Were children listed as ‘father unknown’ even if born after the parents’ marriage?

[Carlos Melo]

Hi all,

João Pavão (Candelária, Ponta Delgada, May 8, 1730) married Quitéria do Espírito Santo in Relva, Ponta Delgada, on  September 23, 1753:

http://culturacores.azores.gov.pt/biblioteca_digital/SMG-PD-RELVA-C-1750-1761/SMG-PD-RELVA-C-1750-1761_item1/index.html?page=28

The record states that João Pavão was baptised and lived in Candelaria and that his mother was Cecilia Pavão (already dead) but his father was unknown. 

I found only one death record in Candelaria between 1730 and 1753: 

Cecilia Pavão, wife of Francisco de Sousa, died in December 1746:

https://culturacores.azores.gov.pt/biblioteca_digital/SMG-PD-CANDELARIA-O-1699-1791/SMG-PD-CANDELARIA-O-1699-1791_item1/index.html?page=54

Note that Francisco de Sousa survived Cecilia Pavão. She is referred to as "mulher" (wife), not viuva (widow).

Cecilia Pavão (daughter of Antonio Pavão and Maria de Sousa) and Francisco de Sousa (widower) married on December 10, 1729, 6 months before João Pavão was born: 

https://culturacores.azores.gov.pt/biblioteca_digital/SMG-PD-CANDELARIA-C-1682-1773/SMG-PD-CANDELARIA-C-1682-1773_item1/index.html?page=51

https://culturacores.azores.gov.pt/biblioteca_digital/SMG-PD-CANDELARIA-C-1682-1773/SMG-PD-CANDELARIA-C-1682-1773_item1/index.html?page=52

Cecilia Pavão was from Mosteiros, as stated in João Pavão's birth record, which confirms his father was unknown:

http://culturacores.azores.gov.pt/biblioteca_digital/SMG-PD-CANDELARIA-B-1706-1732/SMG-PD-CANDELARIA-B-1706-1732_item1/index.html?page=116

In Mosteiros, I search for birth records of Cecilias between 1685 and 1615 and found 4:

1) Cecilia daughter of Antonio Pavão Gonçalves and Maria de Sousa:

https://culturacores.azores.gov.pt/biblioteca_digital/SMG-PD-MOSTEIROS-B-1699-1735/SMG-PD-MOSTEIROS-B-1699-1735_item1/index.html?page=16

2) Cecilia daughter of Joao de Sousa Alvares e Barbara de Paiva:

https://culturacores.azores.gov.pt/biblioteca_digital/SMG-PD-MOSTEIROS-B-1699-1735/SMG-PD-MOSTEIROS-B-1699-1735_item1/index.html?page=23

3) Cecilia daughter of Antonio de Aguiar (Ginetes) and Marta de Sousa:

https://culturacores.azores.gov.pt/biblioteca_digital/SMG-PD-MOSTEIROS-B-1699-1735/SMG-PD-MOSTEIROS-B-1699-1735_item1/index.html?page=32

4) Cecilia daughter of Miguel Pacheco and Maria de Sousa (NS Rosario, Lagoa):

https://culturacores.azores.gov.pt/biblioteca_digital/SMG-PD-MOSTEIROS-B-1699-1735/SMG-PD-MOSTEIROS-B-1699-1735_item1/index.html?page=46

 

I did not find any death record of a Cecilia  in Mosteiros during this period, so I assume that all 4 survived childhood. I excluded (2) and (3) because I found their marriage records in Mosteiros. Then, I excluded (4) because I wasn't able to find the surname Pavao in her ancestors.

I share these direct ancestors with Rodrigo Rodrigues:

https://gw.geneanet.org/tavaressilva?lang=pt&m=A&p=rodrigo&n=rodrigues&siblings=on&notes=on&t=T&v=6&image=on&marriage=on&full=on

However, he did not mention Cecilia Pavão's parents in his book, despite mentioning both mother and son, his 3rd great-grandfather (pp1889).

Can I really conclude that Cecilia (1) is João Pavão's mother and that his maternal grandparents were Antonio Pavão Gonçalves and Maria de Sousa?

I'd appreciate your take on this matter.

Thanks,

Carlos

[Boyd McKee Kitchen]

Carlos,

Your conclusion sounds reasonable to me at least until other records are available to prove differently. Did you find any evidence your conclusion might not be right? 

The timing of Cecilia Pavao and Francisco de Souza's marriage was likely after Joao's conception. Often the marriage before the birth would have legitimized his parents, even if his legal father wasn't his biological father. Maybe that's not how it worked in their day and place.

