11 March 2013

More trouble in Brazil

Joaquim Pedro da Silva, b. 1910, taken Summer 1995 by me
In the summer of 1995 my family traveled to Brazil to visit family. I was 14 years old and had never met most of them. I clearly remember meeting my Great-Grandfather Joaquim. He was an hilarious, albeit crotchety, old man.

Since I've had such trouble with the search for my Grandmother Lindalva's birth record I stepped back and thought maybe she might not have been born in Joao Pessoa after all. Her father, Joaquim, was born in Alagoa Grande, about 100 km east of Joao Pessoa. So, on a lark, I decided to look through Alagoa Grande's parish records to see if I could find Joaquim's birth/christening record.

Here's what I knew* before I started:
* by knew I mean that my father had collected these dates/places from speaking with family members many years ago...but there are very few documents (yet) to support these claims.
Joaquim Pedro da Silva
b. 9 Jun 1910, Alagoa Grande, Paraiba, Brazil
m. 15 Sep 1948, Joao Pessoa, Paraiba, Brazil
d. 24 Dec 2001, Joao Pessoa, Paraiba, Brazil
Note: his marriage date is 14 years after his oldest child, my grandmother, was born. That date comes from a copy of his civil marriage certificate. Perhaps they were married in the Catholic church on another date but didn't register the marriage with the government? As always, more research is needed.
So, I went off in search of his christening record, and here's what I found:
Source: Family Search, "Brazil, Catholic Church Records," digital image, Family Search (familysearch.org : downloaded 11 March 2013), Image 95, page 89, Entry 252; Brazil, Parish and Diocesan Records - ParaĆ­ba - Alagoa Grande - Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem - Batismos 1909, Ago-1911, Maio.
SERIOUSLY!!!???!!! Come on now! Not only is the page torn away but the microfilm-er didn't move over the small stub of the previous page which covered some of what was left. I even tried using the next page (back side of this one) and darkening the bit you could see through the page to see if I could read it. Nope.

Anyway, I believe entry number 252 to be his. Here's what I've worked out:
By looking at a previous entry (from the top of the page) I decided that this particular scribe had a "template" for all his entries. (I double checked that this was the same throughout the previous and subsequent pages.)
Template: Date of baptism, "I baptized in the font of this Parish", Name of child, age of child in days, parent(s) names, godparents names, testify of truthfulness and signature.
So what did I learn from this record?
  • A child named Joaquim was baptized on or around 9 June 1910
  • The child was perhaps 23 days old or even 23 hours old?
That's it!
Researching in Brazil is hard!

05 February 2013

Oscar A. Anderson (Sr.) Household - US 1880 Census

I've decided to focus my energy on the Anderson side of the family...Troy's paternal grandmothers family. So, I'm starting with a timeline and filling in the documents I would expect to find for the family. Birth, Marriage, Death records and Censuses. There are other "side" documents too, but I won't know what I should look for until I have a base of "events" to work around.

Here's how this family relates to Troy:


This first census is actually Troy's great-great Grandfather and his young wife and child in 1880. This was taken 4 months before Troy's great-grandfather was born, so Thirza (or Thersea) would have been pregnant at this point.
Source: 1880 U.S. Census, Kanosh Precinct, Millard, Utah, population schedule, Kanosh Precinct, Millard County, Utah, enumeration district (ED) ED 1, SD 33, 15, dwelling 133, family 133, Oscar A. Anderson Household; digital images, FamilySearch (familysearch.org : downloaded 5 February 2013).

Transcript:

Lines 15-18. Dwelling #133, Family #133.
Page 15, SD 1, ED 33
Kanosh Precinct, Millard County, Utah
7 June 1880

Line 15. Anderson, Oscar A, W, M, 25, Head, married, Freighter, POB: Denmark, Father POB: Sweden, Mother POB: Denmark.

Line 16. ---, Thirza J, W, F, 24, Wife, married, Keeping House, POB: Utah, Father POB: US, Mother POB: Tennessee.

Line 17. ---, Mary E, W, F, 1, Daughter, single, POB: Utah, Father POB: Denmark, Mother POB: Utah.

Line 18. Halsey, William A, W, M, 34, Boarder, single, Saddle & Harness Maker, cannot write, POB: N. Jersey, Father POB: New Jersey, Mother POB: New Jersey.



31 January 2013

Grandma's Birthday -- still unknown!

I have multiple options for my grandmother, Lindalva Ferreira da Silva (Lima)'s birthday.

  • She told my mother (her daughter) and thoughout her life celebrated on 7 Oct stating the birth year was 1934 and that she was married at 16 years old.
  • She was married on 30 Sep 1950 and I have her marriage record. The priest lists her age as 17 years old, which would mean her birthdate was between 30 Sep 1932 - 30 Sep 1933.
  • Her Death Certificate from 6 Jun 1999 states her age at death as 64 which places her birthday from 7 Jun 1937 - 7 Jun 1938. This would, however, make her 12-13 years old when she married, which I find very unlikely. I don't know who the informant on the death certificate is and what his relation is to Lindalva. He may not have known her age accurately.
I'll be honest. This has been very distressing to my mother who I think feels that I am calling her mother a liar. I just want to find her birth/christening record. But I don't know where to look. So I made a chart.
There are 3 parishes and 1 archdiocese in the city of Joao Pesso, Pariba, Brazil. She was married in Nossa Senhora do Rosario, and I have that marriage record. As you can see from the chart, I have yet to find her and all I have left to search are the 1937-38 years (which would make her too young to marry). 

I'm not sure where to go from here. I think I will:
  1. Complete my search of the 1937-38 records for all the parishes.
  2. Ask my brother, or another set of eyes, to search all the same records. Maybe I just missed her? There is no index. :(
  3. There are no civil records digitized or on microfilm for births after 1931.
  4. Maybe an aunt could go to the registrars office in Joao Pessoa and find a birth certificate. Or maybe they already have a copy?
All I want is a document as source of her birth! Is that too much to ask?

30 January 2013

Preparing for a Writing Challenge

I've decided to participate in The Family History Writing Challenge this February. I've decided that for me, I can do 500 words a day, which will come out to 14,000 words all together...not to shabby!

Now, I just have to decide on the topic. This is where I get hung up. Do I want to write about someone or a family that I've already researched, or do I want to start with a new problem? Do I want to stick to one topic or just write about anything I happen to be researching that day?

Here are some ideas:
  • Just do blog posts every day with at least 500 words, with any topic that strikes my fancy.
  • Marrying the Lunds ::: examining the women that married into the Lund line.
  • Lindalva Ferreira da Silva (Lima) ::: My grandmother who's birthdate is still in question.
  • Anna Thome and Jose Ferreira's Love story ::: Met in Portugal, parents refused to let them marry, Anna followed Jose to Brazil to marry him.
  • Ada Rose Taylor ::: Not sure why (probably that she died in childbirth from the same trouble I had with #2) but I have been drawn to her life and story.
So, I will have to make that decision SOON!

And because a post is sad without a picture:
My Dad --Nilton-- abt 1966.