The Research Journal

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T17:29:00.000-08:00

I would like to wish all my readers a Happy 2008! May it be a prosperous, enjoyable year filled will whatever you want it to be.

I have to apologize for the lack of posts on this blog. For some reason, I completely forgot about the research journal and left the Boisvert's hanging by a thread on that last post. I hope to get back into the swing of things and tie up that family adventure.

Happy New Year! May you make many great genealogy discoveries this year!

Marriage Index Find

2007-06-18T18:44:00.000-07:00

On a whim, I started to search for Philias and Elzyre on the internet. Who knows? Maybe I'd luck out and find them in cemetery or church index.

I put in the search boisvert + duclos + lowell. BINGO!!! I came up with a marriage index page that looked promising. It was the Lowell Area Marriage Intensions for 1902. The entry read as follows:
Boisvert, Philas 28
Duclos, Aldea, 18
Date 25 Oct 1902

This was very curious! Philas was 10 years old than Elzire (aka Aldea). Was their a reason for the date discrepancy?

Striking Out with the Census

2007-06-11T18:23:00.000-07:00

[Research Journal #7, Entry #5]

I went back to the 1920 census. This time I searched through Massachusetts which may have been a worse idea than working in New York. Boisvert's were as plentiful as Smiths!

I searched for Alphonse since he was 17 or 18 at the time. Perhaps he'd be living on his own or married to Katherine. I searched for Philias but could not come up with anyone married to an Elzyre.

Did Alphonse's parents died before the 1920 census, were they even in Massachusetts in 1920?

I decided to do some searching in the 1910 census. Alphonse would have been about 7 years old so they should have been living together. But, there was nothing on the family.

Something was beginning to stink about the Boisvert family story. If they were in the United States from about 1903 onward, then why weren't they in any of the census records?

Going Forward with the 1930 Census

2007-06-04T18:05:00.000-07:00

[Research Journal #7, Entry #4]

Since I was fairly sure that my brother-in-law's mother was raised in the United States, I thought I'd take my chances trying to find her with her parents. I had some of the same difficulties that I had with the 1920 Census. Too many Alphonses! And, don't even ask about Katherine's.

I kept look in Schenectady, but didn't find the family. I eventually found them in another part of New York: Clifton Park, Saratoga County. (Interesting note: Though my brother-in-law's mother was alive at time, she had no recollection of living in Clifton Park)

The 1930 Census provided one very important clue. Alphonse was not born in New York like the family believed, he reported being born in Massachusetts. Katherine and the children were born in New York, so this meant that Alphonse's parents would be found elsewhere.

Free Miltary Databases at Ancestry.com

2007-05-28T12:57:00.000-07:00

For your Memorial Day here's a freebie from ancestry.com:

In honor of Memorial Day, www.ancestry.com is offering it's military collection for free. This includes civil war records, American Revolution records, the WWI Draft Registration cards, the WWII draft registration cards for 1942, and much more.

Honor your ancestors. Look up their records then share the information with your family. Then their stories won't be forgotten.

Offer expires June 6, 2007

A Wasted Jaunt through the 1920 Census

2007-05-21T18:23:00.000-07:00

[Research Journal #7, Entry #3]

Thinking that with names like Philias, Elzyre, and Alphonse this should be a breeze, I headed off for the 1920 Census. I was in for a big surprise.

There were more Boisverts than you could shake a stick at. Philias? Alphonse? It seemed that everyone had a Philias and Alphonse in their family! I tried to find Elzyre but had no luck. I tried many variations: Elzire, Elzear, Alsire, and so forth. I came up empty.

I did some searches on the US in general, but there were way too many Boisverts to go through. I didn't have enough information about the family and might be looking in the wrong place.

Pinpointing Alphonse's Parents

2007-05-14T13:01:00.000-07:00

[Research Journal #7, Entry #2]

Unbeknownst to me, Boisvert was a common surname on the East Coast and even more so in Canada. It wasn't going to be easy sorting them out from the other families. My brother-in-law's mother knew very little about her family. She knew that her grandfather was name Philias, but wasn't sure about her grandmother.

