Thanks so much for the great response to this blog!
A special thank you to those who have passed it on to others. We are heading quickly to amazing page visits to this blog! Welcome to folks from all over the country and other countries as well, including Lisbon!!
The "Village", as it was called, is located in the northwest corner of the city of Taunton, Massachusetts U.S.A. It covers about 1 square mile with the center being School Street. A large portion of the Village population was Portuguese when I was growing up.
This blog covers a lot of the history of the Village, much to do with my years as a child there: 1940 through the late 1950's. I do have many wonderful photos and information prior to that that and will share those as well. Always looking for MORE PHOTOS AND MORE STORIES TO TELL.
If you would like to send photos or share a memory of growing up in the Village
e-mail me at spinoart@comcast.net
feel free to comment on the posts. Directions are on the right side of the blog posts. Jump in, the water is fine and it is easy!!!
I will be posting photographs but not identifying individuals unless I have permission or they are a matter of public record. It you wish to give me permission, please let me know.
I am looking for any and all photos of the Village...
Please note: the way blogs work is that the latest post is first. It you would like to start from the beginning of the blog, check out the post labels on the right of the blog and go from there. Thanks.
As we know, Taunton is not far south of Boston. We grew up into adulthood going into the big city for special events or just to walk the Common or Back Bay. We know the Prudential and Trinity Church, Boylston St. and all of it.
For 100 years, the Boston Marathon has been going on. It is a celebratory day for the city,
indeed for the state of Massachusetts.
On a beautiful clear day....the unthinkable.
To watch the tragedy yesterday was heartbreaking. I just felt that for a moment in our remembering of the happy times of our childhood, we remember the victims, the families, the grieving. Memories should not ever be for such a terrible, terrible act. We deplore the senseless evil that inhabits those who seek to harm the innocent. We pray for peace,
for tolerance in the world.
Nossa Senhora da Paz, da Consolacao, ragai por nos.
As we go about describing the Portuguese locales that our grandparents would always call home, my mind goes first to the big island, Madeira. Three of my grandparents came from there: one of them would die there. As part of my genealogical research then, study of Madeira was paramount. I will try, briefly, to summarize what I found. My family will recognize much that I wrote in my History of The Souza Family some years back. Other resources will be cited at the end of this series.
As far back as 72 B.C. the Romans described an island they called The Purple Island. In a document dated 1351 preserved in Florence, Italy, there is a description of what must have been Madeira. It is thought that the Genoese knew of its existence. A legend says that a pair of British lovers, Anna Dorset and Robert O'Machin, discovered the island in the 1300's. After they left, it remained untouched until 1419 when two students of Prince Henry, Joao Gonsalves Zarco and Tristao Vaz Texeira, were blown off course on their way around the African coast. An Italian seafarer, Bartolomeau Perestrela, was with them.
Prince Henry the Navigator, one of the world's greatest seafaring explorers, established a school of navigation in Portugal. To this day, his charts are still used in navigational circles. When Zarco, Texeira and Perestrala reported back to Prince Henry he sent them back to coloniza the island. In 1440, Texeira was given Machico in Madeira, Porto Santo was given to Perastrala in 1444 and Zargo was given Funchal in 1451. Zargo is buried in a convent church nest to the cathedral in Funchal, the capital of the Island which he founded.
Like those early discoverers, our family members have visited the beautiful island of Madeira. The youngest of us was my nephew David Souza, here pictured high up on its volcanic mountains stepping where perhaps his great grandparents stepped....who knows? We were fortunate to go to Madeira in the 80's, long before I started my research. Oh, the opportunities I missed!
I have always used black and white photos in the blog, but I could not resist this wonderful color. I must mention my nephew and his wife Linda are excellent photographers ....
Madeira's history is fascinating. The first families of Madeira came from the the Algarve, along the mainland coast of Portugal. After those initial settlers, others came from Flanders, Genoa, Poland, France, England, Scotland and Germany. This gives us pause as to who our ancestors might have been. I have long wanted (bucket list!) to send a DNA sample to the National Geographic Society's Migration Project. This huge endeavor has as its goal mapping the DNA of the peoples of the world and their migrational pattern. For a fee of $100 one can register, receive a kit with a cheek swab that you then return. The DNA will be analyzed and you will find out where your ancestors originated. In the case of Madeira and the Islands, this would be most interesting. Not only are the countries listed here of consideration, but it is well to note that for decades Portugal and the Islands were occupied by the Moors. You can still hear Moorish echos in Fado music and architecture.
