John thank you very much for sharing this very important information Herb
Sent from my iPhone > On Aug 9, 2014, at 9:37 AM, nancy jean baptiste <[email protected]> > wrote: > > MaryAnn, > > Are these books available in English? Do you know how many he has written? > > Thank you, > Nancy > > From: [email protected] > Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2014 14:07:21 -0400 > Subject: Re: [AZORES-Genealogy] Naming of Expostos > To: [email protected] > > Thank you, John. I had forgotten about Father Amara and as an aside, The Sins > of Father Amaro is an excellent read - as are all of the Queiroz books I've > read. > > MaryAnn > > > > On Fri, Aug 8, 2014 at 1:16 PM, 'John Raposo' via Azores Genealogy > <[email protected]> wrote: > In my researching experience, I have noted the following: > > When people from the villages went to the convents in Ponta Delgada and > Ribeira Grande to have foundling babies placed with them, there was not, > necessarily, a connection between the foster parent and the baby. > > As for the villages, if an unmarried (or widowed) woman was pregnant, I think > that in such small places where everybody knew everybody else, I doubt that > the pregnancy could go unnoticed. And, the parish priest, who heard > confessions at a time when people really worried about what would happen if > they died in a state of mortal sin, must have known what his penitents were > up to. I think that when a baby was left at somebody's door in a small > village, everybody knew, or thought they knew, who the mother (and maybe the > father) were. Sometimes these children might have been left at the doors of > relatives, but they would have required a nursemaid, i.e.a woman with breast > milk. > > As for names, again, there is no one answer. Babies who were placed with and > stayed with the same family to adulthood (as opposed to being shipped out as > servants from family to family) sometimes took the family name. Sometimes an > "exposto" took a name, e.g. Bettencourt, with no apparent rime or reason. > However, a closer look shows that the Bettencourts were a prominent family in > the village and perhaps it was an open secret that this baby was the > offspring of the squire's son (or daughter). > > Infant mortality for expostos was much higher than among non-exposto babies. > The state paid a stipend for the first few months of life for babies placed > with nursing foster-mothers. When the subsidy stopped, the infant mortality > rate rose substantially. > > Eça de Queiroz touched on this subject in his novel O Crime do Padre Amaro; > one of the characters made her living by taking in unwanted/illegitimate > babies of the socially promminent and arranging for their deaths. Eloise > Cadinha, a member of the List, sent me her notes on this subject, and with my > thanks to Eloise, I am enclose them: > > > Most of us as we research our ancestors will find an exposto or two. It is > indeed miraculous that they were able to survive to adulthood, to marry and > to have children. > > Expostos - a translation. A very sad situation. > > The following is my poor translation of part of an article written by > Henrique Bras 1884-1984) in Boletim de Instituto Histórico da ilha Terceira, > 1947. > > "In the last three centuries there is a long list of filhos da igreja > (children of the church), also known at times as baptism records, of unknown > fathers and mothers in the parish registers of Terceira, who were often > baptized with the most noble or notable or the very rich people of Terceira > who stood as godparents. At a more recent time the number of children > secretly abandoned at the rodas (wheels) had greatly increased, and in spite > of the many recently born innocents who died when abandoned, and of the few > to whom the fear of discovery still did not keep them from strangling babies > before they saw the light of day. Providing the support of these children > who survived became on of the most difficult problems for the various city > halls on the island, demanding a new special tax...which the people agreed > was needed but not without grumbling and finding fault with the new tax. > > On April 29, 1800, the Conde de Almada, Captitão General of the Azores, in > Angra, informed an official of the Royal Court that in the ten years the > cathedral registered annually an average of 97 expostos baptized and also > registered an average of 83 who had died! And this was only those engeitados > (abandoned ones) who had arrived at the cathedral to be baptized, those that > had been left in the Casa da Roda, and this record was only for Angra. > > The city council continued without resources to provide for these children > and thought about creating a lottery for that purpose. > > It needs to be said: with a population of about 10 to 12 thousand people, > there were