Stories of California Azorean Immigrants

1. Carl Ambrose

Ambrose Family

The Ambrose family originated on the island of Flores in the Azores. The south end of the island we are told, where the original name had been spelled Ambrosio. It was not a common name even on Flores.

The best known member of this family was Carl Ambrose of Monmouth. He was born in 1894 to parents Joao Ambrosio and Maria Silva. He came to the San Joaquin Valley in 1913. During the first half of the twentieth century, he was known as one of the most famous festa cooks in central California and as head agent for the New York Life Insurance Company. He was said to be a relative of the well-known Ambrose brothers of Fresno who owned and operated a popular bar and grill. He was from Lajedo on Flores as were many other early day Fresno immigrants. Indeed, in the early years of this century, the southern end of Fresno, around Hanoians market and the Roma Winery, was called Lajedo because of these numerous families which also spilled over into Easton and Kerman. However, we were once told that although Carl had lived and migrated from there, he had not been born there?

In the period between the beginning of the Great Depression and the early 1950s, nearly every Portuguese family in the central San Joaquin Valley had a New York Life policy. Ambrose was their agent, and that saved many homes and families from ruin. During the hard years, Ambrose kept many Flores families who couldn't pay "on the books" by relinquishing his fee, using part of his salary, or extending temporary credit. So in time he had a legion of loyal customers.

Ambrose was a great fat man who had diabetes and spent most of his time in bed surrounded by piles of business papers. When he wanted something from his wife or his daughter,  he had a big loud bell that he would ring. The neighborhood wives were scandalized about this and there was much gossip. Since we were cousins who lived right next door, we heard a lot about it in my youth.

When Ambrose had to make a business trip to the city or to the coast, he would get up, dress in all of his finery, with his many lodge pins, fire up his old green Buick for a long while, gunning it all that time, and be off for the day or a few days. My father, who always liked automobiles and had once raced midget racers at the big track at the Italian Amusement Park in Fresno, was greatly amused that the old Buick would run at all with such treatment!

Ambrose would come into his own during the Portuguese festa season in the spring. He was among the best known of the Old World festa cooks in California. He always cooked at Kerman and at Easton/Fresno because of their Flores connections. He also usually cooked at Riverdale, which was at that time the biggest of all of the regional festas. Sometimes, when he felt up to it, he would cook at Selma and Lemoore. I can remember him cooking at other towns and over on the coast as well but not frequently. He was so much in demand that the various festa committees would have to invite him years in advance.

His festa cooking was done in a very ritualistic fashion. From the selection of the beef, to its blessing, killing, cleaning, seasoning, roasting, it was all done in the style that had been used in the Old Country for centuries. Then it was all repeated for the bread, the broth, and the many secret seasonings!

Once a year Ambrose and his cronies would practice the ancient Azorean art of the matanca: the killing of the pigs! He had a large pen  just across the street from his house where he raised hogs. My mother couldn't stand the squealing of the poor beasts as their blood was drained out for the morcelas. So she would pack up all of us kids, and we would move to her aunt's in Hanford for the weekend. It was during those times that we discovered the many fine ethnic restaurants in that city, especially the Chinese.

Ambrose was an important man in all of the Portuguese lodges and clubs in California mostly for business reasons. He didn't have the time, the health, or the inclination to head one up, but he was always a loyal supporting member. Many of these lodges were also insurance companies with burial policies. Ambrose never thought of them as competition for his business, but encouraged his families to have both types of coverage. Those who could afford it usually did so.

Ambrose had gotten a much better education than the typical Azorean immigrant. It was said that he once was destined for the Church. He was highly thought of and was a close friend of the wealthiest and most influential Azoreans of his time: Antone Joseph, who once owned vast tracts of land around Monmouth and planted most of the extensive groves of eucalyptus trees in that area; his brother-in-law, Joe V. Rodgers, Hanford millionaire businessman; Mrs. Vierra of the Terry District, matriarch to the earliest Portuguese families in the area, and the extensive Enos and Rocha families of Selma.

He married Lucille Sebastian, the daughter of Jose Jacintho Sebastian of Monmouth. J.J. was a very wealthy man who had been one of the first important raisin growers in the Selma area when everyone else was growing peaches. He was one of the founders of the Sun-Maid Raisin consortium in 1913.

J.J.'s wife, Theresa de Mello, was a bit of an aristocrat of that clan. They had three children: Mary (Sebastian) Rosa/Rose; Lucille (Sebastian) Ambrose; and her twin brother, J.J., Jr., who died as a baby in 1903. Theresa had a brother in the Monmouth area. His name was Manuel Mello. He never married, never learned English, owned a vineyard, lived with an army of cats, and kept thousands of dollars in gold coins in coffee cans. He was considered a lovable old eccentric and was called by one and all, "Ti Manel."

Theresa Sebastian died in 1924, and in 1925, J.J. married the young widow, Clara Margarida (Leal) da Silveira e Terra Brum. J.J. liked the fact that both his wife and her husband had "well born."

Carl and Lucille Ambrose lived in a small cottage on the Sebastian ranches just a stone throw from Sebastian's big house. It was almost completely overgrown by a huge Cecile Brunner rosebush! There was a one car garage, a very small fenced front yard with a goldfish pond, and a lawn hardly big enough to sit upon. Out back there were several big sheds full of Carl's business papers. They had a son, Stanley Ambrose and a daughter, Shirley (Ambrose) Ball.

In 1930, Lucille Ambrose died. Carl decided to keep his son at home with him but to give his daughter to Velvina Pimentel, a maiden cousin, to raise. Thus the siblings were raised apart in separate homes in different places.

Carl married a second time to Belle Bettencourt George whose family came from farther up the San Joaquin Valley. They had a daughter also named Lucille Ambrose. We were the same age and went all through grammar school and high school together. Bell Ambrose was one of the nicest women around. She always made everyone feel welcome in her home, and she was a great cook. In later years, her mother, an unusually beautiful older woman, lived with them for a long time. Belle's maiden sister, who often visited, eventually married Kack Bettencourt. No relation?

Eventually Stanley finished high school and moved away. In later years he owned a tobacco shop in Atascadero, California. Later still he retired in Hawaii.

The Ambrose family had a fat old black and white fox terrier named Spot. He spent more and more time at our house and eventually became our dog.

Belle used to allow me to go through Carl's tons of old papers in the sheds to look for stamps for my collection. Now I wish we had access to those papers for the historical and genealogical materials that they contained!

After J.J. died in 1942, Ambrose went to court to obtain clear title to his little cottage. He had also inherited the twenty acres right across the road from his house but not the land his home stood on?

His Step-mother-in-law, Clara Sebastian, went down into the basement of the big house which was an interesting place and an archive. Here were stored stacks of old early day catalogs, newspapers, Life magazines, great earthenware jars of molasses, honey, and sugar, shelves of canned goods, and all of Sebastian's papers. I once found lost Portuguese coins in the dirt portion of the floor. Clara found all of the cancelled checks and bills for everything which was used to build the little cottage, even down to the nails! So Clara won the court case which caused much bad blood for many years.

It was ruled that who so ever outlived the other should have the house. So there was a long lasting competition between Carl and Clara to try to outlive the other. Carl won eventually and moved his little house across the street onto his own land. He died in Hanford in 1958 at the hospital in Hanford, Kings County. He was buried in Fowler, Fresno County. Young Lucille took his death very hard.

Lucille Ambrose married a fellow from Oakland, California. We were told that he was named Jack Ambrose and that she later had two sons, one of whom was also named Carl Ambrose. They lived in Santa Rosa, California.

Belle Ambrose was remarried to Mr. Manuel J. Machado and went to live in Santa Clara, California.

       Submitted by:
       Ronald L. Silveira
       221 S. Nardo Ave.
       Solana Beach, CA  92075
 
 
 
 
2. Frances Amelia

Francisca Amelia, and her two sisters, Noza Amelia and Luiza Amelia, arrived at Boston on June 16, 1866 on the ship Bash Fredonia from Faial, Azores. Francisca was born April 14, 1849 at Lejes, Pico.

She met Joaquin J. Utra De Fario at Provincetown, Massachusetts. Joaquin was born on October 15, 1846 on the island of Pico and died
on December 26, 1926 at Elmira, California, Solano County. He became a U.S. citizen on November 6, 1876. He was engaged in fishing for eleven years out of Provincetown working the summers on large fishing boats.

At the age of twenty-seven, he and Francisca, who now went by the name of Frances, left Provincetown for California. They brought with them their daughter who is my grandmother, Mary Fari, born October 1, 1873. They had a son who died as an infant. His name was Joe Fari who was born on January 1873 at Boston and died at Boston on December 30, 1872.  They lived on a dairy in San Luis Obispo for about three years. They then moved to Elmira in Solano County renting the Darling Ranch on Lewis Road which they rented for twenty-two years.

During this time they had five more children:

(1) Paul Anthony Silva Silvey was born on April 30, 1881 on the Darling Ranch and died January 13, 1962 in San Francisco. He is buried in the Silvey vault in Dixon, California. He was a grammar school teacher, grades third and fourth. He graduated from Stanford College and was involved in politics.

(2) John (Jack) Silva Silvey was born on May 31, 1883 on the Darling Ranch and died August 26, 1967 at Palo Alto, California. He married Pauline Steever. He drove for the Western Trucking Line and worked for Pacific Gas and Electric in the transportation department. He was the unofficial mayor of Barron Park. They lived in Palo Alto and had three children. Frederick R. Silvey was born on April 12, 1912 in San Francisco. Edward C. Silvey who married Millie (last name not known), and John L. Silvey.

(3) Joe Silvey was born on October 7, 1877 on the Darling Ranch and died December 24, 1947. He married Sarah Hughes, a native of Ireland. They lived in Los Gatos, California and owned a hardware store near Palo Alto. They had one daughter, Frances Elizabeth Silvey who married Bill Gabbard. She was born November 28, 1916 and died August 16, 1980. When Joe and Sarah died the hardware store was passed along to Frances. Frances and her husband Bill had two sons.
Dwight Christopher Gabbard was born February 13, 1953 at Palo Alto, and Leland Joseph Gabbard who was born February 13, 1948 in Los Angeles. These two sons now operate the hardware store.

(4) Manuel Silva Silvey was born on August 29, 1879 on the Darling Ranch. (The Darling Ranch is near Elmira, California, on Lewis Road, near the railroad tracks and the on the east side of the creek.) He died on November 11, 1908 and is buried in the Silvey vault in Dixon, California.

(5) Susan Fari Silva Silvey, was born in 1875 in Solano County and died as an infant. Her place of burial is not known.

(6) Mary Maria Silva Silvey born in October 1,1873 in Boston, Massachusetts. Death and burial unknown. She married Joseph Fero Martin, who was also known as Joe Martins (Martin) Martinez. He was born March 14, 1861 at Pico, Azores and died April 10, 1927 at Elmira and is buried in the Silvey vault in Dixon. His church may have been Calheta de Nesquin Madalena, Pico. Joe Martin came to San Francisco in 1880 and worked in the lumber industry along the coast of Monterey County. He later lived in Newman, Stanislaus Co., California. He lived with his cousin John B. Alexander who was born June 1839 in Portugal and married Jessie Gonsalzes, born 1849 in Portugal. They had eight children. (Clara Alexander was born April 1880. Katie was born on October 29, 1882 and married an Affonso. Katie Affonso was Joe Martins' godchild. William Alexander was born April 1886. Then were Frances Alexander; Mary Alexander, who lived in Aptos; Delphina Alexander who married an Alves and lived in Modesto, California; and the three other children's names are unknown.)

After raising these five children, Joaquin J. Utra De Fario, who was also known as Joseph Silva Silvey, and his wife Frances purchased 320 acres of land and raised sheep, cattle, horses, grain, and pasture. I understand they did good. They built themselves a three bedroom house on a hill which still stands.
 

Around 1900, Joe Martin met my grandmother, Mary Fari Silva Silvey. He was living at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco at the time. They were married on December 14, 1902 at the ranch house of her parents. Mary (Mamie) was born October 1, 1873 in Boston, Massachusetts and died May 26, 1962 at Elmira and is buried at the Silvey vault in Dixon. Joe made wine form figs and grapes for extra money and worked on the railroad. They had one child, Maud Frances Martin, born March 15, 1904 and died October 9, 1982 and is buried at Silveyville near Dixon. Maud was born at the Martin Ranch east on Fox Road next to the Holdender Ranch. They then bought a house in Elmira on the corner of Edward Street and A Street which was right next to her mother's house.

Maud married Charles A. Johnson who was born October 30, 1887 at Elmira on the Johnson Ranch. He died March 3, 1965. His father was Andrew Johnson was born October 5, 1844  at Hanhals Kungshacka, Sweden and died September 16, 1911. Charles' mother was Bertha Peterson who was born July 20, 1865 at Ostervall Skog, Varmland, Sweden and died February 12, 1900 and is buried at the Silveyville Cemetery.

Maud and Charles had three children:

(1) Frances Johnson was born October 2, 1935 at Fairfield, Solano County. She married Frank LaVerne Patten on June 15, 1958 in West Sacramento at the Lady of Grace Church. Frank was born on November 10, 1934 in Trenton, Nebraska. They had one child who was Michael Laverne Patten, born April 29, 1959 at Sacramento. Frank worked as an electrician and Frances as a secretary. They also raised cattle, sheep, and horses.