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[Carlos Melo]

Thanks, Boyd! 

I was second-guessing myself because Rodrigo Rodrigues did not mention Cecilia's parents (Antonio Pavão Gonçalves and Maria de Sousa) even though they're his direct ancestors.

I've been told not to waste my time trying to go beyond anyone mentioned by RR, but I never listen. 

In any event, I can't go beyond her parents because the marriage records end early in Mosteiros, so maybe that's why he didn't bother to mention them. 

Thanks!

Carlos

[Fábio Márquez]

Queiram me desculpar pela intromissão, mas gostaria de dar um palpite nesta situação. Nosso amigo Carlos tem total razão em descartar as demais Cecílias e somente levando em consideração a de topónimo "Pavoa", pois nem sempre iremos ter uma listagem completa de uma família considerada pelo senhor Rodrigo Rodrigues.  Porquê afirmo isso? Sentí na própria pele esse desprazer ao pesquisar a linhagem de Marcos Fernandes da Costa. O senhor Rodrigues só listou dois filhos de Marcos : Paulo da Costa e Angela da Costa, e de Paulo, listou somente um filho, o de nome Rodrigo da Costa Columbreiro. Mas pesquisando a fundo, encontrei, do enlace de Paulo com Catherina Manoel estes outros filhos: Maria Viegas, Manoel da Costa Columbreiro e Marcos da Costa Columbreiro. Porque será que ele os omitiu? Morte, pequeno interesse? Não sabemos. De Angela com Victalys ele apresenta somente os filhos Gaspar da Costa Columbreiro e António da Costa Columbreiro, todavia, encontrei deste casal, outros mais: Barbara, António (o primeiro), Maria, Braz, Jozeph e Francisco. Diante deste contexto, logo suspeitei que Marcos Fernandes(casado com Anna Marques) tiveram outros filhos, e uma dessas era minha ascendente chamada também de Anna Marques II. O problema é que nos registos do Nordeste, no período entre 1600 a 1630 não temos o rol de baptizados,e, dificultando mais ainda a situação, não achei o registo de matrimónio de Anna Marques II com Manoel de Paiva. Então, como pude afirmar que ela era filha de Marcos com Anna? Somente pelo nome da suposta mãe? Não somente, mas também pelos padrinhos dos filhos que ela gerou(que foram 9) . Paulo da Costa e Angela da Costa aparecerem na maioria deles e isso reforçou então a ligação de Anna com os outros dois irmãos, PORTANTO, o Carlos está coberto de razão em ir adiante do que o senhor Rodrigues parou, mesmo sendo da linhagem dele, pois não sabemos os motivos que o impossibilitaram de fazer suposições e até mesmo suspeitar(o que não vemos muito em sua obra) de algumas conexões.

Atenciosamente, 

Fábio Marques

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[Cheri Mello]

Hi Fabio,

We have always assumed that Rodrigo Rodrigues (and Ernesto do Canto) traced prominent lines or prominent families. So lines that interested them. Their work is incomplete. We should use it as a starting point and then build our lines.

Cheri Mello
Listowner, Azores-Gen
Researching: São Miguel island: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada

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[Carlos Melo]

Thank you Fabio and Cheri. I appreciate your feedback and I agree with you both. We should keep digging through all records available. Unfortunately, some of the most valuable documents are not available and remain in private collections. 

Rodrigo Rodrigues (1873–1956) spent decades of his life compiling genealogical information and building on efforts from previous genealogists and historians, from Gaspar Frutuoso to Ernesto do Canto.

Here is the information on this book available online at the website of the library of Ponta Delgada:

"Árvores genealógicas de descendência com notas diversas (sobretudo de Rodrigo Rodrigues, mas também de outros, como, por exemplo, José Pedro da Costa, Manuel Monteiro Velho Arruda, Hugo Moreira).

Para esta obra feita sem o intuito de publicar, serve-se de trabalhos anteriores, principalmente Gaspar Frutuoso, Ernesto do Canto, Carlos Machado e José Pedro da Costa, cujas cujas genealogias passou para os seus livros, introduzindo algumas correções e estabelecendo ligações até então desconhecidas
Para a edição da obra, projeto iniciado pelo filho João Bernardo e terminado pelo neto, Henrique de Aguiar Oliveira Rodrigues, recorreu-se ao sistema narrativo, dividido em capítulos, em que cada um destes é iniciado com um tronco, na maior parte das vezes, de um povoador referido por Frutuoso, do qual partem os seus descendentes, agrupados em parágrafos."

