The word " Dona " is to show respect to an older woman, it has nothing to 
do with stature you have or your husband has. I might walk into a house any 
house and say " como vai a Dona da casa " or if I see someone I will say 
"como vai a Dona Maria " it is a term used allot in S. Miguel

On Tuesday, April 29, 2014 2:17:22 AM UTC-4, Doug da Rocha Holmes wrote:
>
> Hi Dano,
>
> I just wanted to mention that I have many ancestors who were capitao, 
> alferes, sargento and one tenente, plus another ajudante, not one of them 
> whose wife was called "Dona." Mine are from Pico and Terceira - mostly Pico 
> for my military ancestors. I do know they were "from old and noble 
> families" or some such wording in priest applications. I guess they just 
> didn't get that higher level treatment for some reason.
>
> Come to think of it, I even have some Capitao-mor ancestors or sons of my 
> ancestors and still their wives were not "dona."
>
> But you are right in most cases that on other islands we would see "dona" 
> for their wives. I guess it's just a quirk on Pico, but "dona" was 
> certainly found on Pico. I have one single ancestors with "dona" and she 
> was the wife of an administrator of a "vinculo" so I guess that finally was 
> enough to qualify. But her mother was not a "dona." It came from her 
> husband, yet his mother was not "dona" either!
>
> Since my only comment was about the use of this word, I changed the 
> subject.
>
> By the way, your comment about your failing eye sight came as a surprise, 
> since you still show no sign of it preventing you from reading the records 
> well. Impressive, but sorry to hear about that.
>
> Doug da Rocha Holmes
> Sacramento, California
> Pico & Terceira Genealogist
> 916-550-1618
> www.dholmes.com
>
>
>  -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [AZORES-Genealogy] Re: Marriage and Death Record help
> From: Dano <[email protected] <javascript:>>
>
> The obito is not for your Francisco, as he seems to have acquired a new 
> surname, and the high level military title of Captain, not even a full 
> eight years after his marriage, when his occupation was "shoemaker." People 
> just did not rise from artisan/craftsmen to the class of Captain "ever." 
> Only those of the privileged (noble) class could expect any such 
> appointment, and I don't see any Dom or Dona title for any of the people 
> mentioned.
>  
>  
>

-- 
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].
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.

Reply via email to