(2) Irene Johnson was born on December 3, 1936 at Elmira. She married Michael Rose on April 30, 1970 in Durant, Oklahoma. (Her first marriage was to Fred Becherer who was born at St. Louis, Missouri in 1935 and died 1993 at Fortworth, Texas.) Irene works as a secretary and lives in Fortworth. She has one child, Richard Becherer who was born November 9, 1957 at Albuquerque, New Mexico. He married Tonya Hudson in 1995 near Euless, Texas. They have one child, born October 14, 1996 whose name is Kathryn Becherer.

(3) Charles Johnson Jr. was born July 13, 1938 at Woodland, Yolo County. He married Shirley Yates on May 21, 1966. (His first wife was Pat Weber from Ohio.) Shirley was born May 31, 1932 in McClurg, Missouri. They had one child Ronda Lynn Johnson who was born October 13, 1966 in Woodland. Her step-sister is Monica Greg who was born May 21, 1961 in Fairfield. Her brother is Mitch Greg.
Charles Johnson works as an auto mechanic.

Michael Laverne Patten was born on April 29, 1959 in Sacramento. His first wife, Tina Smith, had no children. His second wife was Gail Barnett of Fairfield, California. His third wife, Meredith (Winters) Sinclair was born on November 2, 1970, and they have one daughter, Danille Patten who was born on October 14, 1992 in Walnut Creek, California. Danille has a half-sister, Kathryn Garza who was born on October 14, 1992, and a half-brother, Sam Garza born on November 8, 1993. Both were born in Walnut Creek.

These are my cousins:

Katie Alexander was born on October 29, 1882 and died April 22, 1953 at Crows Landing. She married Frank A. Affonso, Sr. They had four children. Adeline married Bettencourt of Gustine; Agnes married Machado of Newman in July 1935; Dorothy married Swanson; and Frank A. Affonso Jr. married Adeline Marion.

Joseph Enos Oliveria married Rita. They had two children. Rosa married Serpa. Another cousin is August Enos. There too is Jerry Borges who was born in 1898 and died November 27, 1977. He married Thelma Perry, and they had four children. She had a sister Madline Perry.

Carol Ann born December 23, 1941. Mary Julia married Elmer Reid Stephens on March 29, 1930 at Prescott, Arizona. Jerry Jr. born December 5. Nancy Lee was killed in a skiing accident at Lake Berryessa on September 23, 1971. Patricia Lee married H.E. Moore and had a child who died at birth in Vallejo on November 7, 1930.

Emmanuel Ferreira was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1878. His mother was Frances Marcainna Perreira (Perry) and father was
Frank Perreira (Perry). Emmanuel married Mary Agnus who died in June 1913. They had four children.

Francis Ferreira was born June 1898 at Somerville, Massachusetts and married Everett W. Wallster. She died January 13, 1957 at Weymouth, Massachusetts. They had four children. Gerald F., Eunice,
Pauline, and Phyliss. Phyliss married a Gallant at Roslindale and lived at 46 Crescent Rd., North, Weymouth, Massachusetts.

Robert Ferreira was born at Somerville in August 1912. Margaret Ferreria was born August 10, 1901 at Somerville. Ed Ferreria was born in 1917.

Joseph Perry was born in Azores and died in Mountain View, California and buried in Dixon. His sister was Isobel Silva of Oakland. The name of his wife is not known but they had one daughter, Maume or Marian F. Perry who married Costmor Horsion Clark on June 2, 1908 in Dixon. They had five children. Muriel, Evelyn Loris, Lawrence, Antone (lived in Hayward) and George.

Matheu Gonsalves was born in the Azores and his wife was Mary or Maria Ferreira. She died in 1964 at the age of ninety-one. (Her sister is Frances Ferreira Mariano) They had three children: Frank Gonsalves was born in 1894 on the Gonsalves Ranch and died on December 7, 1976. He graduated from Vacaville High School in 1912 and was a rancher all of his life. He had no children and lived at 119 Luzena St., Vacaville. John Jameson Gonsalves was born in 1900 on the Gonsalves Ranch in Solano County off Peabody Road. He died January 28, 1981. His daughter Marjorie Porter of Tennessee had one child. His sister is Mamie Gonsalves, born too on the Gonsalves Ranch and married a Garrett of Santa Cruz around 1908.

Frances Ferreira, the sister of Mary Gonsalves, married Frank Mariano. They had one child, Magune Mariano who married Edward Earnest Abila on August 19, 1926.

Joseph S. Enos was born in 1876 in the Azores. He lived in Somerset, Massachusetts. He died in 1963. He married Mary Rose Marcell who was born in 1895 in Fall River, Massachusetts and died on June 6, 1982. They had one child, Joseph Enos of Fairfield. Joseph had one brother, Manuel Enos of the Azores, and one sister, Jennie Silva of Burlingame. Joseph and Mary own 945 acres of land near Travis Air Force Base. Travis bought 42 acres of it. They are part of the air base's history. Mary was nicknamed in 1966 Mary Mother Travis.

Manuel Azevedo was born in 1907 at Suisun City, California and died on March 19, 1983. He married Roberta M. and was a dairyman for thirty-five years at Gridley, Dixon, and Solano County. They had four children: Manuel Azevedo died in 1961. Marvin V. Azevedo died in 1982. Dennis L. Azevedo lives in Davis, California. Patricia Azevedo
lives in Sacramento.

Manuel Azevedo had two brothers and a sister: Joe L. Azevedo of Dixon, Anthony Azevedo of Boys Spring, and Mary Wedge of Sacramento. As of1983, Joe L. Azevedo lived with his son, Joseph
(Butch) Azevedo and his wife Vicki. They had two children: Anne Marie Azevedo, age fifteen in 1994 and Joe Azevedo, age twenty-one. Annie Marie is a character actress for children television. Vicki and Joseph Azevedo are self-employed in a hay and feed business in Dixon.

 Submitted by:
 Frances Patten
 6630 Fox Road
 Dixon, CA  95620
 
 
 
 
 
3. Judy Reis Avila

My Dream Come True
 

At age sixteen I was ready to try my wings, fulfill my dream, and find out what life in America was really like. I had dreamed of coming to the United States since I was ten years old.

Around 1951, my father, Henrique Teixiera Reis, was able to obtain a visitor visa to come to the U.S. for about a year. My Uncle John (Joao Teixeira Reis) had made all the arrangements so that my father could come help him build a house in Pacific Grove, California, on a beautiful Jewell Avenue lot very near the ocean. Leaving a wife and five little girls behind was not an easy decision for my father; even a year seemed a very long time, but my mother, Virginia Reis, was brave enough to say that she would stay in Norte Pequeno, Sao Jorge, and take care of things so that he could take advantage of this opportunity of a lifetime.

When my father returned fourteen months later we were all very excited to see him and all the nice things he had brought back for us. But I was the most excited one when he asked if any of us girls would like to go to America to live with Uncle John and Aunt Mary.
 I was the first to raise my hand and scream, "I will! I will go!."

The following year Uncle John and Aunt Mary traveled to Sao Jorge with the idea of taking me back with them to the States. It turned out to be a disappointment for them and for me - because of immigration laws and lots of red tape, I was not permitted to leave the country. A couple of years later they tried again to send for me as a student, but I was too young and not far enough along in my studies to qualify for a student visa. For the next four years they kept trying to send for me and I kept praying and hoping that someday I would go.

It was in early March 1958 that my family received a letter from the American Consul, asking to meet with me on the island of Sao Miguel as soon as possible. I was so excited that I was shaking inside - my prayers had been answered! Since I had never been off the island of Sao Jorge, to visit Sao Miguel was extremely exciting. After a quick goodbye kiss to my mother and sisters, my father and I left Sao Miguel on March 6, on a small ship (Umelas), thinking that if we were lucky we could catch a ship back the following week and maybe someday I'd be granted a visa.

When we arrived in Sao Miguel, it was like a merry-go-round. We met with the Consul, and after a few questions he told me I must go back to the island of Terceira to get my passport. After that, he'd grant me a visitor visa. This was all too good to believe, but we did what he said, and on March 21, I said goodbye to my father on Terceira with a broken heart. I had never had the chance to say a real goodbye to my mother and sisters.

I arrived in California on March 20, after a much-delayed and stormy trip. Two extra days and nights in New York with a vocabulary of 20-30 English words was a bit scary, but that is another story. I was so happy that my dream had come true and nothing else seemed to matter.

Uncle John and Aunt Mary were in San Francisco to pick me up. It seemed like a very long ride to the Monterey Peninsula; I was full of stories and so wound-up from the excitement of having my feet in California. I settled in with them in the Pacific Grove home my father had helped build. I loved my own bedroom and the beautiful garden, full of vegetables and flowers. All the neighbors were so friendly and they all tried to teach me English. I started some night classes for foreign students, and in the fall I started school at Pacific Grove High School.

America was everything I had dreamed of. There were ups and downs, good days and lonely days, but my worst fear was that my visa was expiring in six months and I could very well be sent back to Sao Jorge. My uncle and aunt started adoption proceedings a few months after I arrived in the hope that it would give me legal residency. The adoption involved more red tape, many trips to the immigration office in San Francisco, and endless questions. After it was legal and final, we were disappointed to find out that it would not give me legal residency because I was over fourteen years old.

Now what? Should we ask for another extension in my visa? I had already been granted a few more months. I kept going to school, which I liked very much. The teachers were very nice and helpful, and I had made some new friends. I also had a new name: I was no longer Maria Jesualda Reis, but Judy Maria Reis.

One day my "dad" (Uncle John) said, "We are going to Carmel to talk to our lawyer, Senator Fred Farr, to see if he can arrange something to keep you here." And we did. After several visits and hundreds of dollars, Senator Farr proposed a bill, called H.R. 2128, to be introduced in Congress, asking special permission for me to stay in the United States. For several months we prayed and had every neighbor, friend, and teacher write a letter in my behalf. (I still have copies of many of those letters). For instance, our local funeral director wrote,

 I know the adopted parents, Mr. and Mrs. John T. Reis, very well as
 they are fine neighbors of ours. They have a nice home and are without
 children of their own and are financially able to give this girl what we
 Americans want for our children: namely security, education, and religious
 training.

Finally I received a note from Congress stating that my bill had passed and had been approved and signed by Charles M. Teague, M.C. I could stay in the U.S.

Becoming a legal resident was certainly a milestone and gave me a great feeling of peace. Of course, my heart always longed for my family back home and all of the ties to the Portuguese community there. I kept in close touch by writing long letters to my parents and sisters. Here in California, I attended all of the Portuguese activities, dances, and festas, where I would meet many more people from the Azores.

In 1960 I met a young man, Guilherme Avila, from the island of Pico.
He had been living in Canada for three years and had come to California to visit his uncle, who also lived in Pacific Grove. We seemed to have a lot in common; his parents and most of his family
were also back home in the Azores, and we seemed to feel the same pains and the same joys.

We fell in love, and after writing letters for two years and two more visits from Canada, we were married in 1962. Our main dream was to go back home to meet each other's families as soon as we could afford it. Our dream came true four years later, in 1966. We decided to go back for a year and just relax.

Guess what? I got pregnant there with our oldest son and had to cut the trip short by three months so our baby could be born in the U.S. The year we saw our families again was very special, and the time we all spent together was important and rewarding. My sisters were all grown up; one had married and had two little girls, and the other three were still at home with my parents. Luckily, two of my sisters, Teodora (or Dora) and Leonor, were able to come to the States in 1967, the same year I returned. They both helped me raise our new son, David, and six years later we had another son, Duart.

Now almost forty years later some of these memories are as vivid as if they had happened yesterday. Maybe that's because every day we see things that remind us of the past. Both my parents and my adoptive parents are gone, but we remain living in Pacific Grove, and, except for a few trips to Azores and Canada, we have never left. My sisters Dora and Leonor both began families of their own, and both now live a few blocks away from me. Our son David has remodeled the house that his two "grandfathers" built, and it means a lot to us to see him living there.

As for me, I'll always be grateful for the opportunity I was given in my life; to my parents for letting me go, and to my adoptive parents for taking me in.

Submitted by:
Judy Avila
314 Lobos
Pacific Grove, CA
93950
 
 
 

4. Antonio Silveira Bettencourt
Name in Latin Pronunciation is Bettenis Cortis

I would like to explore the philosophy of the Bettencourts which started with the name in the 8th century. Originally was formed in
France from the Bethun River and their work as bailiff for the lords of property. Here they learn to be entrepreneurs is the only way to
own property. During the 9th to 11th century they own horses and small plots in the Provinces of Normandy and Picardy. By the 14th century there were Bethencourts from Rouen to Arras. As being horsemen they maintained a private army with schools to teach horsemanship with military maneuvers of hand to hand combat. The Bettencourts were well into lordship in property.

Jean de Bethencourt in 1400 took ownership of a sailing vessel and got permission to sail to the Canary Islands. He left Dieppe, France with a crew and two nephews, Henri and Maciot in 1402. Jean setup a settlement of Grainville, Tenerife and explored the Islands of Lancarote, Fuerteventura, Ferro and Grande Canaria. Maciot negotiated with Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal for property in Madeira Islands. His brother Henri went to Avila Castle where he took over the old castle property in 1418. Then two of Henri's sons went to Madeira Island. Henrique de Manezes Bettencourt in 1450 went to Ribeira Brava and started the sugar processing business while his brother Gasper went to Agua del Mel and started in the soap business.