yearly on an average 97 recently born abandoned children of > unknown parents, legally registered and of which 83 of these died -- > naturally by affectionate handling, sheltered and well wrapped care. > > [My note: the author mentions Carlota, a weaver of Angels, from the famous > novel by Eça de Queiroz, . I asked a cousin if he knew of this novel, O Crime > do Padre Amaro, and he said that he had read it long ago, and it was > about a woman who got rid of unwanted infants. She killed them by wrapping > them up and drowning them in the river. She was referred to as something > like the "maker of angels." The idea being that she was creating angels by > killing them.] > > On the October 20, 1782, the vicar of the diocese of Angra, Dr. João Vieira > de Bettencourt, gave the rector of the cathedral, Pedro da Camara Merens, the > commission to organize a private book to register the baptisms and deaths of > these abandoned children. > > In the year of 1783 there were registered 120 baptisms and 81 deaths of > expostos: > > In 1784, 94 baptisms, 73 deaths > In 1785, 97 baptisms, 86 deaths > In 1786, 94 baptisms, 105 deaths > In 1787, 86 baptisms, 100 deaths > In 1788, 100 baptisms > In 1789, 95 baptisms > > There were no deaths recorded for the years 1788 and 1789 but were continued > the following year. One can see that in 10 years the births and deaths of > the foundlings was amazing. > > "Painful emotions squeeze the soul when one looks through the pages, tiny > tragedies sown through this private book of the cathedral. The records > indicate the names of the amas (wet-nurses) nominated by city hall for each > exposto. They were single women, 'loose' women, married women and widows. > > In the Casa da Roda...in the city of Angra, there was the rodeiro (the man in > charge of the wheel) and he had at least one assistant, in order to rescue > quickly any of the new guests secretly left at the door in the silence of the > night. The newly born was left there, shivering in the cold until the door > providentially was opened. It was rare to announce a visit to the Roda, for > fear of the discovery of the mother which was of great importance to the > municipality, in order to avoid the expense of providing a wet-nurse for the > child -- and so that justice also intervened. > > Sometimes a little one was carried there by a caring person saying he had > found the abandoned child in some hidden place. Thus on 16 September 1782, > Francisco da Silveira, gravedigger of Sao Pedro, Biscoitos, arrived at the > Roda with a bundle. It was a baby girl who had been placed at the door of > the home of the sexton of the church. She was soon baptized and given the > name Delfina. This man delivered this baby to the Roda knowing that she > would not cost the finder any money for finding the child. He also presumed > that she would be cared for, but this child died and her death was not > recorded in the church register. > > The Casa da Roda was next to the residence of the pai dos engeitados (the > father of the abandoned ones) who was a councilman in the senate of the city > hall, and who had the municipal duty to care for the expostos, and also the > place elected by the municipality for the receiving of these abandoned ones. > > This councilman had a most distressful mission. The city did not have money > for the number of abandoned children growing larger each year, and for the > prompt payment for the wet-nurses, and for this and for other reasons, the > milk from these women was not sufficient to fulfill the need for these > babies. > > The expostos arrived at the Casa da Roda and there they waited two to fifteen > days for a wet-nurse. The priest noted the baptism of the children in the > register: baptized in the Casa da Roda, with the name of Francisco, found > very young and had not been given a wet-nurse and he lasted a few days; Jose, > baptized in the Casa da Roda, died without a wet-nurse; Manuel after being > baptized died in the Casa da Roda. > > One particularly unhappy exposto to whom the godfather, Cosme de Mascarenhas, > the bell ringer of the cathedral (this man throughout the years became > godfather to nearly all the newly baptized expostos), gave the name Abraão > (Abraham), and none of the wet-nurses wished to care for him the priest wrote > in the record of baptism (20 March 1783, p19, book number 1). The bell > ringer had discovered that the newly born child was Jewish and had given him > a suitable name. These wet-nurses ... they refused to nurse this newborn > heretic. Sixteen days passed, with Abraham suffering and in pain, until he > finally died. > > These death records note the approximate age of the child. These unfortunate > children said farewell to their miserable existence between three days and > three months. Few of the expostos reached the age of 1 