ALL of my ancestors into the 1700’s are from one island: Sao Miguel, Azores, Portugal.

The Azores are 9 volcanic islands in the middle of the north Atlantic ocean about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) west of continental Portugal.

The people who settled the Azores were predominately from mainland Portugal and I’ve been able to connect to a few of the original settlers in the 1400’s on some of my lines, BUT, my MOST RECENT CONNECTION TO THE MAINLAND is via my 5th great grandmother: 

Elena Maria Rosa VIEIRA (circa 1720) who was originally from Nojões / Lamego.

She’s a VERY EXCITING ancestor, as I’ve been dreaming of the day of finding a well documented paper trail (ideally with DNA to back it up) to the mainland from the Azores.

BUT, would I:

• struggle to find records on the mainland for her online?
• attain the gold standard of connecting with a DNA match to her and information on Elena?
• have to go to Northern Portugal to figure this out?

• my research flow thought process
• an example of how to share research conducted on a specific ancestor
• how clearly explaining a problem actually helps you figure out all the possible ways to solve it

I love this quote and I’m taking the advice.

So, before I tell you about my road block and the possible ways to solve it, I’m going to start off with background information and the research conducted to date.

My 4th great grandfather Joze Antonio de SOUZA was born on December 4th, 1741 (#1). His parents were Francisco Antonio de SOUZA and Elena Maria Rosa VIEIRA. He married Clara Roza FURTADO on October 20th, 1760 (#2) and died 9 years later at the age of 29 on June 12th, 1769 (#3).

For context, here’s the family tree for my maternal grandfather to show how I’m connected to Joze and his parents Elena and Francisco:

Joze baptism record has the locations of both his parents birthplace clearly indicated:

Father / Francisco –

Nosssa Senhora da Ajuda do lugar dos Fanaes da Vera Cruz (or Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel, Azores, Portugal)

Mother / Elena –

Santa Marinha de Real do lugar de Nijoes, bispado de Lamego

There! My most recent connection to the mainland is my 5th great grandmother Elena !!!

Wait!

Unfortunately, the baptism record for Joze didn’t list his grandparents, which for that time period was not unusual.

Why does this matter?

It’s a great way to make sure I have the right records.

Oh well, it wasn’t the end of the world as how many Elena and Francisco got married around 1740 in a handful of possible locations anyhow?

My next step was to find the marriage record for Joze parents.

There are only 2 ways Elena and Francisco could have met:

1. Elena moved to the Azores sometime before 1741 with her parents, or
2. Francisco ended up on the mainland prior to 1741 and brought his wife to the Azores

Finding the marriage record for Joze parents was VERY important as it would give me information on:

• when his parents got married
• the names and hopefully other information (location, age) of his grandparents (normally the parents of the couple are given during this time period)

Where is it?!

Where’s the elusive marriage record?

The logical place to start would be in Sao Sebastiao, Ponta Delgada as it’s where their son Joze was born and married. HOWEVER, the marriage records for the period between 1738-1752 are missing for Sao Sebastiao. Booohooooo. I looked prior to that period too, nothing. So, the marriage record I’m looking for MIGHT be gone forever if in fact that’s where they got married.

It was still worth considering other possible locations for where the marriage may have taken place. Perhaps they didn’t get married at the church where their son Joze was born? Maybe Elena and Francisco got married at the locations where one of them was baptized? Well, I looked there too and nada.

I also attempted to find Elena and Francisco baptism records, but that search turned out fruitless too 🙁

I was making my way towards the dreaded EOL.

Hold on!

If I identified all the children of Elena and Francisco, it would give me an idea of the family unit and maybe offer up some clues.

I was able to find 3 younger sisters for Joze:

(a) Ignacia #1 (born December 1744)

(b) Ignacia #2 (born in 1746)

Given she has the same name as her older sibling implies her older sister had died.

(c) Catarina (born December 1748)

See source records #x to #y for links to the baptism entries.

Given Joze was born December 1741, was there really a 3 year gap between him and his 3 younger sisters mentioned above? Or, did I miss a sibling?

Did Elena and Francisco have any children before Joze? Was he the eldest?

Sometimes baptism records indicate if the child was a first born, but no such indication was found on his baptism record, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t either. So, I looked for a pattern in the baptism records prior to his entry and after, and the later appears to be the case.

Because I couldn’t find the marriage record for Joze parents, I can’t confirm if he was the first born and so the possibility for older siblings exists.

Also, have ALL the children for Elena and Francisco been identified here?

Obits are normally the last records I look for and here I am.

Yup, but it won’t be easy.

Let’s examine 4 DNA scenarios:

Autosomal DNA examines all of our lines back 200 years ago.

Thankfully I’ve tested both my parents which allows me to go back into the early 1700’s!

Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

BUT, it is on the fringe.

Also, to add to the complexity, what if my mother didn’t inherit this particular ancestors DNA? Maybe one of her siblings did? Great, expect for the fact that none of her living siblings have done a DNA test.

This is a good example of why testing a sibling is a great idea. They inherit different DNA.

A possible autosomal DNA match

Interestingly, I do have one mainlander DNA match on my maternal side on that fringe with NO known Azorean ancestors. Unfortunately I’ve never seen her tree but have been told her ancestors are from Northern Portugal. We have yet to figure out the connection, but could this be the DNA connection I’ve been looking for?

Is this where we connect or do they have an Azorean descendant ancestor they don’t know about? Only time will tell. This is going to take patience and time.

Actually, yes.

The obvious statement is Y-DNA is not helpful as the ancestor I’m looking for more information on is a female.

BUT, what about her husband?

If I learn more about her husbands direct male line, it might help with finding that elusive marriage record.

It would take perfect Y DNA match and I would need to do a direct male line descendants tree for Joze and get someone to test. Not looking too good, but possible.

X-DNA

mt-DNA