Then into the picture came Willem Van der Bruyn from Bruges, Flanders the one dealer of the cloth industry. Mr. Bruyn in 1436 moved to Funchal, Madeira by permission of Prince Henry the Navigator where his sister Isabel was Queen of Flanders. Here in Madeira he continued the dye business with supply from Madeira and Azores Islands. The urzela and pastel plants are indigenous to these islands as his son conferred in Terceira where he married Barbara Silveira whose father, Willem Van der Hagen with his ship moved people from Bruges, Flanders to the Islands of Terceira and Faial and his children changed their name to Silveira.

By the early 16th century the Bettencourt's arrived at Vila da Prais, Terceira where they became acquainted with the dye business. Joao Bettencourt married Leoner Alvares and had seven children. Couple of boys married into the Silveira family and moved to the Island of Sao Jorge to look for urzela and pastel plants. One went to Topo and the other went to Vila das Velas and established a port. They found a large volume of urzela plants in an area near Calherta from Manada to Urzelina.

Then came the end of the House of Avis and the Portuguese kingdom became the House of Habsburg with the Spanish king of Filip I. This is when the Bettencourt's horsemanship with little military exercise tried to defend the islands. The idea of moving inland came about 1583 some 600 feet above sea level and six miles from Velas. Where the village of Beira was constructed and they acquired property to form a self-maintained community working with the dye business until the middle of the 18th century. This brought new ideas to develop the economy of the area. The dye business built the Bettencourt Castle in Angra, Terceira. It is now a city library.

Sao Jorge had to go into a new business by increasing the size of dairy herds and excess milk was made into cheese. Business was very slow in developing so lots of people had to find employment by outside means. In the 19th century the people had to work for another country industry. My grandfather went aboard a British sailing vessel to look for whales. Antonio Silveira Bettencourt was a whaler for 15 years traveling the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Whaling was big business in the 19th century because the dye business died too soon and cash reserves were to low to get into whaling business to supply the processing plants. My grandfather came into San Francisco Bay twice in his sailing experience. In 1885 he came back to Beira, Sao Jorge and got married to Ana Bernardo da Silveira and had 10 children. He told many great stories of California. One was that California was mostly marshland that near the railroads was usable as farmland. He also mentioned about taking the northern sea route from the Atlantic to the Pacific which was not recorded until 1905.

My father was born in 1892, the number four child. He worked with his father in the pastures and milked cows and took the milk to the creamery. When he was 17 years of age, the Portuguese Army was going to conscript him into military duty when he was 18. He left Beira, Sao Jorge in 1910 from Velas to Angra and by steamship to New York in the United States of America. He then took a passenger train to Oakland, California. From here he ferried to San Rafael where he worked in a certified dairy that was shipping milk to the city of San Francisco. My father was milking 30 cows twice a day for $30 a month. He had to wear white clothing while on duty and lived in the bunkhouse. He felt he was being too controlled in this job but felt he had much leisure time and decided in 1914 to go to Hayward, the Freitas dairy ranch which is now the State University of California, Hayward. This situation had more freedom of taking the milk to the creamery and riding horse to herd the cows in the pastures or working with German people in the hay press.

My mother was born in 1898 of Francisco Jose Pereira and Ana Bernardo Lemas in Beira, Sao Jorge. She came to New Bedford, Massachusetts in United States of America with her brother Manuel in 1913. She worked as a maid for the owner of the City Ice House where he owned a large home on Rockdale Avenue. The owner boarded school teachers where my mother learned a lot of English. She had a lot of schooling in Beira. She worked for six years on this job until she got married in 1919.

My father's brothers who were living on the East Coast came West and formed a partnership of Antonio, Jose and Joao and went together in the dairy business near Crows Landing on the road to Modesto. Here my father stayed for two years from 1916 to 1918 to develop his own business with his own cows. Then he decided to go east to Stevinson, California where he had a partner of Mr. Brazil to the 100-acre ranch which was located on Lander Avenue and the west end of Westside Boulevard. Here he saw a new bridge being built over the Merced River and was married to my mother. Here is where I was born in 1920.

My father and mother had four children which was a sister and two brothers for me all born on the ranch: John S. Bettencourt, Robert J. Bettencourt, and Anna Mae (Bettencourt) Guerriero. Then in 1933 my mother became very ill and spent much of her life in hospitals. The United States and California governments helped a great deal in trying to cure the illness she had, nervousness. Because of her, the state neuropathology doctors made great progress in the study of the brain.

Soon my father found an opportunity to buy a forty-acre ranch in Livingston, California. In September of 1920 he took his cows down Westside Boulevard walking his cows to 12437 West Magnolia Avenue. The ranch is located two miles south of Livingston on the Donnelly estates. Here he milked his cows for three years and paid off his ranch. So he sold his dairy because of Merced Irrigation District built a canal nearby and was also tired of pumping water to irrigate the alfalfa fields with his ten horsepower Fairbank engine. At the same time the federal government was destroying dairy cows due to an invasion of hoof-and-mouth disease. My father decided to go into growing sweet potatoes, watermelons and blackeye beans because the ranch was shield with eucalyptus trees along Magnolia Avenue. He also used the eucalyptus wood for cooking, making his own soap, heating hot water in butchering a hog and hot house for sausage. My father and mother loved their Holstein cows and ranch. He also remodeled his home and electrified the ranch in 1927 and went back to milking cows where he survived the Depression and the travails of life. My father and mother had four children. My brothers and sister were born at the ranch they are: John S. Bettencourt, Robert Bettencourt and Anna Mae Guerriero. My father became a citizen of the United States on June 21, 1957 with naturalization paper. My father Joao Silveira Bettencourt died September 24, 1970 and my mother Maria Santa Pereira died on August 18, 1989 in a convalescent home. My father and mother's beloved ranch was sold in 1975.

References

Bettencourt, J. Moniz de. Os Bettencourt das Origens Normandas   y Espansao Atlantica. Lisboa: Ramos, Alfonso y Moita   LDA, 1993.

Guill, James H. Azores Islands: a History. Tulare, CA: Golden
  Shield Books, 1993.

       Submitted by:
       Edward Bettencourt
       843 Brennan Way
       Livermore, CA  94550
 
 
 
 

5. John Silveira Borges

John Silveira Borges and Maria Daudelina Silveira were but two of the many Azoreans to immigrate to this country in the early 1900s. The following is a capsulization of their lives.

Joao/John, born 7 May 1890 in Topo, Santo Antao, Sao Jorge Island, and his brother Alex (b. 15 May 1893) were the result of a long love affair between their parents Joaquin Silveira Borges and Izabel Emilia Azevedo. She was a comely woman but from a humble background. Joaquin, on the other hand, was of a higher class and forbidden by his mother to marry beneath his station. Only after his mother's death did Joaquin take his lover as his bride. Unfortunately by then he was gravely ill and would soon die.

Izabel had four sons from a previous marriage: Abel Azevedo (6 September 1870 - 14 September 1947), Manuel Azevedo (7 May 1877 - 1 January 1935), Joe Azevedo (? September 1879 - 13 November 1950) and Virgino (Birth and death dates not known). Of the six sons reared by Izabel only Virgino remained on the island. The others would settle in California's Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys. Apparently Abel was the  first to come followed by Manuel, John, Alex, and Joe.

At age twenty, John Silveira Borges was ready to leave his homeland. There was little reason to stay. His father had been dead for many years, and his mother married a man with whom John did not get along. Remaining on the island would only assure this young man an unpromising future. There was, however, one thing John had in his favor. He had family already established in America. This in itself would make the proposed transition more palatable . . . it was time.

Thirty (30) December 1910 was the date penned on the passport from the Republica Portuguesa. The blue-eyed twenty year old was about to embark upon his greatest adventure -- incognito. His passport identified John as Joao Silveira Jordao. Family tradition has it that this ruse was necessary to circumvent Portuguese military conscription laws. This was far from a unique situation facing young Azorean males wanting to expatriate.

John first set foot on American soil in early 1911. It is not known through which port of entry he came, probably New York, possibly Boston. He reached San Francisco after a seven day transcontinental train ride then registering at the "hotel Silveira" on Pine Street. The Silveira catered to Portuguese "greenhorns." The patrons called it "Casa de Moneta." (This writer is unsure of the spelling or meaning.) It was at this hotel that many dairy operators would find hired help. Within a short time John would be employed by a Spanish lady who owned a dairy operation across the Bay in the Sausalito area of Marin County.

The job paid $25.00 a month. Milking was done twice a day in the open while cows were tethered to posts --rain or shine. Being an ambitious sort, John took on additional duties. He would awake before the others mount a horse and drive the herd down from the pasture to the milking area. Each milker was responsible for milking a certain number of cows. This was known as a string. John was no different than the other milkers, he had his own string to milk. If one of the strings were short an animal, John would have to stop milking, mount his horse, find the missing animal, drive it to the milking area and only then could he resume work on his string. The procedure would be repeated in the late afternoon. John developed into an exceptional horseman and became extremely adroit with a lariat. Searching for cattle grazing over large areas of steep, hilly, pasture land in a cold driving winter rain on horseback (at least half of the time in the dark) could not have been a pleasant experience. But it did pay $5.00 a month more.

Manuel Azevedo lived in Mill Valley area of Marin County for several years before his half brother John's arrival. In 1903, Manuel married a beautiful young girl from Norte Pequeno, Sao Jorge. Her name was Adelina Augusta de Azevedo (different family). She was born 7 May 1886 (d. 12 December 1942) to Maria Joaquina de Azevedo and Maria's lover. Adelina's father left Sao Jorge for America promising to send for Maria and their child. This reunion would never take place. Maria Joaquina would eventually marry Francisco Jose da Silveira and from this union three daughters would be born -- Maria (18 May 1892), Mariana (24 July 1893), and Deolinda (17 August 1902).

Adelina left her mother, stepfather and three sisters while she was little more than a child. She would live for a time with her father in Mill Valley before meeting her future husband Manuel. According to oral family history Adelina's father's name was Thomas, and he lived in the Novato area of Marin County. Later a copy of her death certificate was obtained and reviewed. Per the certificate, her father was Antonio Thomas. His death certificate shows his father as Manuel Azevedo Borba of the Azores.

Together Manuel and Adelina would have three children, all born in the Sausalito area of Marin County: Elias, Frank, and Mary. Soon after John's arrival, the Azevedos left Marin and eventually settled near Gridley, Butte County, California. John would soon follow. Brother Alex would arrive within a few more years.

By 1915, John was ready to settle down and raise a family. He began to correspond with Adelina's half-sister Maria Daudeline Silveira. He would woo his future bride by sending her letters containing romantic poetry. Maria must have been impressed because she would recite those poems from memory well into her 90s. John requested Maria's picture. He took that picture and one of himself to a photographer. The finished product was one picture with John (appearing to be) standing next to Maria. Maria really didn't want to leave her home. However, she acquiesced to her father's coaxing to take advantage of the opportunity to improve her lot in life.

It took seven days to sail to Ellis Island and an additional seven days, by train, to come overland to California. By the time her destination was reached, all her clothing was covered with soot and smelled of smoke. Much to Maria's surprise, John was not at the train station to meet her. He sent his brother, Manuel Azevedo, to pick her up. As if this was not strange enough, Manuel tried to convince Maria not to marry his brother -- that he was crazy and not good for her. The biggest surprise was yet to come. John shaved his head just prior to meeting Maria. When the two finally met; he simply said . . . I'm the guy who wrote you, do you still want to marry me. Maria said . . . that's what I'm here for. Now, whether Manuel was truly serious in his warning to his future sister-in-law or whether Manuel and John cooked this whole thing up as a test is entirely up to speculation. Manuel and his wife Adelina (Maria's half-sister) were witnesses at the wedding, which took place in Gridley on 21 August 1915.

After a few years, Adelina and Manuel Azevedo would go their separate ways. She would marry Manuel Lopes and would have two more children -- Edward Thomas Lopes (19 July 1918 - 8 January 1990) and Adeline Lopes (4 August 1919 b- 2 February 1927). Ed's middle name was in honor of his mother's father Antonio Thomas.

John and Maria had their first child, a son, on 20 May 1916. John Jr. was born in Gridley, California. Two years later their daughter Mary was born 15 April 1918 also in Gridley. William, their last child, was born in Tracy, San Joaquin County, California on 23 July 1935.

By 1920, the Borges family was living in the Marysville area of Yuba County. John was working on the Henry Reyes (Reis) dairy. Possibly his brother Alex worked there too. One year the rains were exceptionally heavy. The dairy was situated near one of the rivers and rising waters posed a threat to the dairy herd. John rode toward the river and began driving the cattle away from danger when water began to rush across the pasture, literally lapping at the hooves of his galloping horse.

Brother Alex would arrive in America as a cabin boy aboard a small sailing vessel and land in Providence, Rhode Island. The trip took forty days; the year was 1912. Alex met Deolinda Silveira, in much the same manner as brother John met his wife Maria (Deolinda's sister). The ladies were both "picture brides." Deolinda left her family in Norte Pequeno, Sao Jorge in 1921 aboard the San Vicente. The six-day trip to Boston turned into sixteen days due to mechanical problems. She confided to her grandnephew that shortly after meeting Alex in person, she discovered he lied about his age. He had indicated he was younger than he really was. This angered Deolinda. She married him anyway on 2 April 1921 in Modesto's St. Stanislaus Catholic Church. Their son Manuel was born 20 January 1922. He was the first child to be baptized in Hughson's Sao Lazeo Catholic Church. There was one other child born to this union; however, it did not survive infancy.