year and very few > beyond one year. > > The author did not know if the position of the city official in charge of the > wet-nurses was lucrative -- but he did know that it was truly an industry. > The wet-nurses naturally came from the poorest sections of the city and > outlying areas, but it was the city that provided most of the wet-nurses. At > times it was not enough and the city had to go to the peasants in villages > such as Sao Bartolomeu and Santa Barbara. It was an industry that had > wet-nurses who could kill off these charges with hideous rapidity. The > wet-nurses received three expostos each year, one following the other after > the death of the one before. > > [The author listed three wet-nurses and the infants received. One of > them in 1785 had 5 expostos. Inacio, April 5; Marilia, May 17; > Violante, July 22; Antonio, Aug 20; Mateus, Sept 21.] > > This private book of the expostos from the cathedral made it easy to study > them. In previous times it was extremely difficult to learn about them > because there were no statistics. But whoever turns the first pages of this > register of the cathedral rarely turns two pages. > > There were many reasons why children were abandoned by their mothers and > fathers. Some of the reasons being: an illegitimate child, extreme poverty > and too many mouths to feed, perhaps the death of the father, or just simply > an unwanted child. > > One can research the smaller villages and not find a single exposto in the > baptism records.. At least this has been my experience. In the larger towns > and villages many expostos are found, certainly many abandoned from the > smaller villages. In years of famine more children were left as foundlings. > These abandoned children were left at churches, convents, and at the doors of > many homes. > > Many children were left at convents. In many of the convents through Europe > there was what was called the Roda, or the Wheel. It was a wheel that could > spin from the outside of the building to the inside. Goods or other articles > for the convent were left on the wheel, and usually there was some kind of a > bell to let the nuns know that something had been left on the wheel. In > time, desperate mothers and fathers left their children on the wheel. > > In reading some of the exposto baptism records in certain villages, the > priest notes to which mother in the village the child was given. The child > had to have a nursing mother, and usually one can check back and find that > nursing mother in the record. And sometimes the priest noted where the child > had been found. > > When an exposto (male) married he had already a surname or perhaps was given > one at the time of the marriage. I wish I knew more about this. As for > surnames of the exposto, they run the gamut from Azevedo to Xavier. As for > the exposta (female) I don’t think she was ever given a surname, or at least > I can’t remember seeing one on her marriage record or on the baptism records > of her children. > > Many parents when abandoning their children believed it would only be for a > certain period of time. When the child was left at the convent or at church > or at the doorstep some clues were left so that the parents could later claim > their child. Notes sometimes were left with the name of the child, or > perhaps a certain type of clothing, or an embroidered blanket, some colored > ribbons. These were the clues and apparently the church did keep a record of > these possible identifiers. > > > > John Miranda Raposo > > > On Friday, August 8, 2014 10:18 AM, Herb <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I'm sure this topic has been discussed here before, but I don't recall seeing > it. When an exposto was born and baptized and given to a family to be > raised, did he take on the adopting family's names, or did he use his real > parents names? Did the new parents always know who the real parents were? > These were small villages and everybody basically knew everybody's business. > It didn't take long for news to travel from one end of Mayberry to the other, > right? Herb > -- > 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. > > > > -- > 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. > > > > -- > MaryAnn Santos > Senior Advisement and Student Affairs Administrator > Department of Art and Art Professions > NYU/Steinhardt > 212.998.5702 > [email protected] > > Follow us at > Twitter / @NYUart > Instagram / @nyuart > Facebook / NYU Art Department > > -- > 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. > -- > 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 a topic in the Google > Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/azores/IZ_S7PgXa80/unsubscribe. > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores. -- 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.
