Before I got involved with my de Braga discovery, I was working on the Mello/Mello Castanho's of Maia, Ribeira Grande. One thing that had confounded me was I could not locate information on my ancestor, Joao de Mello's parents or siblings. I was able to solve part of the mystery this month. This is what I found:
Joao de Mello (b. 7 Feb 1771), Povoacao m. Maria Theresa de Medeiros (b. 13 Aug 1778, Maia) 14 Mar 1796, Maia. The marriage record states that Joao's parents were Francisco de Medeyros and Josefa de Mello. I was able to find 4 children for this couple: Apollinario b. 10 Jul 1768, Maia Joam/Joao de Mello listed above Pulqueria, b. 25 Oct 1772, Povoacao Leonarda, b. 15 Oct 1774, Povoacao (all found in Mae de Deus) I found Josefa de Mello's death record 3 Aug 1778, Mae de Deus, Povoacao. Next, I tried to find Francisco and Josefa's marriage record. I searched through Maia and Mae de Deus, but didn't find anything.. I also couldn't find marriages or death records on their children. Josefa was said to have been born in Porto Formoso, so I moved over to those marriage records. I finally found it, but was surprised that Josefa's surname wasn't Mello at all. It was Pacheco. Francisco Luis de Medeyros m. Josefa Pacheco 16 May 1765, Porto Formoso. Francisco's parents Domingos Pereira Luis (aka Domingos Luis and Domingos Pereira) and Maria de Medeyros Josefa's parents: Francisco de Sousa and Florencia Pacheco Francisco & Florencia had two other children who married under the Sousa surname: 1. Francisca de Sousa m. Manoel de Silva, 23 May 1778, Porto Formoso (son of Sebastiao de Silva and Josepha Pacheco) 2. Manoel de Sousa m Thereza Francisca 1 Apr 1760, Porto Formoso (daughter of Manoel do Monte Couto and Antonia Francisca) I searched for both Francisco and Josefa's baptismal records. I did not find Josefa's, but I found Francisco's: Francisco de Medeyros was b. 13 Dec 1739, bapt. 19 Dec 1739, Mae de Deus, Povoacao. Paternal grandparents: Manoel Luis and Barbara Pereira; maternal grandparents Domingos Cardoso(?) and Thereza de Payva. I found that after Josefa Pacheco died, Francisco remarried to Quiteira de Mello, 10 May 1779, Mae de Deus, Povoacao. (Daughter of Antonio Furtado da Sylva and Izabel de Mello) I never figured out why Josefa Pacheco was using the surname Mello after she married. It may be that the answer lies with her grandparents) In any case, her son, Joao (my ancestor) took that surname. His children married under the surname Mello, though around 1825, many of them began using the surname, Mello Castanho. (I have not found reference to the surname Castanho on either line). If anyone else is researching these lines, I have extensive research on the Mello Castanho's.. The Mello Castanho surname is still in use today in Maia. Several lines went to the East Coast of the US around 1900 and then in the 1950s and 1960s. Craig Mello, the Nobel prize winning scientist, is a descendant of Joao de Mello and Maria Theresa de Medeiros. -- 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 https://groups.google.com/group/azores.