In the early 1920s, the Borges brothers and a cousin named Julio (last name possibly Azevedo) formed a partnership in a dairy operation on the Casewell ranch near Ceres in Stanislaus County. Julio's brother Alexander worked for the partners. Julio married a local Ceres girl. As with many such venture, the partnership would dissolve and everyone went their own way. John moved to the Musselman ranch near the Ceres High School. Alex went to Riverbank, and Julio left the dairy business altogether and became a dry farmer.

John moved his family once more. This time be bought a small ranch just north of Banta and south of Mossdale in San Joaquin County. The land was newly subdivided and virgin. In 1925, when he bought the place, there wasn't a post in sight. Maria was not particularly enthralled with the move to such a desolate area. Here they started their own dairy operation and on which they would live the rest of their lives. Alex would purchase a ranch just up the road from John. He, Deolinda, and young Manuel would arrive in the Banta area 3 March 1928 and begin their own dairy.

Dairy cattle in San Joaquin County were not certified tuberculosis-free. If testing proved positive for just one animal, the entire herd was lost. Such was the plight of many area dairymen, including John and Alex. Later they had the opportunity to get back into the business. Cattle had to be purchased in "certified" areas such as Eureka, California and Yearington, Nevada. These animals were shipped by train to Banta. A law required the cattle to  be off-loaded, fed and watered after so many hours of travel. John started a new dairy, as did brother Alex.

During World War II, youngest son William found his father seated at the kitchen table in tears with a letter clutched in his hand. John's mother had died. he would return to the "old country"  just once. In 1947, John, Maria, William, Alex, Deolinda, and Manuel would all board the Santa Cruz and sail to the Azores. There they visited family in Norte Pequeno and Sao Antao, Topo on Sao Jorge Island. John decided to see his stepfather who was ill and bedridden. John, still harboring  hard feelings over the maltreatment his mother suffered at the hands of his stepfather, could not contain his anger. He threatened to pick up his stepfather and throw him to the pigs. He thought better of it and left his boyhood home for the last time.

As years passed, John's health began to fall. He had suffered a fracture to his hip -- this writer's earliest recollection of his grandfather was of him on crutches. He was also dying of cancer. Only after several agonizing years did John Silveira Borges pass on. He died 8 April 1957. Uncle Alex Silveira Borges died 28 May 1972; Aunt Deolinda died 11 June 1985. Grandmother Maria (Silveira) Borges lived into her 94th year. She died on 2 January 1986.

Maria and Deolinda's sister Mariana remained in Norte Pequeno for many years. There she married a Gonzales and gave birth to her four
children: Maria, Tony, Gaspar, and Deolinda. Eventually, Mariana and all her children came to California. She died the morning of her granddaughter's wedding -- 10 June 1989.

John Borges Jr. said at his Uncle Alex's funeral " . . . and another legend passes on." Within that statement lies the reason for this critique, this collection of family stories and personal memories - - lest we forget.

       Submitted by:
       J.R. Borges
       5533 Sapunor Way
       Carmichael, CA  95608
 
 
.

6. Jose Silveira Brum and Rosie Francisco Vargas

Jose Silveira Brum was born on February 2, 1889 to Antonio Silveira Brum and Anna Guilhermina Leal in Castelo Branco, Faial. His mother died when he was nine months old. Jose and his father, Antonio, came to Warm Springs, California in 1897, when Joe, as he came to be called, was seven years old. Joe was educated at Warm Springs Grammar School.

Joe first engaged in farming with his father on the Stanford Ranch in Warm Springs. His father remarried to Maria Sarmento (1875-1934 - see story on Manuel Sarmento) who was also born in Castelo Branco, Faial and had immigrated to California in 1905 with her young son, Edwin A. Sarmento (1901-?). Antonio and Maria had two sons of their own, Tony, born in 1911, who died as an adult, of tuberculosis, and another Joe, who was born in 1914 and died in 1921. Antonio and Maria lived in Warm Springs. They are buried in the Centerville cemetery with their young son Joe (the second).

Joe S. Brown became a naturalized citizen in 1912. At this time, he was a self-employed merchant who owned the Warm Springs Store, a grocery and general merchandise store. The Warm Springs Store was built in the 1880s on the south corner of Warren and Warm Springs Boulevard. The first proprietor was Jacob Steinmetz who sold it to Manuel T. Azevedo and Joe Brown. The Warm Springs Post Office was also located at the store and Joe was appointed U.S. Postmaster, January 8, 1913, a position that he held until his death. Joe registered for the World War I draft in June 1917. He enlisted at Hayward, California in Company H, 364 Infantry on April 2, 1918 and served overseas at St. Meheil, Meuse Argonne and Ypores Lys. He was honorably discharged as a corporal on April 29, 1919 at Camp Kearny, San Diego. Manuel Azevedo ran the store while Joe served in the army and Joe was eventually able to buy him out.

After the war, Joe settled back into his job at the Warm Springs Store. One of his early duties was to take the 1920 Federal Census of Warm Springs in January of that year. Joe visited the Warm Springs residents by horse and buggy. One afternoon he saw a young lady, who had previously caught his eye, Rosie Francisco Vargas, who was just leaving her job of cleaning the Warm Springs Schoolhouse. Joe offered her a ride home, which she accepted, and told her that he would soon be calling on her family home to take the census. Rosie was the daughter of Azorean emigrants, Joe Francisco Vargas of Castelo Branco and Anna C. Lourenco of Flores (see their story). Rosie born May 2, 1904, was raised, along with nine siblings on property belonging to Henry Curtner, where her parents were share crop farmers.

Joe invited Rosie to a dance at the home of his father, Antonio. Joe showered her with attention at this dance and the courtship began. They were married in Mission San Jose on October 4, 1920 with her sister, Minnie Vargas Sarmento, and her husband Manuel as their witnesses (see Manuel Sarmento story). They established their home at the grocery store where Rosie became an active partner in the business. The store was the hub of activity in Warm Springs. Besides being the post office, where Rosie acted as postal clerk, the store also housed the local library, which had been organized on February 20, 1912. Rosie became the Alameda County Librarian at this branch. Joe was a station agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad Station in Warm Springs. The store also carried appliances and Rosie and Joe set to work in installing and servicing the stoves they sold. The store had a hall upstairs which served for local meetings and for family get-togethers for Rosie's siblings and their families on holidays. Their home was attached to the store but they purchased an off-site home in 1934.

The Browns were very active in their community. Joe was a trustee of the Warm Springs school from 1918 to 1929 and school board meetings were sometimes held at his store. He was also one of the first commissioners of the Warm Springs fire district which was formed in 1945. Joe belonged to the American Legion Post 195 and several Portuguese organizations including I.D.E.S. , U.P.E.C., S.E.S., and A.P.P.B. Joe served as Supreme President of the I.D.E.S. in 1933-34. Rosie was a member of Sao Gabriel Council 84 of the S.P.R.S.I. and was a member of its drill team. She marched in parades along with her sisters Adeline and Florence. Rosie served as secretary for the council for over twenty-five years.

Joe died on August 28, 1957 at his home on Brown Road in Warm Springs. He was given a full military funeral and was buried on August 31, 1957 at the San Bruno Military Cemetery. Rosie assumed the duties of postmistress on June 30, 1957 and was designated "Acting Postmistress" on July 11, 1957. She was officially confirmed Postmistress of Warm Springs on May 13, 1959. She continued in this post until the city of Fremont was unified and all postmasters became station agents. Rosie retired and leased the store to several families in turn, Tony and Annie Lawrence, John Feliciano and Walter Stienmetz and then Lillian and Louie Rodrigues. The post office moved to another location and Rosie carried on as its station agent. Rosie remarried in1960 to Ray Morgan. Rose Morgan died on December 17, 1979 and is buried at Cedar Lawn Cemetery in Warm Springs.

Joe Silveira Brown and Rosie had one daughter, Evelyn, who was born on December 12, 1921. Evelyn was a graduate of Warm Springs Grammar School, Washington Union High School in Centerville, and Heald Business College. Evelyn married Leonard E. Rose (born October 26, 1920 in Princeton, California to Azoreans emigrants William Walter Rose and Mae Cardoza of Flamengos, Faial). Evelyn and Leonard were married December 22, 1945 at St. Joseph's Church in Mission San Jose. Evelyn was employed as registrar of Washington High School in 1941 and worked as secretary to the superintendent from 1942 to 1983. During these years she was affectionately known as "Brownie" to the many students that attended the school. She retired in 1983 as an administrative secretary. Her long employment at the high school make her a well-recognized local resident. Evelyn lives in Warm Springs area where her parents played such important roles. Today, one lonely palm tree stands faithful watch over a gas station which was built on the site where once stood the Warm Springs Store. (Genealogical information is available on Joe S. Brown's ancestry.)

Reference List

Country Club of Washington Township. History of Washington  Township. 2d ed. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press,  1950.
New Deal Historical Society. Who's Who in the New Deal. California  ed. Los Angeles: V.E. Thurman, 1939.

       Submitted by:
       Susan Vargas Murphy
       700 Selsey Ct.
       Sacramento, CA  95864
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

7. Dutra Correia

Dutra Correia -- Coelho Cotta
Family Story

The Dutra Correia family came form the village of Castelo Branco in Faial and traced their ancestry to one or another of the Van Hurteres.
The first ones to arrive in California were my great-aunts. Maria Dutra Correia married an Antone Alves who was a gardener at the fashionable Del Monte Lodge in Monterey. I don't know who sponsored her unless her husband-to-be sent for her. It was about 1880.

In due time she sent for her seventeen-year-old sister, Luisa, who came to America on the first steam-driven boat to go to Faial. She was betrothed to someone else, but married a Tony Rosa from a different island. Antone Rosa owned a large amount of property in Gonzales. They had nine children. Their large dairy was on the River Road, across the Salinas River from Gonzales.

With two aunts to give her shelter, my father's sister Maria left Faial in 1900 for the Monterey home of her Aunt Mary and married her prosperous cousin, Antone Alves, who had a hog and chicken farm on English Avenue between what is now Highway One and Del Monte Avenue.

This set up the situation where Mary (Maria) would send for her brothers one by one as they became draft age. Thus, my father, Francisco Dutra Correia, who was the youngest in his family, finally came to America in March of 1914 in steerage on the Italian steamship, Roma. Ahead of him had come his brothers Jose and Antonio, who were ten and five years older than he.

On their mother's side, they were Vargas and Claude, but, because correspondence was minimal, they lost touch with the maternal side of the family. All we knew was that a Vargas uncle had met each one at Ellis Island, given him a few days shelter, and put him on a train for California. The other Vargas uncles had gone to Brazil from Castelo Branco.

Of the Claudes, I know nothing except that my Aunt Mary always insisted that my father looked like them. My Faial cousins claim that their maternal grandmother was surnamed Claude; but notes taken from one of my Rosa cousins talk of a Luisa Claude Correia. It may be that both the maternal and paternal grandmothers were Claudes. It was a small village and people were very clannish there.

When I was in Faial, I was waited on at the bank in Horta by a man who looked like my father; but because of the pressure of time, I did not have the presence of mind to ask him his name. To this day, I wonder if he was a Claude relative. My cousin, Manuel Correia Goularte, said he knew of no relatives in Horta. He was the son of my Aunt Luisa Correia who stayed in Castelo Branco because she had married Antonio Goularte.

The only other Dutra Correias we know of as relatives were Jose Dutra Correia was a first cousin of my grandfather, Tomas Dutra Correia. He had a dairy on Moran Road in Crows Landing. He was born in 1873 and came to New Bedford by sailing ship at the age of 17. It was a harrowing trip because they ran out of provisions before the month-long voyage was done. They arrived in port on July 20, 1890. As did the others, he took the train to California and had the misfortune to be on a train that had a head-on crash with another. he was pried out of the car alive, but many passengers were killed.

On his arrival, he went to work at a Carmel dairy for $15 per month. He had a sister who married a Mr. Victorino; so the Victorinos were my father's second cousins. In 1906 he married Mary Alvernaz.

A man known to be his cousin, who visited him once, was another Jose Dutra Correia of Providence, Rhode Island. I corresponded with him once before he died, hoping to get more family information. he wrote saying he was from Castelo Branco, also, and that all the Dutra Correias were related. I have heard of some Dutra Correias in the Tracy-Patterson area, but my father never mentioned them. They are probably descendents of one of my great-grandfather's other brothers.

My father had a first cousin named Anna Correia who married a Joe Caldeira. They lived near Concord and had two sons, Joe and Lawrence. Anna was the daughter of Francisco Dutra Correia and Anna Vargas and had grown up next door to my father on the road called Ramada da Lombega in Castelo Branco.

After my father had repaid his sister and brother-in-law, he went inland to find work on the dairies in the Los Banos area of Merced County. By 1918, he had his own dairy business on the Twin Barns Ranch on Highway 32 near Volta.

       II

A mile east of this ranch, also known as the Alice White property, was the Los Banos Creek Ranch where my mother's family was running a small dairy operation.

The first Cotta to come to America, who was a relative of mine, was Antonio Coelho Cotta, my grandfather. He was an illegal alien who was smuggled into Providence, Rhode Island. He came from the village of Doze Ribeiras in Terceira. Vavo became a citizen after a few years, sponsored by his American employers, and went back to the Azores Islands to marry his sweetheart, Maria do Rosario Linhares.

