out the encyclopedia and showed us. I think he told us Vila Franca, but I'm not sure. Today, I believe my sister knows the Azores and I think she knows Sao Miguel. She has no clue where on Sao Miguel and probably cannot pick out Sao Miguel on a map. Yet we were both shown on a map and were both there when my dad told us. Her interest level wasn't there, even though we both knew our immigrant ancestor. As for spoken Portuguese, I have a theory on that too. I speak just a little. I call it travel talk. I probably speak like a 3 year old. My sister speaks none. Neither does my dad. The only reason I speak a little is because I wanted to learn so I bought a book and tape/CD and tried to learn myself. My dad did not teach me. My dad did not speak. He will come to the hall and says that Portuguese sounds familiar, but he doesn't know what they are saying. He knows a couple of words. So why does my dad (2nd generation) not speak? Because his dad (1st generation) didn't speak either or quit speaking it. Why? Got to go back to the history books for that. People who immigrated before WWI and went through it in America, came out on the winning side, waving the U.S. flag. We have a saying, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do," so in America, they did as the Americans did. Including school, which was something many immigrants did not have in the Azores. Back in the 19teens (through the 1960s, I believe), there was no emphasis on bilingual education. Everything was in English. So although my grandfather and his brothers learned Portuguese first, they went to school in America and learned English. They went home and their parents addressed them in Portuguese and they answered in English (this still happens today, with any kid..the parents address them in the native language, whether its Portuguese, Korean, Farsi, and the kid answers in English). I know you are saying, "ok fine, but the 1st generation knew Portuguese so after his education years, what happened?" I never heard my grandfather speak any Portuguese at all. But I suppose that if someone dropped him off in the Azores, he would have started to speak again after a couple of weeks. So why didn't he try to hang onto it and speak some to my dad? Because of Cupid! My immigrant ancestors had 4 boys and all 4 of them married American, English-speaking women. Back then (1930s) the women stayed home, cooked, and took care of the children. The moms spoke only English. So my dad and his cousins did not learn Portuguese. I really think that the language and culture get passed down through the moms due to child rearing. Yet my dad and his cousins were left with their Portuguese grandparents in the summers during WWII. This is why my dad says Portuguese is familiar to him. His grandparents would speak Portuguese to each other (especially if they didn't want the grandkids to know) but not so much to the grandkids. My dad knew the words, "leite d'vaca" as his grandmother would give him money and send him off to the store to get some milk. The youngest grandchild (maybe 2 or 3 years old) did wind up speaking some Portuguese initially. His parents were getting a divorce and he was in the house with his Portuguese grandmother for a few months (again, during WWII, probably in the summer). After the divorce was settled (I'm guessing it was really the summer), he went back to American mom who only spoke English and the Portuguese wasn't reinforced. And I also look at the immigrant ancestor, Gloria. She was very, very pro-education. She didn't have access to education in the Azores. She barely could write her own name. My dad had to read the newspaper to her (in English). He had to write home during the summer. She even told her niece that education was important and to learn as much as you can and get as much out of it as you can. The only thing that was taught in American schools was English, because the emphasis on bilingual education hadn't been invented yet. The De/Da/Do again that you mentioned to Doug: They are kind of black and white here. You have a first name and a last name. Is de/da/do part of your first name? No. Then it must be part of your last name and that's how it becomes part of a last name here. There is nothing for prefixes in the surnames. I hear St. Michael, St. Mary, and St. George. Yet, I never hear anyone say that they are from Third! And no one says that here in California. When I'm with the Portuguese community in California, they say Sao Miguel, Santa Maria, Sao Jorge, Terceira. When I go to Massachusetts or Rhode Island, I'm more apt to hear the St. ____ from people there. Don't know why they translate the saint's names on that side of the U.S. Spelling....the problem with that is yes, it needs to be done correctly because when I do a search in the archives (or anyone does a search) they can't find the post that they want. They won't find the post either if everyone insists on using codes the whole time too (PG for Ponta Garca). I always type out the name in full once, followed by the abbreviation or code. That way, the reader knows exactly what I'm referring to and a search of the archive will pull up a post from Ponta Garca. A search of PG will turn up a bunch of junk that is not meaningful. 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 azores+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.