Translation: "Family trees of descendants with various notes (mainly by Rodrigo Rodrigues, but also by others, such as José Pedro da Costa, Manuel Monteiro Velho Arruda, and Hugo Moreira). For this work, created without the intention of publishing, he drew on earlier works, especially those of Gaspar Frutuoso, Ernesto do Canto, Carlos Machado, and José Pedro da Costa, whose genealogies he transcribed into his own books, introducing some corrections and establishing connections that had previously been unknown.

The edition of this book was a project begun by his son João Bernardo Rodrigues and completed by his grandson Henrique de Aguiar Oliveira Rodrigues. For this purpose, a narrative system was adopted, divided into chapters. Each chapter begins with an ancestral line, most often a settler mentioned by Gaspar Frutuoso, from whom the descendants branch out, grouped into paragraphs.

 Unfortunately, we do not have access to most of his extracts, drafts and notes, some of which may be available for consultation at the public library of Ponta Delgada, but most of which, if I am not mistake, remain in the private collection of his descendants. Here is a reference to these notes from a recently published article:

"Cf. [Extractos dos Livros da Misericórdia de Ponta Delgada] efectuados por Rodrigo Rodrigues (fl. 15
v.) e pertencentes a uma coleção familiar. Agradeço a colaboração do Dr. Pedro Pascoal no acesso a essa
colecção"

So, in Rodrigo Rodrigues' defense, he never intended to publish this book as such; Genealogias das ilhas de S. Miguel e Santa Maria is essentially a posthumous reconstruction of his lifelong research notes, brought into publishable form by his descendants and later editors. Many omissions may derive from his children's editorial choices. 

In fact, Rodrigo Rodrigues found many tabu facts that locals still refuse to discuss to this day or shrug off at best, let alone 100 or even 80 years ago. 

Case in point, he uncovered that many of the most "upstanding" families in S. Miguel descend from murderers, through multiple lines. Several lines in his book lead to men who fled Madeira, mainland Portugal and even Spain after having killed someone. 

Some of the lines lead to slaves; he did not shy away from recording these notes. That said, after combing through records in S. Jose, Ponta Delgada, I've found countless baptisms of African slaves brought to island by the Earl of Ribeira Grande (mid 18th century), none of whom are mentioned in his book. Ironically, because they were the Earl's slaves, those records were written with some of the most beautiful penmanship I've even seen in historical documents. 

Rodrigo Rodrigues recorded (pp 461, CAPÍTULO 27.º DA DESCENDÊNCIA DE GONÇALO DIAS CORREIA) the dispute centered on the inheritance of the fee tails (morgados) of Aires Jácome Correia and Nuno de Atouguia, contested between Dr. Francisco Manuel Raposo Bicudo Correia and Pedro Jácome Correia, with the latter ultimately prevailing (direct ancestor of Marquês Jácome Correia). Francisco Manuel attempted to block Pedro Jácome’s succession by arguing he was legally and socially unfit, mobilizing witnesses and clerical attestations to portray himself as belonging to a distinguished lineage while depicting Pedro Jácome Correia as of low status, poor background, and even racially “tainted”, claims supported by testimonies alleging Pedro's humble origins, slave ancestry, and improper conduct. There were also accusations of corruption, including that a magistrate favored Pedro Jácome after receiving a bribe. 

I am not translating the excerpt here because some of the passages are rather racially charged. I stumbled upon this dispute when searching for my direct ancestors from Lagoa, Duarte de Medeiros da Costa and Jose da Fonseca Rodovalho, Duarte's father in law, who testified against Pedro Jácome Correia because he descended from slaves.  

Would Rodrigo Rodrigues would ever publish this dispute in his lifetime? No...

In the end, we may question his son and grandson's editorial bias towards effluent families, but they did include information that certainly ruffled some feathers. Regardless, their efforts enable us to find ancestors much more easily and to go beyond what we could living so far away from the sources of information. Every time I find an ancestor in the book, I always say "Score!" because my goal is to go as far back as I can to understand where did my ancestors come from before settling in S. Miguel. 

And I can only be thankful to anyone who publishes and shares genealogical information with others, not least of which Rodrigo Rodrigues.

I just wished we could all access his full collection of extracts, drafts and notes, as many others that still remain in private collections and have not been made available for scanning at the public library of Ponta Delgada and others.

Carlos