My Linhares relatives lived on the Caminho De Cima in Doze Ribeiras. My great-grandfather was a Mendonca and her relatives lived in nearby Santa Barbara. We had several Mendonca second cousins in the Los Banos area.

After their marriage, my Cotta grandparents came to America to settle in Massachusetts. Their honeymoon was the month-long trip on the sailing ship Dom Manuel in March or April of 1900.

They worked on a farm in Massachusetts where my Uncle Tony Cotta was born in December of 1900. A few years later, my grandmother went back to the Azores to visit her family and stayed for five years. In 1903, my mother was born in Doze Ribeiras and lived there until she was almost five years of age. About 1908, they returned to Massachusetts via Ellis Island where my grandfather (Vavo) met them.

By that time, my grandfather was working on a railroad gang repairing roadbeds, and had rented the upper floor of a house on Pearl Street in Mattapoisett. They lived in Massachusetts until March, 1914, when they took the train to Volta, California. The money my grandmother had earned doing odd jobs, such as a cranberry picker, laundress, and kitchen maid for seven years, paid for their trip and start in dairy business.

My grandfather apparently had an older half-brother whose last name was Bento. My mother was in touch with two female cousins who were probably his children; Serafina Airozo of Visalia, who lived on Linda Vista Drive, and Delfina Lemos who lived on East Cameron Street in Hanford, California. There was also a Manuel Bento Sousa who was a relative -- or was he Manuel Sousa Bento? He worked for my father for a few months during the 'thirties.

She also was in touch with various Linhares cousins in Massachusetts, because her uncles Frank, John, Manuel, and Jesse had all settled there.

            III
My parents met in the Los Banos area in 1918 or 1919. They were married in Newman in May, 1920. The Crows Landing Dutra Correias were their sponsors and gave the wedding feast.

In 1920, my father went into partnership with my Cotta grandfather. Now he had two dairy businesses; the one with multiple partners on the Twin Barns Ranch and the smaller one with my grandfather. The latter was moved to Gustine in 1922 where they lived for five years on the Andrew Silva ranch on Carnation Road.

In  1927, the partnership was dissolved and we moved back to my father's original business, Frank Correia Company. He ran a business at that location until 1940, although it was now Correia Brothers. This partnership with his brother, Antone, ended in 1934.

When my father died in 1945 at the age of 49, he was president of the Los Banos Dairymen's Association, a co-operative creamery; president of the California Dairymen's Union; and chairman of the Farm-Labor-Consumer Committee to Control Inflation.

My mother outlived him by 45 years and had a whole different life until she died at 87. For twelve years she worked for Dr. Pimentel as a nurse's aide, and then remarried. Her second husband was John (Jack) Faria. She outlived him by twelve years, dying in 1990.

In my book, A Barrelful of Memories: Stories of My Azorean Family, you can read about the joys, sorrows, and humorous adventures of these two families as they leave their island homes and try to make their way to America, and their lives during World War I, the Twenties, and the Great Depression of the Thirties. You may contact me for additional family information or copies of my book.

       Submitted by:
       Pauline Correia Stonehill
       4920 Anna Dr.
       San Jose, CA  95124-5140
 
 
 

8. Antonio Fialho

Salao to Sunol
A Brief History of Antonio Fialho

Antonio da Rosa Fialho was just fifteen when he decided it was time to leave his home village of Salao near Cedros, Faial and join those already starting the migration to the New World. This was 1866 and the central Portuguese government was moving to increase the size of the Portuguese armed forces and draft more young men into the military. As Antone would later tell, it was a choice between being drafted or signing up on one of the many whaling ships moving through the Azores and take his chances in the New World. Of course, he chose the latter and started a one to two year journey that eventually took him to the San Francisco Bay of California.

The Salao/Cedros region of Faial was well known at that time as a farming and cattle raising area and in 1867, near the time that Antonio left, a census of farm animals noted 2600 cattle, 16,400 sheep, 400 goats, and 650 pigs. This was the business of the Fialho and Marianna Thomasia, both of families with long histories in that part of Faial.

His journey on the whaling ship took him down the east side of South America, through the Straits of Magellan, up the west coasts of South, Central and North America. It may have been an interesting trip but it had its trials and hardships. Antone told of being ordered up the main mast during terrible weather with threats of climb or get thrown overboard. The Portuguese government had been given permission to hunt the highly prized California whale so San Francisco Bay was a natural stopping place for repairs and resupplying.

It was while berthed in the South Bay that Antonio made another decision about life. He decided to leave the whaling business. This didn't quite have the blessing of the ship's captain so Antonio headed for the hills above Mission San Jose, perhaps traveling as far as the area north of Livermore. In the process, Antonio da Rosa Fialho became Antone Silver, as indicated by the 1870 census, and even later, Antone Silva.

Some time prior to 1870 Antone took a job as a farm laborer with Charles Wahaub who, at the time, had a ranch on the Vallecitos road about three miles east of Sunol. How long he worked for the Wahaubs is not known but it started a relationship that was to last for years. One story is that he quickly went into business for himself cutting and selling wood to the local ranchers eventually saving enough money to buy land in the Twin Peaks area near what is now the Calavaras Reservoir.

He started the cattle raising business and by the time he married Maria de Ceo Simas on July 14, 1881 was known as a fairly well off cattle rancher owning about three sections of land in the hills above Sunol plus some smaller properties and two saloons in the town of Pleasanton. Maria, like Antone, was from the Azores but had been born in nearby Lajes do Pico, Pico on July 24, 1864. Thus, Maria was just ten days short of being seventeen when she married Antone in the St. Joseph Cathedral in San Jose, California. Maria's parents, at the time of their marriage in 1863 had the rather unmanageable names of Francisco de Simas da Silveira and Maria Rita Coracao de Jesus Pereira. Deferring to a simpler name Maria adopted the maiden name of Mary Simas.

Antone and Mary lived most of their early married lives in their mountain home. Antone spent so much time there that he became known to his business associates as Antone da Serra, i.e., Antone of the mountains. Seven children were born there, Mary, Manuel, Anthony, Rosa, Francis, John, and Helena. All went well until 1894 when, in a tragic four month period three of the children, Rosa, John, and Helena, contracted diphtheria and died. Within a year the family had bought and moved to a 110 acre farm in the Sunol valley just across Highway 680 from the Sunol golf course. In Sunol, two additional children were born, another John in 1897 and finally, my father, Joseph in 1898.

Even though Antone loved the mountains, he could be quite social and never let a visitor leave his home without serving up some of his homemade wine. In fact, if the visitor said the right things, he would often return home with a couple of gallons of Antone's finest. When Joseph was older, wine making became his special task and, to this day, can describe in great detail the process he used in making the 100 gallon batches. On February 14, 1897 Antone became member number 77 of the Mission San Jose Council No. 10 of the U.P.E.C. He used his birth name of Antonio Fialho and indicated his age as 43 years, within one year of his actual age and closer than any other he gave during his life in the U.S. An interesting point is that each succeeding U.S. census added more than the usual ten years to Antone's age so that by the time he died in 1940 he had "achieved" the grand age of 97 years even though his real age was ten years less.

The family continued their ranching and farming ways in Sunol. By this time, Antone had acquired a fair amount of farming equipment and supplemented the family income by harvesting other farmers' crops, sometimes as far away as Half Moon Bay. This was mostly conducted by the children and Joseph remembers making the day long trip across the bay with the harvest machine and the haybailer.

Mary never did quite recover from the loss of her three children and after an extended period of illness died on November 23, 1907 of an unspecified lung disease. She was forty-three years old and Joseph, her youngest child, was just eleven days short of his ninth birthday. Mary, joined later by Antone, is buried in the St. Joseph Cemetery in Mission San Jose (Fremont, California). Joseph's sister, Mary took on the responsibility of raising the younger children.

Six of Antone and Mary's nine children lived to adulthood and spent most of their early lives in the Sunol area. Some followed the farming and ranching ways of their father but generally most went on to other occupations. For example, Anthony became the fire chief of the volunteer fire brigade in Sunol; John became a mechanic, at one point owning his own garage and repair shop in Sunol and Joseph did road maintenance for Alameda County as a grader operator. Joseph is the last living child and lives with his wife Marjorie in Newark, California. He is now 98 and at his birth on December 4, 1997 will turn 99. Joseph has two children, William and Barbara who are both married with two children each and who live in the Fremont/Livermore area.

Antone and Mary brought their heritage and culture to the new world with them but like so many Portuguese immigrants made the necessary adjustments during their time here. Antone spoke three languages fluently, Portuguese, English, and Spanish. These were the languages he needed to live successfully in his new home. Antone was not literate, his will is marked with an "x" , but he and Mary made certain their children took advantage of the educational opportunities of their adopted country. Their children and all who followed reaped the benefits of this insightful attitude.

       Submitted by:
       William J. Silver
       2142 Mercury Road
       Livermore, CA
       94550
 
 
 
 

9. Rosa d'Avila Garcia (Rose Davis)

My mother told me an interesting thing that happened to her that I'll relate.

Her name was Rosa d'Avila Garcia. Years earlier an uncle had immigrated and d'Avila Garcia was a mouthful so the men on the ship called him Davis and that name stuck and other family members that immigrated adopted the name Davis as their own. So Mother's American name was Rose Davis.

She arrived in Providence, R.I. on the ship Madonna on July 31, 1911. With her was her mother, Maria Joaquina; father, Antao; and brother, Manuel.

Rose was born February 20, 1902 in Ribeirenha, Pico making her almost 9 1/2 years old when she emigrated. She remembered how deathly ill all the passengers were on the rough sea.

but the story . . . she had never seen nor ever tasted bananas and during the train ride from R.I. to Clarksburg, CA, she ate one. Loved it so she stuffed herself with more and of course ended up a very sick girl.

Her parents told her that until she was four years old she never spoke a single sound or word and sometime after her fourth birthday she just started talking. Her father always told her that once she started talking, she never stopped.

When she was just sixteen years old her parents arranged her marriage to her first cousin against her will. (I was from her second husband.) Her husband was a thirty-three year old bachelor and she said that at the time of her marriage she was just a girl and this first cousin was an "old man". It lasted a long sixteen unhappy years.

I just had to write what she told me.

       Submitted by:
       Barbara Spiersch
       1445 Earl Dr.
       Reno, NV  89503
 
 

 
10. Alfred L. Leal

This is My Story
       by
Alfred L. Leal

I, Alfred L. Leal, also known as just, Al Leal, have a story to tell about my parents who were Portuguese immigrants. I was born in Selma, California on October 2, 1925, the last of six children. My father was John Lear Sr. who was born April 11, 1886 and my mother, Minnie (Fulimania) Rogers or Rodrigues, was born February 19, 1897. I believe the name Rodrigues was shortened to Rogers. My father was born in the town of Sao Joao on the island of Pico in the Azores Islands. My mother was born in San Luis Obispo, California and later went back to the Azores with her father when she was a young girl. My grandfather was named Joaquin Manuel Leal and was born April 14, 1849 also in the same town as was his wife Rosa Emilio "Margarida" Gregorio, my grandmother. Dad's father was a mill operator/owner and lived high on the island's peak in order to take advantage of the favorable winds to operate his mill. My father, John, had four brothers (three of whom were named Manuel but only one Manuel survived). His brother Manuel, the only survivor, was the last of the Manuels to be born. It was customary to choose the same name for  those who later survived. Two brothers Antonio/Antone or Tony, was the first of the boys to be born on December 7, 1875 and Manuel was born on November 29, 1883. My dad, John, was the last of the boys to be born on April 11, 1886. There were four sisters in my father's family: Maria Rosa (Mary) Leal the first to be born on October 13, 1873, Clara Margarida Leal, born February 14, 1880, and Maria Da Navidade Leal was born December 30, 1888. Oh! I forgot, Rita Conceigao Leal was born on October 1, 1877. Maria was the only one to remain in the Azores of all the children until her death in 1981, at the age of 93. All of the other children migrated to the USA and settled in the Selma/Caruthers area in the state of California. There is little or nor record of my mother's family at this time.

As was said before, I was the youngest of six children, five boys and one girl, to be born to my father John Leal Sr. and my mother Minnie Rogers, October 2,  1925 in Selma, California. John Leal Jr. was the first of the boys to be born on January 20, 1917 in Selma, California as were all of the Leal family. Joseph (Joe) Leal, the second eldest boy was born August 1918, and Joaquin (Jack) Leal, now deceased, was born July 1919. Next in line was my only sister, Mary Leal Yost, who was born October 9, 1921. Next was my older brother, Louis, who was born July 1925. Last to born of course was me, Alfred (Al) born October 1925. I will start with the oldest of the Leal family, John Jr. who is now 81 years old and tell a little of each and their families. John married Jessica Amarino of Selma, California and they had one daughter Cheryl Ann Leal who is presently not married and does not have a family at this time. His wife Jessica is now deceased, after spending years in a veterans hospital in the San Francisco Bay Area and was buried in Selma, California in 1995. My brother John, is now in a nursing home near the town of Easton, California. The second eldest brother is Joseph "Joe" Leal who lives in Selma, California. Joe married Emily Alves of Caruthers, California and they have two children, Rose-Marie Leal and Richard Leal. Rosemarie married Michael Collins of Fresno and they have two boys Thomas Collins and Chad Collins. Neither are married or have children at this time. Rose-Marie has a second marriage to John Grossi, but have no children from this marriage. Richard Leal, who is deceased, married Louise Gavagrosa and had three children, Jennifer, Gail, and James. Next in line is Joaquin "Jack" Leal, named for his grandfather and married Evelyn Machado of Lemoore, California. and they had two sons, Charles and David Leal. Neither are married or have children at this time. Next is my sister Mary Leal Yost who married Victor Yost of Sanger, California and they had two children Linda Yost and Michael Yost. Both are teachers in high school and in college. Linda is single and lives in Visalia, California and Michael is married and has two adopted children and lives in the state of Washington. Victor Yost is deceased and Mary Leal Yost lives in Sanger. Next is Louis Leal who was in the land leveling business in the Hanford/Lemoore area. He married Mary Silago of Tulare, California and they have one son, Robert. Robert married Mary Maciel of Laton, California and they have four children, Jimmy, Stacie, Dannell, and Chad. All are presently in school. Mary Silva Leal, his first wife, is deceased and Louis remarried and is living in Hanford, California.