Since I really didn't know where to look, I decided to check the Social Security Death Index for Alphonse Boisvert. He died in New York in the 1970s, so he should have been listed.

I found an Alphones [sic] Boisvert who seemed to match. I ordered the Social Security Application form. I'd never seen one so I was curious what details it would have on it.

The card arrived and gave me something to work with. It had place of birth, residency at the time of application, employer, and parent's names. His parents were Philias Boisvert and Elzyre Duclos. The application said that he was born in Lowell, MA. However, the family didn't seem to remember this bit of information.

The Boisvert Family

2007-05-07T06:36:00.000-07:00

[Research Journal #7, Entry #1]

My brother-in-law's mother's line was Boisvert and Murphy. I thought I'd start with Boisvert since it seemed a heck of alot easier to research than Murphy.

The family story was that Alphonse Boisvert married Katherine Murphy in Schenectady, New York around 1920. Alphonse and Katherine were born in New York, though it was unclear if their parents were natives of New York or not.

I had some tidbits about the Boisverts. They were French Canadian and came from a town called Asbestos. Alphonse's father or grandfather owned land there and may have sold it all not realizing their was an Asbestos mine waiting to be found.

In this journal we explore how to go from US records to Canadian records. It was going to be tricky since there may be a generation or two in between and I'd never worked in Canadian records before.

Research Journal #7: The Boisverts Are Lost

2007-05-04T18:34:00.000-07:00

You've waiting a long time for the next journal. My sincere apologies! Hopefully, it was worth the wait.

Journal #7 takes us to the Boisvert family of New York who have French Canadian heritage.

Research Journals 1-6

2007-03-25T18:29:00.000-07:00

In January, I completed research journal #6. This is a recap of all the research journals I have posted so far. Each journal starts at the bottom of the page and may carry over into the next month. Look in the left hand column under archive to find the following month's entries.

These are the journals:
Journal #1: Unknown de Braga - http://islandroutes.com/blog/2006_01_01_archive.html

Journal #2: Relationship between the Cosma's and the Camara's - http://islandroutes.com/blog/2006_02_01_archive.html

Journal #3: The Case of the Two Ida's - http://islandroutes.com/blog/2006_02_01_archive.html

Journal #4: Helen and Jesuina - http://islandroutes.com/blog/2006_05_01_archive.html

Journal #5: A Woman Named Margaret -http://islandroutes.com/blog/2006_07_01_archive.html

Journal #6: Finding Maria's Father - http://islandroutes.com/blog/2006_11_01_archive.html

Finding Felicianno

2007-01-15T23:43:00.000-08:00

[Research Journal #6, Entry #12]

I started on the film with 1820 and worked backwards.
As I went further back I noticed a problem. Felicianno's parents were Joao de Mello and Maria Theresa. There appeared to be two couples of this name who had kids at the same time in Maia. One group was from Maia the other was from Povoacao and Maia. I had to be very careful as to how I recorded records. If I mixed them up I might be heading in the wrong direction. My hope was that only one of these couples had a child named Felicianno!

I found what appeared to be my first de Mello 31 Jun 1818. Francisca da Conceicao. Her parents were listed as Joam de Mello of Nossa Senhora Maes de Deus, Povoacao and Maria de Medeiros, of Maia.

I kept reading and writing. In 1807, I finally found my man! Here was my Felicianno. It is no wonder that I miscalculated his birth. He was 17 years old than his wife!

I went back to 1799 where I found the last sibling Antonio.

