The street where I was living on when I was baptized is not where I live now. It's not even the same city.
When the 1900-1905 books became available, I went to the archives in Ponta Delgada to find the rest of the siblings of my immigrant ancestor. The youngest sibling was born in 1900 and had a margin full of notes. He married and moved to the other side of the island and died there in 1990. The next day, I went to the praça and found a taxi driver who agreed to take me over to the other side of the island (that was a whole story in itself). When we got there, the taxi driver went to the neighborhood bar or pub first! I waited in the taxi. When he came out a few minutes later, he said that they told him that we were to go over to the church (a festa was going on, so I was in luck) and find the old man with the cane and hat named so-and-so. Over to the church we went. And the taxi driver found the man. He verified pretty much what I had researched - the youngest sibling, Antonio, was from the other side of the island, Ribeira das Tainhas, he married Senhorinha, blah blah blah. Then the old man said that Antonio had a son who went to Canada. I had a story of some of the family going to Canada. The old man couldn't remember the son's name or how long ago this happened though. :( Many years passed. One day, a guy named Altino posts on this list. I thought the name was interesting, as I had a photo of an Altino De Melo in my possesion, taken in the 40s or 50s. The Altino in the photo was in a military uniform. The Altino writing the post did not have the writing style of a man of that age. I thought it was a strange coincidence, until Altino emailed me directly with a question about this list. In another paragraph he mentioned that he was about to start researching his father's side of the family, from Ribeira Quente. One of my freguesias! After I picked myself off the floor, I emailed him back with the photo of Altino the soldier and said to him something along the lines of, "Who are you?" He writes back and asks what I was doing with a photo of his uncle Altino, his namesake. A couple of emails later I find out he lives in Canada. He was the son of the man who went to Canada. Antonio's grandson. A couple of years after that, Altino was in California and I got to meet him and spend the afternoon with him. So I met him on my home turf, so to speak! It took me only 15, 16, 17 years to find someone from that branch of the family!! Your friend may not be lucky on the first try. It may be convoluted to try to find family as it was in my case. He can go to the freguesia and ask if anyone knows about that family. Old photos help. My other ancestor had a younger sister who was deaf. I show her picture around the freguesia and they all know who the deaf woman was. Thank goodness for photos! Also look for places where people congregate. The neighborhood bar or pub, perhaps in a praça, perhaps near the church, or maybe over at the Casa do Povo. Early in my research, I had interviewed my grandfather's eldest brother (everyone else had died). He had gone there and met family. He gave me a Christmas card with a return address. The family still lived at that address. So that one was lucky! Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Well not really the worst, but it could be a long haul. Cheri Mello Listowner, Azores-Gen Researching: São Miguel island: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada -- 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.