Last of course was me. Alfred (Al) Leal from Fresno, California and the youngest of the Leal family. Being the youngest of a family of six children, especially during the depression and being raised during this period was quite an ordeal. My father lost his ranch and had to earn a living as a share-cropper, a carpenter, and farm laborer. Before the start of WW II he was able to rent ranches and farm in some very difficult times. My oldest brother John, was not able to go to high school as he had to work and help my dad. He also was in the CCCs and later was drafted in the military. Brothers Joe, Jack, and Louis were not able to finish high school during these very difficult times. After the war, Jack served in the Army and I was able to finish high school. I enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1943 and became a cadet in the flying training program. I complete my training and served as a B-25 pilot until 1945 - but did not serve overseas. I served in Air Force Reserve until 1979 and retired as a Lt. Col. Under the G.I. Bill I was able to go to college and work part-time. I received my B.A. in 1949 and did graduate work in 1949-50. I also did part-time grad work finishing my M.A. in 1967.

I married Jo Ann Webb in June of 1951. We had three children, Michael Allen Leal, born October 9, 1952, Debbie Ann Leal born September 15, 1959, and son Mark John Leal was born September 24, 1961. I retired from teaching in 1984 and my wife Jo Ann retired from Sears, Roebuck & Co. in 1993 and we now reside in Fresno, California. That is my side of the story of the Leal family who migrated from the island of Pico in the Azores to the USA. Special Note: My cousin, Ron Silveira, has written about his side of the Leal family. His grandmother, Clara, Leal Silveira Sebastian, was my dad's sister, born Clara Margarita Leal, February 14, 1880 in the Azores. Also many thanks to Ron Silveira on his work with the genealogy for our families.

       Submitted by:
       Alfred L. Leal
       1169 E. Walthen Ave.
       Fresno, CA  93710
 
 
 
 
 
11. Thomas Leal

This is my Story. I am Dorothy Leal Potts, the granddaughter of Thomas Leal. I was born in Port Costa, California in 1929. I have been living in Rodeo, California since I was 4 months old. I married Frank Potts in 1950, and we have 3 children. I worked in the library for the City of Richmond for 25 years before I retired in 1993.

Thomas Leal Ferreira came to the United States in 1906 from Praya do Norte, Faial. He stayed for a short time in Providence, Rhode Island, probably where his brother was living. His brother, Antonio, was a skilled carpenter. He helped build "Our Lady of the Rosary" Church in Providence. Thomas came to California and worked as a laborer in the north central area, including short time in Colusa. In 1915 he sent for his three oldest children: Maria and Jose first, then Francisco. Thomas moved to the Crockett area where he had a dairy ranch and raised pigs in the place called Eckely, between Port Costa and Crockett. He was living on the ranch in 1920 when he sent for his youngest son, Antonio Leal. He did not bring his wife and three other daughters to the United States. He said girls gave too much trouble. Antonio, better known as Tony, worked with his father on the ranch delivering milk to Crockett and Port Costa and thrashing hay for farmers in the area.

In 1927 Tony married Isabel Marshall of Port Costa. Her parents were Joao Machado, known then as John Marshall, of Ribeira Seca, Sao Jorge and Emilia de Mello of Porto Formoso, Sao Miguel. She was known as Amelia. Amelia's father was a very poor farmer with a small piece of land in Porto Formoso. All the Machado brothers changed their name to Marshall when they came to the United States.

John came to the United States on the SS Olinda's last voyage in 1895. He was so sick,  he pledged $100 to the Holy Ghost if he got to the United States safely. He lived in Massachusetts, in the Fall River and New Bedford area, where his sister Guilhermina Augusta da Silva was living. Their mother, Isabel Augusta  deAvila, was from a middle class family in Ribeira Seca. Their father, also named Joao, came from Sao Miguel to Sao Jorge and worked as a farmhand in Velas. Their mother worked for a well-to-do family in Velas. Joao and Isabel were married in Velas in 1872.

Amelia came to the United States in 1899 with her brother Francisco to Fall River, Massachusetts. John and Amelia were married in Fall River in 1901. Amela's brother Frank and John's sister Maria were also married in Fall River in 1901. John and Amelia came to California in 1903. They had 10 children. Their oldest son, John, drowned when he was 4 years old. John was a deckhand on the Southern Pacific train ferries. These ferries, largest in the world, carried full trains across the bay between Port Costa and Benicia, California. The last ferry sailed out of Port Costa in 1930.

Tony and Isabel moved from the ranch in 1929 to Rodeo, California. In 1934, Tony with the help of his father and friends, built his home in Rodeo. He lived in the that house until he died at the age of 91, in 1991. He worked for the California and Hawaiian Sugar Refinery for 30 years. Tony and Isabel had three daughters who still live in Rodeo. They are Agnes, Dorothy and June.

Thomas' son Francisco, known as Frank, married Deolinda Carrea of Luz, Graciosa and they had 3 sons, Thomas, Calvin and Lawrence, and one daughter who died at the age of seven. Thomas worked for Sugar City Building Materials Co. in Crockett. He is now retired. Calvin was an electrician for the California and Hawaiian Sugar Refinery. He is now retired. He lives in Rodeo in the house his Father  built. Lawrence worked in the probation department for Contra Costa County. Thomas and Lawrence live in Crockett. Frank has his own wood and coal business. He had the first Christmas tree lot in Rodeo and Crockett.

Thomas' daughter Maria married Manoel Lawrence and lived in Berkeley, California where they raised their one daughter Martha. Martha married Warren Schiff, who was a college professor in Worchester, Massachusetts.

Thomas' son Joe married Elvera Davilla of a well known family living in San Pablo, California. When Tony left the ranch, Joe took over the dairy business with his father. Thomas couldn't get along with Joe's wife and soon left the ranch to do odd labor jobs in the Bay Area. Joe and Elvera raised two daughters and one son. Their daughter Eleanor lived in the valley. She is now deceased. Their son Norman Leal lives in Sunnyvale, California. When the dairy business become poor, Joe and Elvera moved to Manteca, California where they raised sweet potatoes and watermelons.

Thomas returned to Praya do Norte in 1934 to spend the rest of his days with his wife and daughters. His wife was Ignacia Francisca, the daughter of Francisco Silveira Duarte and Maria Ignacia de Silva of Capelo, Faial. Ignacia was born in Praya do Norte in 1863. Thomas and Ignacia lived in the section called Praya de Cima. The road where their house was located led down to the beach. Only a rock wall covered with vines remains of the house. Ignacia lived only two years after Thomas returned to the Islands. Thomas lived with his daughter Amelia in his house until he died after the big earthquake of 1957.

Thomas and his sons just used the name Leal. The Ferreira was dropped. Thomas was the last male Leal Ferreira in Praya do Norte. Thomas was born in Praya do Norte in 1871, the youngest of five children of Jose Leal Ferreira, Jr. (yes, his birth record says Jr) and Ignacia Francisca de Andrade. Ignacia was the daughter of Jose Dutra de Andrade and Maria Angelica Moitoso of Capelo. Jose and Ignacia had three daughters and two sons. Jose who was born in Capelo in 1829, was the grandson of Manoel Leal Ferreira who was born in the place of Sao Joao, Pico in 1756. Manoel was a delivery man between the middle islands of Pico, Faial and Graciosa. His boat was large with six oars. Manoel married Ignacia Maria, daughter of Jose Garcia Pereira and Maria deRosa of Capelo in 1803. They lived in Capelo the rest of their days. Manoel and Ignacia had five sons and two daughters.

Manoel was the great grandson of Pedro Leal Ferreira and Maria Gularte. Records seem to indicate they were from Lajes, Pico. They moved to Sao Joao before their son, Pedro was born in 1679.

Manoel's oldest son Jose was born in Capelo in 1803. He married Ann Maria Silveira de Avila, daughter of Francisco Pereira de Faria and Ignacia Rosa, in 1826. They lived in Capelo until around 1840, when they moved to Praya do Norte with their family of one son and four daughters. Ignacia was a very common name in Faial.

Manoel's parents were Francisco Leal Ferreira and Rita Maria. Both were from the parish of Sao Joao, Pico. Rita was 14 years younger than Francisco, who was born in 1717. They had 10 children; six sons and four daughters. Francisco died in 1802 in Sao Joao at the age of 85.

Francisco's father was also named Francisco. He married Maria da Rosario, daughter of Joao Martins and Maria Gularte of Sao Joao, in 1708. They had ten children; six sons and four daughters.

Franciso was the son of Pedro Leal Ferreira and Maria Gularte. Records seem to indicate Francisco was from the parish of Santissima Trinidade of Lajes, Pico, as were his brother Manoel and sister Maria.

Pedro's son Manoel married Catarina Rosa in 1696 in Sao Joao, Pico. His daughter Maria married Joao Garcia Sarmento in 1687 in Sao Joao, and his son Pedro married Maria Isabel Garcia in 1704, also in Sao Joao.

       Submitted by:
       Dorothy Potts
       1120 4th St.
       Rodeo, CA  94572-1535
 
 

 
 
12. Candido Machado Luis

Candido Machado Luis
 (1856-1933)
 The Life of an Azorean Immigrant in Marin and Sonoma Counties, California

Candido Machado Luis began his life on an island in the  Azores in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. He was born in the parish of Ribeira Seca on the island of Sao Jorge (Saint George), where his family had lived for many generations, at least as far back as the late 1600s. Candido was born July 16, 1856, the last born of his family.(1) In 1872, when he was 16 years old, he left his homeland, like his brothers Frank (three years older) and Manuel (five years older), and headed for the U.S.(2) He left behind he parents, two brothers and two sisters, and his childhood sweetheart Rosa Faustina Azevedo. Rosa's family was just as longstanding in Ribeira Seca, and they attended the same parish as the Luises. (3)

For the next five years Candido worked and remained single. He learned to speak a foreign language, English, so he could communicate with those around him. He also learned the habits and customs of the Anglo-American culture around him, different in so many ways from those of his homeland.

Candido eventually settled in Marin County, California. After many years of separation, Rosa and her family immigrated too, arriving also in Marin County.(4) Candido and Rosa were married in 1883, the year after her arrival, when he was 27, she 26.(5)

Census records locate Candido's brothers Frank and Manuel in California also. Frank, a dairy farmer, lived in Marin County from at least 1880 through 1910.(6) By 1920, when he was in his 60s, he had moved north to Glenn County.(7) Manuel seems to have settled first in the Sausalito area, from about 1880 through 1900, then later in Hanford,  Kings County near Fresno, by 1910 and until 1920.(8)

A family sending at least three of its young men to the U.S. must have been a dramatic event. It was not unusual, however, as the political situation in the Azores, as well as the rest of Portugal, was difficult at best for the common people from the early 19th century on. The then current government had dismantled the power of the Catholic Church, thereby doing away with the main provider of education for the people. The old system of nobility was abolished in favor of a new one with a greatly expanded noble class which needed far more of the resources of the common people than before. The gap between the rich and poor, the educated few and the illiterate masses was enormous; voting rights were strictly limited; forced labor was common.(9) Certainly there were stories brought to the Azores of a better, or at least different, life in other countries visited by traders and fishermen. Up to 200,000 natives of the Azores left for the U.S. in the course of the 19th century.(10) Like them the Luis family probably had envisioned more opportunity for their sons if they embarked for the U.S.