There were a couple of things I noted from my research.
1. Felicianno's parents were Joam de Mello of Maes de Deus and Maria Tereza de Medeiros of Maia.
2. The name de Mello Castanho was an invention from the 1830s. It did not appear in the baptismal records. To date, I have not found reference to any relative, godparent, etc. using the Castanho surname.
3. Don't stick to formulas! If I had continued with the 20 year theory that I was told so many times, I would have never found Felicianno's baptismal record.
4. Always search for the siblings. I know alot of people like to work couple to couple, generation to generation. I don't. I like to find all possibilities in the film and sort it out later. By searching for the siblings, I was able to determine that Felicianno was older than I thought, that he was a soldier, and that he probably had left his village for duration.

It pays to keep at it! Persistent helped me find Maria da Conceicao's father.

Settling on a Date

2007-01-09T12:51:00.000-08:00

[Research Journal #6, Entry #11]

I needed to figure out just how old Felicianno and his siblings were. I went back to the marriage records starting with Felicianno and Rosa's marriage in 1840. I didn't hit a sibling until 1837 when I found Francisca da Conceicao de Mello marrying Elias Pacheco.

I kept going. Each year I seemed to hit another sibling. I went back through the 1830s and reached into the 1820s. I found the last entry on the microfilm in 1819 when Felicianno's sister, Maria Jacinta de Mello, married Joze Boteilho. They were married 30 Jan 1819 in Maia.

Taking all this into account, it meant that Felicianno's siblings were born anywhere from the late 1790s to about 1820. They were almost a generation older than Felicianno's wife Rosa!

Next visit to the FHC, I would be hitting the baptismal records.

Seu Juris

2007-01-01T23:12:00.000-08:00

[Research Journal #6, Entry #10]

As you may recall, I found an interesting note in the baptismal records. In a couple of entries where Felicianno was listed as a godparent, his name was followed by the term "seu juris". I asked other Portuguese genealogists what this term meant.

Seu juris roughly "I swear" or "I swear this his him. That was very interesting! Why would the Priest have to swear to the identity of Felicianno when he was born in the village of Maia and probably never left.

I found a possible answer in a baptismal entry in 1837. This entry was for Manoel, son of Jose de Mello Castanho and Maria de Jesus. My Portuguese is not the best but the line went as follows:
...seu tio Felicianno de Mello, soldado no Batalhao desta todo nesta ilha...

Meaning:
his uncle, Felicianno de Mello, soldier in the battalion here on this island
(or thereabouts!)

Aha! My Felicianno had been a soldier in 1837. Could this explain why he seems to have disappeared? He appears as a godparent around 1835 and waits to marry until 1840. Did Felicianno leave the village of Maia for a considerable amount of time? Then when he returned, people aren't quite sure of his identity. The Priest swears in the official records that this his him.

Things started to fall in place. This disappearance might mean Felicianno was much older than I thought. I might have to go back much further in the records to solve this mystery.

Season's Greetings!

2006-12-24T12:00:00.000-08:00

IslandRoutes.com would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. As you're sitting around the dinner table, exchanging gifts, and enjoying the company of family, remember that these are the memories that will be passed down for generations to come. Your children will be telling your grandchildren about how Grandma made the best Christmas dinner, how there was never a crumb of your Uncle's cake left, how Grandpa would read the tags on the gifts and couldn't get any of his grandchildren's names right...These are the stories they will share with some genealogists a decade from now.

And, if you have the older generation around for the holidays be sure to ask them how they spent Christmas as a child, when they were first married, and so on. Remember to write it all down so you'll have those memories to share.

Merry Christmas to all!
Melody

Rounding up Felicianno's Siblings

2006-12-24T11:57:00.000-08:00

[Research Journal #6, Entry #9]

I was making any head way with Felicianno so I decided to search for his siblings. I started with the marriage records. I was surprised to find only one siblings married in the 1840s. Jacinto Jose de Mello married Francisca Emilia Paiva on 9 Jan 1841.

As the baptismal records were easier for me to read. I went back to those. It didn't seem like any of his siblings were having children during the same period. I kept going back in years. When I got to 1840 I began seeing the familiar de Mello Castanho moniker. The baptismals for his siblings were much earlier than his own children.

