Missing Pieces

Research Journal #4, Entry #5

Jesuina was as much a pain in the butt to find as Helen. Were they hiding on purpose? Jesuina or Jessie Fitkal appeared nowhere in the census. Fitkal was absent from all the census indexes.

I gave up on the census and went to the SSDI. I did locate Peter Fitkal. His age at death fit in with the right time frame to be Jesuina's husband. I couldn't find an obituary for Peter Fitkal though. As the name was rare, I was fairly sure this was the right guy.

Meanwhile, my chances for finding Helen with her adoptive parents were running out. She was married in 1927. If she wasn't in the census in 1910 or 1920, I wasn't really sure how I would connect all the pieces. I was beginning to think that my instincts were wrong. I was also wondering if all those cousins had given me the wrong name for Helen's adoptive mother. I was surely missing something. If that information was incorrect, I would have to start all over with Helen's adoptive parents.

Following Instincts

Research Journal #4, Entry #4

Helen's birth parents were now clear. She really was the last child of Joao and Joana. But, who adopted her? I hadn't found any clues as to who her adoptive parents were.

At this point, I had two choices.

Choice 1: I could go through the 1910 and 1920 census looking for Jesuina's with daughters named Helen. I didn't really like that plan! Jesuina could be listed under Jessie, Jess, Jesweena, or errantly as Jacinta. I had no clue where Helen and her adoptive parents lived. I would have to start with Kilauea then work across Kauai. If that didn't work, I'd have to move to Oakland. No, I did not like this plan at all.

Choice 2: Follow my instincts! One of things I learned was that many of these unofficial adoptions had two things in common:
1. The child usually went to a relative.
2. That relative was often childless.

Since I'd been keeping information on associated families for several years, I made a list of all the women named Jesuina and Jessie. Then I narrowed that down to those who had no children or a child named Helen. One stuck out like a sore thumb, Jesuina (de Caires) Fitkal. I still knew very little about Jesuina. She married Peter Fitkal and she was the sister of Alexandria (de Caires) Pacheco, Helen's Aunt. The relationship was close enough that Jesuina just might be the right one.

What can we learn from obituaries?

[Research journal #3, entry #3]
I now knew that Helen was in Oakland by 1927. Since there were five sets of Pacheco parents that Helen could belong to, it was important to firmly establish who her birth parents were. So, the next step was to track down her possible siblings. Since she was thought to be one of "The Reds" (a nickname given to one Pacheco family), that's where I'd start my search.

I staked out a microfilm reader at Cal State Hayward's library and went through obituaries. The obituary research proved helpful. I found a few obituaries in the Daily Review that contained Helen's name as a sibling: John (1982), Antone (1975), and Francisco (1960). No obituary was found for her sister, Maria. Her other sister Isabella was alive at the time, but was very ill and did not remember much.

The next step was to look at the Oakland Tribune and hope that the family paid for an obituary for their mother. Joana's obituary was easy to find. She was listed as the wife of Januario Fernandes, her second husband. All the children above were listed as well as "Helen Correia". As Joana died in 1952, I now had my earliest piece of evidence tying Helen to her parents.

Helen Correia's Story

[Research Journal #4, Entry #2]

Helen Correia's name was mentioned many times in interviews. She fit in with the Pacheco's somewhere but her story was clouded as she was given away for adoption. Not official adoption, but a family adoption.

It was possible that she was the daughter of Joana (Gonsalves Cardozo) and Joao Pacheco. They had been known to give children away. The reason was that Joao contracted tuberculosis. He died of the disease in October 1906. He left Joana 8 months pregnant, with 6 children aged 1 to 10 to raise. It was hard enough to raise a family on a sugar plantation with two parents. Doing it with one was near impossible. Joana had to make some choices to save herself and her children.

Oldest son, Francisco went to live with Joana's sister. Daughter, Maria, went to Joana's parents. Daughter Isabella went to Jose and Maria (Jacinto da Camara) de Braga. Three sons, John, Theodore, and Antone stayed home with their mother. Joana gave birth in November 1906, just a couple weeks after her husbands death.

It was said that the baby was named Helen. She was given away to someone named Jesuina. Did Helen (Pacheco) Correia really fit in with this family? And, who the mysterious Jesuina? Was she family or friend? How can one trace a woman when only her first name is known?

Helen and Jesuina

This month we explore the mystery of Helen Correia and her adoptive mother "Jesuina". Helen was part of the Pacheco clan, but it was unclear which part. There was some belief that she belonged to the group called "The Reds" (because of their red hair).

She was given away for adoption to someone named "Zuweena". That's all we knew about her adoptive parents. Zuweena was definitely a literal translation! So, what was her adoptive mother's name? And, who was her adoptive father? Who were her real parents?