The official means of emigrating was to procure legal permission to leave the islands, but this, and the money to buy passage on a ship, was generally not available to the common man. It was more likely that a young man would sign on with a Massachusetts whaling ship and then abandon the job in Massachusetts or on the California coast. He might also sail by cod fishing ship from the Azores to the western North Atlantic. Sometimes passage was purchased by the family for one member, who would then send back money for others to follow.(11) It seems likely, for several reasons, that Candido arrived by fishing boat. Preliminary searches of official ships' passenger lists for ports in Massachusetts, New York, and California have turned up no Candido Luis.(12) It is said that Candido's sister's husband owned a boat and that he brought people to the U.S. to Boston, from the Azores. He would have brought Candido to join his brother Frank, who was already in the U.S.(13) Finally, a Manuel Lewis who may well be Candido's older brother, listed in a census that this eldest child was born in Massachusetts, while the others were all born in California. This supports the idea that he, and maybe his brother, journeyed first to Massachusetts before their trek west.(14)

Stories of gold may have brought young Candido to California. His eldest daughter told that when he first came to California he went to Plumas County, where his brother Frank lived, to try his hand at mining. At the time the area was well known for gold mining. Later he worked in Marin County, California milking cows to supply the demand for milk in the growing city of San Francisco. He also hired on as a foreman in Novato, plowing marshland and creating fields for farming.(15)

Candido and Rosa lived in Novato at the time of their marriage. For the next twenty years they raised their family and moved from one farm to another, either in Marin or Sonoma County. It seems that, true to the custom of the time, they would rent a ranch for two or three years, then move to bigger or better one for a few more years until they were able to rent an even better one.(16)

Four of Candido's first five children, Louis, Mary, Marion, and Joe, were baptized at Mission San Rafael Arcangel in San Rafael, indictating that he lived in eastern Marin County at that time, 1884 to 1891. When he registered to vote in 1888 he was working as a dairyman in Gallinas, about two miles north of the current site of the Marin County Civic Center.(17) Two years later daughter Lillian was born in 1890 at Black Point, farther north, at the mouth of the Petaluma River.(18) Just the next year son Joseph was born at Nicasio in the middle of Marin County.(19)

Births of the last four children indicate more moves. Son Candido claimed he was born in 1893 on a ranch west of San Rafael (which may have been where his older brother Joseph was born, too).(20) The Luis family then moved to Sonoma County for a time and lived on Old Adobe Road, where son John was born in 1896(21) and perhaps daughter Julia in 1897.(22) The last two children, daughters Julia and Rosa, were both baptized in the Church of the Assumption of Mary in Tomales (1900 and 1903, respectively).(23)

The Luis family stayed in the Tomales area for a longer stretch than any of the previous residences. They were there in 1900,(24) and the 1910 census shows that they rented a ranch in the vicinity of Petaluma and Fallon Roads.(25) Daughter Julia graduated from Aurora Grammar School in Tomales around 1911.(26)

In the course of all the pregnancies and child rearing and moving from ranch to ranch, Rosa developed terminal breast cancer. Her death was surrounded by events that left indelible impressions on her family. The great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 struck on April 18. The Lewis family resided within a few miles of the epicenter, and the chimney fell off their house. On April 21, three days after the devastating tremor, Rosa died at age 48.(27) Her passing left Candido with nine children, the youngest under three years old. The ground shook, the chimney fell off the house, and the mother of Candido's children had died.

With several children of age and having left home, Candido rented another ranch on Old Adobe Road in the Sonoma Mountains near Petaluma, in Sonoma County, where he was renting a dairy.(28) Finally, on October 13, 1920, well after the passing of his wife, and when all his children except the eldest son Louis had left home, Candido purchased a ranch in Sonoma County, just across the Petaluma River from Black Point in Marin County. It was valued, according to the revenue stamps paid, at $25,000.00. Candido bought the land form the adult children of a family in New York. The deed describes the purchase as two tracts, one of 140 acres of arable land inside the levee, and another of 305 acres of arable land, including a wharf, warehouse and creamery with all its fixtures.(29)

This was Twin House Ranch, aptly named for its farmhouse which appeared to be two identical house side by side and connected together. It was a spread of 445 acres bounded on the south by the Petaluma River. Official surveys give its exact dimensions, but the stories of Candido's grandchildren tell the truth about it as they knew it in the 1920s. They visited, all of them, with their families, at least once a year, around Grandfather's birthday in July. They drove along the levee, where the road was banked and it felt like the car might roll over into the ditch. They were met by grandfather's dogs, barking wildly and maybe one running alongside the car. The kitchen had clean bare wood floors, with salami hanging to cure. The smell of delicatessen permeated the room.(30)

The wharf at Twin Houses jutted out into the Petaluma River. Candido's eldest son would bait a large hook in the evening, then leave the line out all night, and have a nice big bass in the morning.(31) The grandchildren generally played between the house and the wharf, which had no railing. Falling off meant sink or swim, so the wharf was off limits. Not off limits enough, though, to keep them from venturing out to test their luck in forbidden territory.(32)

Candido initiated one granddaughter to the "terrible" taste of red wine, which he kept in the tank house. During Prohibition he grew grapes and fermented  his own wine. He was known to drink a lot, and when he and other men in the family were drinking, the children didn't go into the house.(33) Another story tells that when he had been drinking too much he would lie in the street drunk in Petaluma. The old timers would pick him up, throw him in the back of his wagon and slap the horses, when knew to carry him home.(34) He apparently took to drinking after Rosa's death.(35)

As a person Candido Luis was a tall man with a big voice. His generosity showed in offering his grandchildren rabbits or even a goat.(36) At the same time, he occasionally had little patience with his own children. One daughter remembers crawling under the table, thus provoking her father to pull her ear until it bled.(37) Candido had a unique approach to making insurance payments. A nephew, whose father collected the annual fee for I.D.E.S., the Portuguese insurance association, remembers accompanying his father to Twin Houses to request payment. His father explained that Candido Luis never paid in advance, as was customary, for the year to come; he paid for the year just finished!(38)

Candido's arrival in the U.S. coincided with the onset of a large influx of immigrants from southern Europe, Latin peoples from Portugal and Italy. While immigrants from Anglo-Saxon and Germanic groups had been arriving for many generations and were easily integrated into the American populace, there was resistance to these newcomers, who, it was felt, differed so significantly in their ways and customs from the norm. They were lazy and uneducated, often even illiterate, and of a lower class. Furthermore, it was known that the Azores was settled by "undesirables" from mainland Portugal. It was their descendants who were, in the period 1870 to 1910, making themselves known in California.(39) Against this backdrop of mistrust and bigotry, Candido, first alone, then with Rosa, set about to make a life for himself and his family.

Certainly discrimination affected the Luis family. Even to mature adulthood daughter Julia only reluctantly admitted her Portuguese roots. She claimed instead to be French, still Latin, but more acceptable in her mind, and she chose to marry a man of English descent.(40) Many efforts were made to integrate into American culture. Candido became a naturalized citizen and anglicized the spelling of his last name; the children all went to school and learned to read, write and speak English; and the family farm, rather than handouts, sustained them all. This fits the pattern of early immigrants from the Azores, whose first generation farmer settlers rented the land, worked hard, saved their money, then bought land of their own.(41)

Candido Luis, native of the Azores Islands, citizen of the U.S., dairy farmer, grandfather, died at the hospital in Petaluma on January 9, 1933 at age 77. The official cause of death was leucoplakia of the gums and carcinoma of the jaw.(42) Leucoplakia is a treatable condition more often affecting the elderly. It is caused by smoking or chewing tobacco. One of his daughters told that Candido pulled his own teeth, and that this had somehow caused or contributed to his death.(43) His granddaughter, age 12 at the time, remembers that her grandfather chewed tobacco and that something wasn't healing. When Candido was ill, his son-in-law took time between milings to drive his father-in-law by car to the hospital in Petaluma, where he eventually died.(44)

Candido was buried in the Catholic Cemetery in Tomales, next to his wife Rosa who had preceded him there more than 25 years earlier. His estate was administered by eldest son Louis who remained on the farm, operating it temporarily. By his last will and testament, Candido divided his estate among his children as follows: Louis received one-third of the real estate, comprising the Twin House Ranch, as well as all of the personal property (40 hens, a separator, a tow board, 38 tons of hay and the 1934 crop of hay, estimated at 80 tons), plus cash on hand in the amount of $79.37. The remaining two-thirds of the real estate was divided equally among all nine of Candido's children, including Louis.(45) The entire farm was then sold two months later for $13,026.00 and the proceeds distributed as decreed.(46) The other, more valuable part of Candido Lewis' legacy is the memory of this man in the minds of his children and grandchildren, a man who brought the language and ways of his homeland to a new country, faced the challenges its people presented him, and fashioned, in his own way, a new life for himself, his family, and his descendants.

(1) Church records of the Parish of Ribeira Seca, Town of Calleta, Island of Sao Jorge, Azores Islands.
(2) U.S. Census Soundex records for 1900 and/or 1920 give 1872 as the year of immigration for all three. In the 1910 U.S. Census Candido claims to have arrived in 1875, which is consistent with conflicting stories remembered of his having arrived at age 16 or 19.
(3) Pedigree charts of Candido Machado Luis and Rosa Faustino Azevedo prepared in 1989 from parish church records by Jose Leite da Cunha for Alice Streeter Kellar, 2313 Grosse Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95404.
(4) 1900 Census, Marin County, CA, Tomales Township, Supervisor's District no. 3, Enumeration District no. 63, sheet no. 1, p. 93, family no. 16, June 4, 1900.
(5)  Marin County, California, County Recorder's Office, Marriages, Book A, p. 581.
(6) 1880, 1900, 1910 U.S. Census Soundexes, California.
(7) 1920 U.S. Census Soundex, California (Family History Library film no. 182350.
(8) U.S. Census Soundexes for California, 1800, 1900, 1910, and 1920. Preliminary research in census records indicates that this Manuel Lewis immigrated the same year as Candido and Frank Lewis: 1900 U.S. Census Soundex (Family History Library film no. 1242304).
(9) James H. Guill, A History of the Azores Islands (Tulare, CA: Shield International, 1993), p. 352.
(10) Ibid., p. 354.
(11) Ibid, pp. 352-353.
(12)Inquiries with U.S. National Archives Office in Boston, New York, and San Bruno, CA by Alice Streeter Kellar, 1995.
(13) A story told to Alice Streeter Kellar by her aunt Mary Lewis Machado in a 1967 telephone conversation. Alice's mother Julia Lewis Streeter told the same story.
(14) 1900 U.S. Census Soundex, California. The 1910 and 1920 census Soundexes list Manuel with another wife, Mary, who who also born in Massachusetts. Note: the family connection of this Manuel is fairly certain, but not absolutely proved yet.
(15) Story told to Alice Streeter Kellar by Mary Lewis Mancebo, 1967.
(16) Lois Mello La Franchi to Alice Streeter Kellar, telephone conversation April 29, 1996.
(17) Great Register of Marin County, Year 1890.
(18) Lois Mello LaFranchi to Alice Streeter Kellar, April 19, 1996.
(19) San Rafael, CA, Mission San Rafael Arcangel, Church Records 1817-1907, p. 109 (Family History Library film no. 0909236.
(20) Kandido Rufus Lewis, Delayed certificate of Birth, Marin County, CA, County Recorder, no. 098589, May 1957 (Family History Library film no. 1295780, item 5).
(21) Paul Lewis to Alice Streeter Kellar, date unknown.
(22) Floyd Irving Streeter telepone conversation with Judy Kellar Fox, July 5, 1995.
(23) Certificates of Baptism, Church of the Assumption of Mary, Tomales, CA 94971-0082.
(24) 1900 U.S. Census, Marin County, CA, Tomales Township, op. cit.
(25) 1910 U.S. Census, Marin County, CA, Tomales Township, Supervisor's District no. 2, Enumberation District no. 53, sheet no. 6B, family no. 90, April 22, 1910.
(26) Floyd Irving Streeter telephone conversation with Judy Kellar Fox, July 5, 1995.
(27) Marin County, CA, County Recorder, Certificate of Death, no. 44, filed May 24, 1906; age determined from birth record, Parish of Ribeira Seca, Island of Sao Jorge, Azores Islands.
(28) 1920 U.S. Census, Sonoma County, CA, Vallejo Township, Supervisor's District no. 1, Enumeration District no. 165, sheet 5B, p. 291, family no. 116, February 18, 1920.
(29) Sonoma County, CA, Recorder's Office, P.O. Box 6124, Santa Rosa, CA 95406, Deed Book 391, pp. 158-160.
(30) Alice Streeter Kellar, written reminiscences of her grandfather Candido Lewis, July 1994.
(31) Gene Mello (grandson), as told to Judy Kellar Fox, June 1996.
(32) Louis Mello LaFranchi (granddaughter), as told to Judy Kellar Fox, June 1996; Alice Streeter Kellar, written reminiscences, op. cit.
(33) Alice Streeter Kellar, written reminiscences, op. cit.
(34) Floyd Irving Streeter (grandson), telephone conversation with Judy Kellar Fox, July 16, 1994.
(35) Floyd Irving Streeter, video interview with Judy Kellar Fox, July 20, 1994.
(36) Ibid.
(37) Julia Lewis Streeter, as told to Judy Kellar Fox during yer youth.
(38) Tony Azevedo (nephew), as told to Judy Kellar Fox, June 1996.
(39) Emily Yates Mowry, "Portuguese Colonies of California," Out West 1(January 1911), p. 114.
(40) Julia Lewis Streeter, as told to her granddaughter Judy Kellar Fox in childhood.
(41) Emily Yates Mowry, op. cit., p. 116.
(42) Sonoma County, CA, County Recorder, Certificates of Death, no. 6, filed January 10, 1933.
(43) Julia Lewis Streeter as told to Judy Kellar Fox, about 1962.
(44) Alice Streeter Kellar as told to Judy Kellar Fox , June 20, 1996.
(45) "Order Settling Final Account and Decree of Distribution", filed August 24, 1934, Sonoma
County, CA, County Recorder, Deed Book, no. 371, pp. 33-36.
(46) Indenture of October 4, 1934, Sonoma County, CA Recorder, Deed Book, no. 380, pp. 133-134.