I took notes for entries from 1830 to 1850. I had de Mello Castanho's coming out of my ears! The easiest thing to do was to take them home and sort out the family. I began by listing each parent and then their children. I began to see the families fill out.

A couple of things struck me while making notes.
1. While all the siblings appeared as godparents, Felicianno was absent. His name did not appear as a padrinho until 1835.
2. After some entries, the term seu juris followed Felicianno's name. I wondered what it meant.
3. Some of his siblings' children were almost the same age as Felicianno's wife!

Rosa's Baptismal Record Found

2006-12-17T23:31:00.000-08:00

[Journal #6, Entry #8]

As I mentioned before their was a rule about when people marry. I used that rule to search for Felicianno and Rosa's baptismal records. As they were married in 1840, I thought I'd start my search around 1825.

I found Rosa with relative ease. She was baptised 7 Mar 1824 in Divino Esperito Santo Church. Her parents were Manoel Boteilho and Antonia da Conceicao. Her godparents were Joao d'Arruda and his wife, Barbara do Esperito Santo.

I wasn't having any luck with Felicianno though! I went up to 1830 and down to 1820, but I had no luck. Where was he????

Something was up with Felicianno but I didn't know what. Was it possible the Priest missed his baptsmal? Was he born in another village even though all signs pointed to Maia? Could his baptismal record be lost in the records of a nearby church? At this point, I wasn't sure what to think.

Felcianno and Rosa Get Married

2006-12-11T22:54:00.000-08:00

[Research Journal #6, Entry #7 ]
I didn't find any more children for Felicianno and Rosa prior to 1841. It was time to look for their marriage record.

I began with 1841 and worked my way backwards. I was very lucky in that I only had to go back a year. Felicianno and Rosa were married 26 Oct 1840 at Divino Esperito Church. Their names were given as: Felicianno Francisco de Mello and Rosa Jacinta. Felicianno was the son of Joam de Mello, deceased, and Maria Thereza. Rosa was the daughter of Manoel Botelho and Antonia Leonor, deceased.

The records from this era did not give ages or baptismal information (other eras do). I would have to decided what my next approach would be.

Another Baptismal Record

2006-12-04T22:53:00.000-08:00

Next on my list was to find Maria da Conceicao's baptismal record. It wouldn't hurt to find her siblings either! So, back to the Family History Center I went.

I was getting pretty good with baptismal records. If the same Priest wrote the records, they had a pattern. You could easily find the pertinent information without too much effort.

Someone once told me that girls married at about 20 and men at about 30. It's a rule that would help me at times and result in my doom at other times. As I was interested in finding Maria's siblings, I started with 1840 and worked forward. From 1841 to 1864 I found 11 children for Felicianno and Rosa. Felicianno's name stayed fairly constant as either Felicianno de Mello Castanho or Felicianno de Mello. Rosa was another story. I added Rosa Leanor and Rosa Joaquina to the growing list of variations. I was fairly certain they were all one and the same. Marriage records would determine that.

A Marriage Record Found

2006-11-27T23:21:00.000-08:00

[Research Journal #6, Entry #5]

My next stop would be to find Jozimas and Maria's marriage records. Marriage records intimidated me. They were long and wordy. I was learning which phrases to pick out but it wasn't all that easy for a novice like me!

I figured that they were married somewhere around 1870 based on the birthdates of their children. Jose was the earliest child found and he was born in 1872. I decided to go backwards from there.

I found Jozimas and Maria's marriage record in the microfilm for 1871. They were married in Divino Esperito Santo Church on 28 Aug 1871. Jozimas' parents were listed as Jacintho de Braga and Roza Pacheco. Maria's parents were listed as Felicianno de Mello Castanho and Roza Botelho. Both set of parents were residents of Maia.

My First Portuguese Adventure

2006-11-20T23:56:00.000-08:00

Research Journal #6, Entry #5

I set out for the Family History Center one day determined that this intimidating structure would not beat me! My first stop was the card catalog file. I knew that my couple was from the town of Maia and that the church I needed was Divino Esperito Santo.

