Let me give you the true story of my maternal grandfather. Both he andmy
grandmother had emigrated to Fall River. They were single, did not know
eachother and came separately, to work in the cotton mills in Fall River.
Theyended up meeting in the mill where they worked and married in Fall River
in1910. They had 4 children and lived in a 3rd floor cold water flat.After
World War I my grandfather became ill and began wasting away. The doctorsdid
not know what was the matter with him but suggested that he could regainhis
health if they returned to Bretanha. My grandfather was all for it but
mygrandmother dreaded the idea. She knew that despite the small fortune (by the
standardsof the island) they had saved and would be taking back, life back on
the islandwould be much more difficult than life in the cold water flat. At
least theyhad cold running water, a coal burning stove and an indoor toilet not
to mentionpaying jobs in the mills. Nevertheless my grandmother returned with
mygrandfather. The doctors were right; my grandfather’s health was restored. So
far so good. Several of my uncle’s maternal uncles had gone toBrazil and became
vastly wealthy. (I have verified this; they were very rich!)One of them died
unmarried and intestate. My peasant grandfather had it in hishead that since
the uncle had no children, his nieces and nephews were his heirs.(In reality,
in Portugal, Brazil and Massachusetts, an unmarried man without issue’sestate
would pass to his parents, if still living, then to his siblings, andonly if he
had no living siblings would the nieces and nephews inherit. Ofcourse my
illiterate grandfather was not about to pay a lawyer to advise him.)So, in 1927
grandpa mortgaged everything he owned to finance his Brazilianventures to claim
his fortune. And off he went to Fortaleza, leaving my grandmother with
6children. Once he got to Brazil his uncles read him the law: he was not an
heir;they were. My grandfather became paranoid and imagined a grand conspiracy
thatincluded his uncles hiring hit men to kill him. He ended up in a
psychiatrichospital. Being illiterate there were no letters back home to
explain thesituation. There were rumors that he had died, that he had taken up
with amistress and had a new family, that he was living the life of a rich man.
Mygrandmother was the sole support for herself and her children. The mortgage
holderswere kind: they knew there was no money to squeezed out of my
grandmother. Mygrandmother never believed that her husband had abandoned her or
started a newfamily. In fact my grandfather died in the psychiatric hospital in
1943. TheRed Cross was only able to provide that information to the family in
1958. Hisland and house were sold and half the proceeds went to liquidate his
debts andreclaim the family honor. Sic transitgloria mundi (And so ends earthly
glory). John Miranda Raposo
On Monday, October 17, 2016 4:21 PM, Cheri Mello <gfsche...@gmail.com>
wrote:
I'm starting the topic of lost husbands in its own thread since Paul's topic
was different. However, when Margaret brought the following up, I had questions.
Margaret said:
<<They are all saying the same thing i.e. husband was away, not missing. The
number of years gives the reader an insight at this lady's situation.
Unfortunately this happened to many women on the islands with immigrated
husbands. Some waited for many years, others didn't. Does this answer your
question?>>
I would say it's a fairly safe bet for the man to leave. Why did he leave? Some
of my thoughts would be he left to try to make a better life. One would like to
think that he went somewhere with the intent of making money to send back for
his wife and children, (assuming he had children already). Suppose he was not
successful in making enough money. He's in a new county and she's back in the
Azores. It must be very difficult for her, and more so if she had children.
Suppose the husband and wife decided that they could not stand each other. I'm
sure very few got divorced back then. He could leave and start up a new family
in a new country and no one would know.
>From the couple of ideas I thought of above, the husband could start over and
>no one would know. He could have a second family! But everyone in the
>freguesia knew if she had a 2nd family!
Does anyone have historical insight as to these situations?
Cheri Mello
Listowner, Azores-Gen
Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas,
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