       Submitted by:
       Judy Kellar Fox
       9395 SW 190th Ave.
       Aloha, OR  97007
 
 
 

13. Joe Enos Maciel and Anna Francisco Vargas

Jose Ignacio Maciel was born on May 5, 1895 to Antonio Ignacio Maciel and Isabel Augusta Lopes, in Pedro Miguel, Faial. He had one older half-brother, Manuel Ignacio Maciel (November 2, 1884-1954) and two younger siblings, Maria Augusta Lopes (June 24, 1899-196?) and Joao Ignacio Maciel (June 10, 1902-1964). The family lived on the street "Rua Velha" (now Rua do Calvario) on property that is the site of a beautiful old windmill. At the age of 18, Jose took out a passport on June 20, 1913 in order to avoid military service. On the day that Jose left for America, his father arose early and went out to this fields, as he could not say goodbye to this son. He arrived in Providence, Rhode Island on July 12, 1913 aboard the S.S. Madonna, bringing among his few possessions, a cherished Azorean viola that he carried in a rough hewn case. Joe Enos Maciel, as he was soon to be known, caught a train and went to live with a cousin, Maria, who had married Tony Rodrigues in Mission San Jose, California.

Joe first found work as a farm laborer picking apricots. He continued to work on farms in the Mission San Jose and Warm Spring areas, working as a gardener, on haypress teams and doing dairy work. Joe was 6 feet, tall by Azorean standards, and was know for his strength. He acquired the nickname "Jose Grande" because he could often win challenges of strength among the farm hands. He was able to pick up a sack of grain with his teeth and toss it over his shoulder. This nickname followed him to the local "chamarrita" dances where he became well known for playing his viola and singing the Azorean "O Desafio," a spontaneous poetic song contest between two players. Joe's quick wit and tongue gave him a natural advantage in this art.

It was at one of these dances that he met Annie Francisco Vargas (February 10, 1900, Warm Springs, CA) who was one of ten children of Azorean emigrants, Joe Francisco Vargas (August 13, 1860, Castelo Branco, Faial - see story on Joe Francisco Vargas) and Anna Caetana Lourenco, born August 1, 1870, Santa Cruz, Flores. Annie was taken by the handsome viola player and scoffed when he heard her girlfriends refer to him as a "greenhorn". When dancing with Joe, she was quick to tattle on her friends, thereby turning Joe's attentions to herself. This plan worked well for Annie. She saw Joe at church and at chamarritas and he was a visitor to her parents farm with his friend Tony Travassos over a two year period. Joe often rode his motorcycle to the dances. One rainy night he asked
Annie to take viola home for him in order to retrieve his viola, he asked Annie to marry him!

Annie and Joe were married on August 21, 1916 at St. Joseph's Church in Mission San Jose. Annie, ever practical, chose a tailored suit for her wedding outfit. They took the train from Niles to Oakland for a week's honeymoon. Their honeymoon room had a piano which fascinated the 16 year old bride and her 21 year old husband. From Oakland they took a ferry to San Francisco for a day, rode street cars, looked at clothing stores, ate at restaurants . . . all great luxuries to the young farm people. They took a train back to Warm Springs and were disappointed when no one was there to meet them. Their disappointment turned into embarrassment when, as they walked home, they were met by Annie's sisters and brothers who "tin canned" them with a serenade of musical instruments and the banging of pots and pans.

Annie and Joe first lived with Annie's parents in Warm Springs. Joe farmed potatoes with Annie's brothers, Alvino and Joe Vargas, and also worked on a haypress team. Annie worked at the Centerville cannery. In 1917, the young people rented a little house on Ellsworth Street in Mission San Jose and Joe milked cows at the Steven's farm and continued to work on the haypress. The first child, Anita was born on March 4, 1917. After Anita's birth, Annie contributed to the family income by cooking for the haypress team. Annie's mother took care of Anita while the young parents lived in the little portable cookhouse during the haypress season. Annie cooked for about 8 men, among them were Tony Medeiros of Mission San Jose, Frank Serpa of Warm Springs, brothers John and Manuel Andrade of Warm Springs, and her husband Joe.

Annie adhered to a grueling work schedule during the haypress season. She was up by 3:30 to put her coffee on. Between 4 and 5 a.m. the crew at a large breakfast consisting of leftover beans and potatoes, bacon and hot cakes. Annie was off to the fields by 8 a.m. with a snack of rice pudding, muffins and coffee. The men returned to the cookhouse at noon for a hot cooked "dinner". At 4 p.m., Annie returned to the fields with another snack. She would then ride her sulky into town to buy meat and provisions for the next day, returning in time to prepare a hearty meal for the men who came in at 8 or 9 p.m. for their "supper". Portuguese beans, which Annie cooked almost every day for 75 years, were a staple of these meals. The workers slept in tents. Annie and Joe slept on a mattress on the floor of the cookhouse. Annie made $90 a month and Joe made $300
a season. The season lasted 6 weeks to 2 months.

In January 1920, Annie and Joe bought ten acres in Warm Springs on what is now the location of the Franciscan Shopping Center (named for the middle name "Francisco" that Annie, her 9 siblings and her father carried). There they farmed walnuts, apricots and prunes until the spring of 1928. During this time, their children Isabel (August 6, 1923), Tony (October 9, 1925) and Manuel (February 29, 1928) were born. While keeping the Warm Springs property, the family moved to Hidden Valley Ranch (Rancho del Valle Escondido) in the spring of 1928. The ranch, once a popular resort and spa and later owned by Leland Stanford and Frank Kelley, in turn, was purchased by the Sisters of the Holy Name in 1927. Joe and his brother-in-laws Joe F. and Tony F. Vargas share cropped the ranch for the sisters from 1928 to 1940.

The Maciel children grew up on this ranch which they referred to as the "Sister's Ranch", "Hidden Valley" or the "Stanford Ranch". They attended Warm Springs Grammar School while Annie and Joe worked hard through the Depression years. Luxuries were rare as, even on good farming year, the children learned that they must always save up for an inevitable bad year. Newspaper was used for wallpaper and their mattresses were filled with hay which could be refilled when low, or discarded when soiled. Clothing was often made from the material of flour sacks which Annie bought in 100 pound quantities. The family wore their best to church on Sunday and all shoes were polished every Saturday night. The hard work was occasionally interrupted with picnics to Martin's Beach in Half Moon Bay, to
Watsonville, or to Pacific Grove. Joe continued to play his viola at chamarrita house parties with his father-in-law and brothers-in-law who were all musically inclined. The highlight of the year was the Mission San Jose Festa. Anita, Tony, Isabel and Manuel would save up change to indulge themselves in the ultimate treat of pink popcorn and orange sodas.

During there years Joe, who never learned to read or write more than his name, studied hard to become a citizen. Annie, who had lost her citizenship by marrying an alien, helped Joe memorize the information for the citizenship test. Frank Gomes, a roadmaster, from a more prominent local Portuguese family, helped many of the aliens with the citizenship process. Joe was granted U.S. citizenship on November 16, 1928 in Oakland, California. Annie, who was angered that she had lost her citizenship, did not hurry to regain hers. She took the oath of allegiance to the U.S. many years later, on
May 5, 1960 in San Francisco, CA.

Daughter Anita, married Tony DeValle, (born December 2, 1907 in Newark, CA to Azorean emigrant Joe Ignacio DeValle, born August 20, 1871, Castelo Branco, Faial and Minnie Perry, born about 1873 in Watsonville) on January 10, 1937 at St. Joseph's Church in Mission San Jose. The Holy Names Sisters made plans to sell their ranch and the Maciel family moved on, to farm first, the Leal ranch on Driscoll Road, Irvington, in 1940, and then the Hirsch ranch in Warm Springs. Daughter Isabel married Ernest Vargas (born February 7, 1918 in Livermore to Azorean emigrant Manuel Pereira Vargas, see his story, born February 9, 1882 in Castelo Branco, Faial and Rosie Pereira Vargas, born December 8, 1888 in Warm Springs, CA) on September 14, 1941 also at St. Joseph's Church.

In 1945, Joe and Annie and their two sons moved to the Patterson Ranch in Newark. Their daughter Isabel, and their first grandchild, Susan, also made this move with them, as Isabel's husband, Ernie, was in Japan for the occupation. The family moved into the old farm house on the property and share crop farmed for the owners, Will and Henry Patterson. This farm was part of a 6,478 acres amassed by their father, George Washington Patterson, between the years 1856 and 1895, and part of which, is still preserved today as a living museum farm called "Ardenwood". Joe Maciel joined other Portuguese who farmed this large area for the Patterson family. Among them were Henry Andrade (born February 19, 1896 in Decoto to Azorean emigrants John Andrade Macedo of Candelaria, Pico and
Annie Josepha Frances of Feteira, Faial), and Tony Cabral. Joe Maciel took much pride in his farming and was often first to buy whatever new tractor or farm implement that was on the market.

Sons Manuel and Tony joined their father in the farming during the 12 years that they spent in Newark. Tony married May Goularte (born January 6, 1929 in Niles to Azorean emigrants Joaquin Goularte, born February 19, 1887 in Salao, Faial and Adelaide Garcia, born August 23, 1894 in Candelaria, Pico) on November 16, 1947 at St. Joseph's Church in Mission San Jose. Manuel married Evelyn Marie Cardoza (born April 29, 1931 in San Lorenzo to Azorean emigrant Manuel Souza Cardoza, Ribeidas, Pico and Viola Dutra born September 15, 1903, CA) on April 18, 1948, at St. John's in San Lorenzo.

The Patterson ranch had 40 acres of walnuts and many fields that were planted with various crops such as tomatoes, corn, cauliflower and sugar beets. Annie did all of the books and payroll for the operation. She continued to cook her hearty meals on a daily basis, often killing chickens that she raised to accompany her daily beans. A large eucalyptus grove grew on the ranch and many "hobos" took up residence in it. Annie would often provide them with meals when they came begging at her door. Annie and Joe always had a grandchild staying with them during the Patterson years. They were treated to tractor rides with grandpa Joe and each grandchild had a glass jar that was filled by grandma Annie for the grandchildren's farm "labor" wages. Joe suffered a stroke around 1956 which forced him to become an overseer to his sons' work.

While never returning to his native Faial, Joe kept in contact with his siblings by mail and often helped the families by sending clothes and money. After the eruption of the Capelinos volcano on Faial in 1957, Joe sponsored and sent for two of his brother Joao's sons, Silvino and Alberto Maciel and their families, who lived with Joe's daughter Isabel and her husband while they got their start in this country. Eventually Joe's brother Joao, wife Maria, and the remainder of his children (Maria, Joe, Manuel, John and Mario, all currently of Newark and Tulare) followed to California. Joe's sister, Maria Augusta Lopes also came to America and settled in the New Bedford, MA area with one of her daughters. Only descendents of Joe's half brother, Manuel, remain in Pedro Miguel today.

In the fall of 1957, "Joe E. Maciel and Sons" and families moved to Vernalis, in the San Joaquin Valley. Joe continued on as the "boss and final say" in the business even as his health declined. They lived in Vernalis for two years and then moved to a house on Kasson Road in Tracy from 1961 to 1968. In 1969 they moved one final time to the San Joaquin River Club and were enjoying their 53rd year of marriage when Joe died of cancer on May 16, 1970. He is buried in the Tracy Public Cemetery.

Annie lived with her daughter, Isabel, and son-in-law Ernie, in Tracy, for about 15 years until Isabel's death on October 16, 1989. Annie enjoyed a passion for gardening and cooking during these years at her daughter's house. Besides an ever-present pot of beans on the stove, Annie also would have chocolate chip cookies for the grandchildren and great-grandchildren who came to visit her. She often commented that, with all these "modern conveniences", housework was like "playing" to her. Annie is alive at this writing at the age of 97 in a rest home in Sacramento, California near the homes of her grandchildren Susan Vargas Murphy and Emanuel Vargas. Her thoughts and heart continue to rest in her early days in Warm Springs.

Descendents:
Anita Maciel DeValle (1917) lives in Warm Springs where she and her husband, Tony (1907-1983), raised son Gregory DeValle (1947) currently a Vernalis resident.

Isable Maciel Vargas (1923-1989), and husband Ernest, a Tracy resident, children: Susan Vargas Murphy (1944) of Sacramento and Emanuel Vargas (1954) of Folsom.

Tony Maciel (1925) and wife, Mary, live in Tracy and have: Linda Mineni (1949) of Modesto, Michael Maciel (1950) of Tracy, Joseph
(1952-1952), Gail Faria (1953), Annette Spencer (1956) both of Modesto, Edward Maciel (1958) of Bakersfield, Joan Orth (1960) of Modesto, Jane Williford (1960) of Tracy, Rene Maciel (1962) of Modesto.

Manuel Maciel (1928-1975) and wife Evelyn (1931-1995) lived in Tracy where they raised two children: Connie Shepherd (1951) of
Salinas and David Maciel (1954) of Mountain View.

Annie and Joe Maciel have 23 great-grandchildren and 3 great-great-grandchildren, with two more expected as of this writing.

Extensive genealogy has been done on this family.

    Reference List

Holmes, Philip. "Stanfords Cultivated Warm Springs Resort." The  Argus, 16 February 1992. (About Hidden Valley)

Kennedy, Keith. George Washington Patterson and the Founding of  Ardenwood. Cupertino, CA: California History Center and  Foundation, De Anza College, 1995. (About Patterson ranch)

       Submitted by:
       Susan Vargas Murphy
       700 Selsey Ct.
       Sacramento, CA 95854
       uberlingen@aol.com
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
14. George Elijeh Marshall

Introduction

"Your great grandfather was born in Rhode Island and then lived in Oakland, California before moving to San Diego. He mentioned that some of his family lived in Portugal."

That was just about all I had to go on. The sum total of family guidance I was to receive. The following story has been pieced together without the benefit of an elder proofreader to verify family facts. I have