By this time I had purchased a syllabus for Portuguese genealogy by Doug da Rocha Holmes and I had the LDS Family History Library word and phrase list for Portugal. I located the microfilm, loaded it into the reader, and prepared for my first experience with Portuguese language records.

I decided to research something I was familiar with: baptismal records. I wanted to find Maria's siblings. This would help me get familiar with the records and establish time frames for my family.

It wasn't as bad as I thought. Soon I found there was a certain cadence to the films and the language used in the records. I found Jose de Braga's record. His maternal grandparents were given as Felicianno de Mello Castanho and Rosa Botelho. Their sister, Marie Grace was also in the records. Her maternal grandparents were listed as Felicianno de Mello Botelho and Rosa Jacintha. Their brother, Seraphim, stuck with Felicianno de Mello and Rosa Jacintha. One more brother, Jacintho, sprung from Felicianno de Mello Castanho and Rosa Botelho.

Although the names differed, they didn't concern me too much. Anyone who has worked with Portuguese records knows that the names change with the time of day. My only concern was about Rosa. Were Rosa Botelho and Rosa Barquiera the same person? I wouldn't know until I found other earlier records. At least, I knew I'd be looking for a Felicianno and a Rosa.

Maria's Baptismal Record Found

2006-11-13T17:43:00.000-08:00

[Research Journal #6, Entry 3]

I began visiting the Portuguese Genealogy Chat on AOL (run by my friends and fellow researchers, Cheri Mello and Linda Crandall) and was boosting my research self esteem. I learned that I could order baptismal records for my Portuguese kin by mail. I was pretty sure the Family History Center in Oakland would have the microfilm I needed, but the last time I went they scared me to death (not on purpose, I don't think) So, I took the easy way out and sent for the baptismal certificates for my great grandmother, Maria dos Anjos de Braga. Since I was fairly certain of her birthdate, I had a good chance of getting the record I requested.

If you've ever ordered records from the Arquivo in Ponta Delgada, you know that it tries the patience of a Saint while waiting for the anticipated results. I think they used something akin to the Pony Express back in the mid 1990s! At least, it felt like it!

Several weeks later, I received my records. I had some assistance translating the record. Maria was baptised 16 Jun 1876 in Divino Esperito Santo Church, Maia, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel Island, Azores. Her parents were given as Zosimos [sic] de Braga and Maria da Conceicao. Her grandparents were Jacintho de Braga and Rosa Barquiera and Felicianno de Mello and Rosa Botelho. Felicianno and Rosa were Maria's parents! I needed other records to confirm this information, but I now had somewhere to start.

First Stop: Passports and Consulate Logs

2006-11-05T19:22:00.000-08:00

My great great grandparents, Jozimas de Braga and Maria da Conceicao de Mello arrived in Hawaii in Jun 1882. I had information from the census on when my Gr Gr Grandparents migrated to Hawaii. I checked the ship indexes and found their entry. This helped me find them in the Azorean Passports

The couple was recorded in the consulate logs, but only Jozimas parents were listed. I then looked up the couple in the passport book by Robert DeMello. This is what it says:
Braga, Zosimo [sic], 32
Father Jacinto Braga
Mother Rosa Pacheco
From Maia

Wife Maria da Conciecao [sic], 36
Children: Jose 7, Maria 5, Maria 2 years old
#282 Monarch

While the passport revealed details about Jozimas de Braga and his parentage. There was nothing about Maria's parents. I was going to have to do research in Portuguese language records. I'd never researched those records before. I have to admit they scared the dookies out of me! I didn't know Portuguese except for a few swear words--and I didn't think that would be very helpful!

Finding Maria's Father

2006-11-03T13:10:00.000-08:00

[Research Journal #6, Entry #1]
My Gr Gr Great Grandmother was Maria da Conceicao (de Mello) de Braga left for Hawaii in 1882. She didn't leave many clues as to who her parents were. I knew she was from the town of Maia, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel Island, and that she married Jozimas de Braga. Beyond that, her history was a blank. I wanted to figure out who her parents were so that I could go further back in my research. I had explored all California and Hawaii resources. I was ready to move on to the records of Sao Miguel Island.

