Season's Greetings!

IslandRoutes.com would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. As you're sitting around the dinner table, exchanging gifts, and enjoying the company of family, remember that these are the memories that will be passed down for generations to come. Your children will be telling your grandchildren about how Grandma made the best Christmas dinner, how there was never a crumb of your Uncle's cake left, how Grandpa would read the tags on the gifts and couldn't get any of his grandchildren's names right...These are the stories they will share with some genealogists a decade from now.

And, if you have the older generation around for the holidays be sure to ask them how they spent Christmas as a child, when they were first married, and so on. Remember to write it all down so you'll have those memories to share.

Merry Christmas to all!
Melody

Rounding up Felicianno's Siblings

[Research Journal #6, Entry #9]

I was making any head way with Felicianno so I decided to search for his siblings. I started with the marriage records. I was surprised to find only one siblings married in the 1840s. Jacinto Jose de Mello married Francisca Emilia Paiva on 9 Jan 1841.

As the baptismal records were easier for me to read. I went back to those. It didn't seem like any of his siblings were having children during the same period. I kept going back in years. When I got to 1840 I began seeing the familiar de Mello Castanho moniker. The baptismals for his siblings were much earlier than his own children.

I took notes for entries from 1830 to 1850. I had de Mello Castanho's coming out of my ears! The easiest thing to do was to take them home and sort out the family. I began by listing each parent and then their children. I began to see the families fill out.

A couple of things struck me while making notes.
1. While all the siblings appeared as godparents, Felicianno was absent. His name did not appear as a padrinho until 1835.
2. After some entries, the term seu juris followed Felicianno's name. I wondered what it meant.
3. Some of his siblings' children were almost the same age as Felicianno's wife!

Rosa's Baptismal Record Found

[Journal #6, Entry #8]

As I mentioned before their was a rule about when people marry. I used that rule to search for Felicianno and Rosa's baptismal records. As they were married in 1840, I thought I'd start my search around 1825.

I found Rosa with relative ease. She was baptised 7 Mar 1824 in Divino Esperito Santo Church. Her parents were Manoel Boteilho and Antonia da Conceicao. Her godparents were Joao d'Arruda and his wife, Barbara do Esperito Santo.

I wasn't having any luck with Felicianno though! I went up to 1830 and down to 1820, but I had no luck. Where was he????

Something was up with Felicianno but I didn't know what. Was it possible the Priest missed his baptsmal? Was he born in another village even though all signs pointed to Maia? Could his baptismal record be lost in the records of a nearby church? At this point, I wasn't sure what to think.

Felcianno and Rosa Get Married

[Research Journal #6, Entry #7 ]
I didn't find any more children for Felicianno and Rosa prior to 1841. It was time to look for their marriage record.

I began with 1841 and worked my way backwards. I was very lucky in that I only had to go back a year. Felicianno and Rosa were married 26 Oct 1840 at Divino Esperito Church. Their names were given as: Felicianno Francisco de Mello and Rosa Jacinta. Felicianno was the son of Joam de Mello, deceased, and Maria Thereza. Rosa was the daughter of Manoel Botelho and Antonia Leonor, deceased.

The records from this era did not give ages or baptismal information (other eras do). I would have to decided what my next approach would be.

Another Baptismal Record

Next on my list was to find Maria da Conceicao's baptismal record. It wouldn't hurt to find her siblings either! So, back to the Family History Center I went.

I was getting pretty good with baptismal records. If the same Priest wrote the records, they had a pattern. You could easily find the pertinent information without too much effort.

Someone once told me that girls married at about 20 and men at about 30. It's a rule that would help me at times and result in my doom at other times. As I was interested in finding Maria's siblings, I started with 1840 and worked forward. From 1841 to 1864 I found 11 children for Felicianno and Rosa. Felicianno's name stayed fairly constant as either Felicianno de Mello Castanho or Felicianno de Mello. Rosa was another story. I added Rosa Leanor and Rosa Joaquina to the growing list of variations. I was fairly certain they were all one and the same. Marriage records would determine that.