Here is the website address is you want to pursue it.
As you read further you will see the many factors that will have influenced our bloodlines.
* In 1445, the first grapevines were brought to Madeira from Crete.
*In 1452, 800 families lived in Madeira.
*In 1452, Madeira received its first consignment of slaves from Africa and the Canary Islands. Later slaves are Moors and Africans. Unlike American slaves, these slaves could buy their freedom and were less oppressed.
*In 1485, a famine in Madeira occurs and the agriculture changes from grain to sugar.
*In 1492, Columbus discovers America. Christopher COlumbus married the daughter of the governor of Porto Santo (Madeira) and lived there for some time.
*In 1514, there are 3,000 families in Madeira.
*In 1552 there are 3,000 slaves in Madeira.
*In 1556, there is a pirate invasion of 11 ships and 1,300 buccaneers. There is plundering and destruction of Funchal.
*In 1737, slavery is abolished in Madeira.
*In 1807, France invades Portugal.
*1807-1814, England's Admirel Hood and his troops are sent to defend Madeira from France. After Portugal signs a peace treaty with France in 1814 many of the 4,000 English troops remain and marry local women.
Ready to send in your DNA ????
next post: more about Magnificent Madeira now that our history lesson is over......
Meanwhile, enjoy this beautiful video and understand the wonder of Madeira.
Early on in this blog we stated that the population of the Village was predominantly Portuguese in origin. We have become more familiar with our parent's lives and the years that my generation was growing up in the Village---going back to the thirties in some cases. But what about further back than that....to the years of our grandparents and great-grandparents?
There are tantalizing photos that we try to analyze and read, often just becoming
frustrated with a dearth of information.
This is my maternal Grandmother Isobel Bento Correia Motta as she looked when she first arrived in this country in 1915. The photo was taken in Bristol, R.I., where after obtaining the record of her ship passsage, we found she first lived in the U.S. She had come to live with her sister Anna and Anna's husband. It took me years and years to research and understand her life. This photograph and everything that happened to her after she
immigrated here was uncovered slowly over time.
I love noting each detail,: her dress and its tiny pin, her hair. The dreams still in her eyes.
Her hair was done up in the style of the day, wrapped around a clean rag to form that pompadour. We will talk about styles of the time later.
We cannot know everything that happened to these long ago loved ones. But, we can find out more about where they came from, and then what greeted them here,
what some of their lives were like.
These posts are my tribute to them, to those courageous people whose journey allowed us to have our journey here. I hope that others will share, too, as we build up a memory and knowledge tree to more
fully understand our origins.
They were Portuguese but not homogeneous. I am told by a friend who lived in the Village in the 30's that there was a melange of accents, a symphony, as it were. As I child, I never took the time to listen to the differences in regional linguistics
even though all related to the Mother Country.
* There was Lisboan such as that spoken by my Uncle John Bernadino who was born in Lisbon,
capital city of mainland Portugal.
*There was Madeirenses, Madeira from where three of my grandparents came.
To further refine that,
two of them (the Souzas) were from the high volcanic mountain country
in a little town called Arca Da Calheata.
My other grandfather (Motta) was
from the capital of Madeira: the harbor city of Funchal.
*There were the various Island accents of each Azorean island.
My maternal grandmother was from
Sao Miguel, St. Michael's. She was from the coastal city of Aqua d'Alto
on Sao Miguel.
But, there were other islands in the Azorean chain: Santa Maria, Pico, Faial, Terceira, Flores, Graciosa, Sao Jorge and Corvo.
Let's pretend that we are on a whaling ship bound for all those places...exploring, learning, perhaps staying for a while or forever.....
and listen to the Fado music of Dulcie Pontes embodying the saudade
which stayed in the hearts and memories of all of those who came to America following a dream, and yet leaving so much behind.