In this journal, you'll see that I found out the names of her parents easily. However, locating her father was a big challenge.

How do you spell Kelly?

2006-10-10T12:39:00.000-07:00

[Research Journal #5, Entry #10]

I set off to find the Kelly's in Massachusetts. But guess what? There weren't there! All the Martin Kelly/Kelley's were a wash. What to do? What to do?

I decided that there had to be a problem with the surname. Online census indexes are notorious for creative transcription. I had my choice of two states: New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Since I knew they were in New Hampshire in 1849, I started there.

I put in the search Martin Kel*. (* is the wild card. It means find me everything that starts Kel but has a different ending) I got:
Martin Kelby
Martin Kellohor
Martin Kelley
Martin Kellogg
Martin Kelly
Martin Kelton

Neither of the Martin Kelly's were mine. Martin Kelby might be worth a look, so I clicked on him. Aha! There's my guy. His surname is written as Kelley as clear as day, but the transcriber saw Kelby.

The family was in Manchester, Hillsboro Co., NH.
Martin Kelley, 22, Laborer, Ireland
Catherine, 20, Laborer, Ireland
Margaret 9/12, New Hampshire

I now know that the Kelly's were in New Hampshire as early as 1849. They were there in 1850. And, the for some reason they migrated to Massachusetts by 1852. Possibly following work or relatives. Then by 1856, they were in San Francisco where they set up shop as horse traders and boarding house managers. The Kelly's sure did get around!

The multiple migrations made research a bit tricky especially with the family being in San Francisco before 1906. Most normal records were destroyed. We learned a couple of things:
1. City directories are important to mapping out where a person was between census years.
2. Church have much more to offer besides baptismal and marriage records. The Monitor, a Catholic newspaper, provided an obituary which replaced the lost death certificate.
3. Newspapers can provide information when vital records (birth, death, and marriage) are unavailable.
4. Even with common surnames like Kelly, you must be on the alert for misspellings in records and in indexes. The alternate spelling Kelley was in my mind but certainly not Kelby!
5. Don't assume you know where your ancestors were at a certain time. I thought for sure the Kelly's were in Massachusetts in 1850. If I hadn't given New Hampshire a second shot, I would have missed them.

And We're Back at the Census

2006-10-02T19:19:00.000-07:00

Since I came up with nothing in the 1880 census for San Francisco and the 1850 Census for New Hampshire, I decided to revisit the 1870 and 1860 census. I was pretty sure my family was in San Francisco at that time. As long as they didn’t avoid census enumerators, I should be able to find them.

My first attempt was to find Martin and Catherine Kelly in 1870. Much to my chagrin, there were two Martin Kelly’s married to Catherine’s living in San Francisco! Hopefully, it would be very clear.

One of the families was mine! All the children were there, including Margaret, who shouldn’t have been. She had married a year before the census. However, I've seen married children listed with their parents before. Perhaps it's a misunderstanding of "how many children do you have living with you?".

According to the 1870 census, they had a child born in CA ca 1856. So, that clearly means the family was in San Francisco for the 1860 Census. I took a look through the soundex and found the Kelly's in San Francisco in 1860. The birth information on the 1870 and 1860 census confirmed that I had another locality to deal with. The family didn't migrate from New Hampshire to California. They took a side trip to Massachusetts where a couple of children were born. With any luck, I would find them in Massachusetts in the 1850 census.

Here are the children and where they were born:
Margaret 1849 NH
Catherine 1852 MA
Michael 1853 MA
John 1856 CA
Mary 1859 CA
Winifred 1860 CA
Matthew 1862 CA
Ellen 1866 CA
Josephine 1872 CA

It is still possible that the family was in New Hampshire and that I was looking for the wrong thing. Only time and more research would tell.