Freitas & Avellar families from Pico

[Steve Peters]

Greetings,

I am researching family from the island of Pico. I will be going there
for a week in June and hope to look for more information about them.

My great-great grandfather was "Caton Frates" (b. August 1837),
married to "Mary Isabel (Avellar) Frates" (b. Feb. 1855). The 1900 US
census says they were both from Pico, married in 1882 (he was age 45,
she was 27), and living in Arroyo Grande [Corral de Piedra], San Luis
Obispo Co., California. I can find them on ancestry.com, but no
earlier relatives.

I believe her real name was probably Mariana (or Marianna) Isabel
Avellar. I also wonder if his real name may have been Caetano Freitas,
with "Caton Frates" being an Americanized spelling. (St. Caetano is
the patron of a parish in Madelena on Pico -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A3o_Caetano_%28Madalena%29)

The family story is that "Caton" came to the US in 1865 or 66, having
"stowed away" on a whaling ship in order to avoid military
conscription. I have no idea if this is true, knowing how family
stories can mutate over time. But a quick glance at Portuguese history
shows no war going on at that time, so the draft dodging story seems a
bit suspect.

I am not sure if "Mary" was really also from Pico, although the census
lists her as such; it's possible she may have even been born in the
US, with her family having come from the Azores. She would have been
about 10 years old when Caton arrived in the US.

Our understanding is that they lived in Avila Beach, and I am not sure
how that relates to Arroyo Grande/Corral de Piedra. They had at least
seven (possibly nine?) children, who I have found listed as both
Frates and Freitas:

Francisco (1874)
Joseph (1876)...?
Mary (1878)...?
Mary M. (1883)
Manuel Sylvester (1884-1949)
Caton (1886)
Julia A. (1887)
Antone (1891-1950)
Virginia Louise (1893-1974)

Their son Manuel S. Fraetis (notice the new spelling - the only one of
his siblings to use that, I believe) married Elaine Emily Van Orman,
and their son was my maternal grandfather, Francis Garland Fraetis.

I would love to hear from anyone with leads going back earlier than
Caton and Mary, to Pico or elsewhere in the Azores or even mainland
Portugal.

Obrigado!

Steve Peters

[Cheri Mello]

Hi Steve,

The records for the time period that you are seeking are housed at the archive on Horta.  You won't find them on Pico.  The address is here:
http://homepage.mac.com/kmacardoza/Genealogy/genresources.html

There are some other online sources for Pico as well.  I'll let the Pico researchers tell you all about them.

Arroyo Grande and Avila Beach are very close to one another.  I think both are San Luis Obispo County in California.

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

[netado...@aol.com]

Steve

 

Patsy and I felt that our family left  Soa Miguel not only for a better life for their family, but so that their sons would not be drafted.  Out family left the island in 1880. I know that's about 15 years after your family, but I did find in researching that young boys were being drafted at 14 years of age.

 

There is a bit of discrepancy with birth years from the ship's manifest and the island birth records.  They were younger on the ship's manifest making them not eligible for the draft for another year or two.

 

Ally

Vieira Anselmo in Ribeira Seca, Sao Miguel

Pinheiro, Nunes, Silveira in Praia do Almoxarife and Pedro Miguel, Faial
Silveira, Rodrigues in Sao Jorge

 

 

[Maria Lima]

I know from an autobiography of my husband's grandfather that he stowed away on the Moses B Tower in October 1898 at age 18. Heading  for Boston, was discovered and he says treated very badly -wrote about terrible storm that came and where he was placed on the ship. He was 18.  he made it to America, became citizen. 

Whar a gift to find his notebook among my in law's possessions when they past away.  It's a miracle it wasn't discarded.

Maria Elena

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[Steve Peters]

Thank you all for your helpful feedback. I have posted what I have and
know on Ancestry.com - if you are on there, look for the Peters Family
Tree under my wife's account, mblockroy11. I will try to get some more
photos from my aunt and scan and post those as well. If anyone else on
this list is researching these families, please contact me and
hopefully we can share info.

Steve