1704/1705 Epidemic - Pedro Miguel - Faial
Carlos Melo
Hi,
As I was searching from the death record of my ancestor, Maria de Faria, in the parish of Pedro de Miguel, I noticed an unusually high number of deaths on consecutive days, including my 9th great-grandmother's:
While searching for more information, I stumbled upon an article by Maria Nobrega Amorim (attached):
"Entre 1 de setembro de 1704 e 31 de agosto de 1705, morreram em Pedro
Miguel 189 pessoas para um total de 37 nascimentos. Embora não se disponha de
informação sobre o volume de óbitos a cobrir os primeiros cinco anos do século,
nos cinco anos posteriores à crise, entre 1706 e 1710, morreram em Pedro Miguel,
em média, 15 pessoas em cada ano, apontando em 1704/1705 para a classificação
de grande crise, se seguirmos Del Panta e Livi-Bacci2
.
A violência da crise é melhor retratada pelo pároco de outra freguesia faia-
lense, Castelo Branco, que informa ter deixado de dar a extrema-unção aos mori-
bundos a partir do início de junho de 1705 por não haver óleos sagrados na
freguesia nem em toda a ilha. As covas abriram-se no adro da igreja e num dos
casos, numa mesma cova, foram enterrados cinco cadáveres, um homem, duas
mulheres e duas crianças, sendo corrente, no auge da crise, o enterramento numa
mesma cova de dois defuntos."
Translation:
Between September 1, 1704 and August 31, 1705, 189 people died in Pedro Miguel, compared to a total of 37 births. Although no data are available on mortality rates for the first five years of the century, in the five years following the crisis (1706–1710), an average of 15 people died annually in Pedro Miguel. This supports the classification of 1704/1705 as a major crisis, according to the criteria of Del Panta and Livi-Bacci.
The severity of the crisis is more vividly illustrated by the parish priest of another parish on the island of Faial, Castelo Branco, who reported that from early June 1705 he ceased administering last rites to the dying due to the lack of holy oils in the parish and across the entire island. Graves were dug in the churchyard, and in one instance, five bodies—a man, two women, and two children—were buried in a single grave. At the height of the crisis, two bodies were often buried in the same grave.
This is heartbreaking.
At sixteen her soon, Filipe de Maria, was an orphan, married Agada de Medeiros in Horta, soon after became a widower, and then moved to S. Jose, Ponta Delgada, where he married Ana da Silva, became a widower again but eventually had children with his third wife, Maria de Sousa, and now he has many descendants all over the world.
Carlos
SUSAN MURPHY
On Apr 16, 2026, at 2:24 PM, Carlos Melo <chviei...@gmail.com> wrote:
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<Article by Maria Norberta Amorim.pdf>
