Portuguese Genealogist Master List

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Portugal, the Azores, and RI Maps

Portugal and the Azores

The Azores

Faial

Providence, East Providence, and Seekonk

Preface, by John Maciel

After I had started to write my life's story, I recalled that some time previous that in a box that Jay had brought from our family home in East Providence after Margaret died, I had found some written notes in Portuguese that my father had written prior to his death. I had tried to translate [them into] English and thought that some of his notes might therefore serve as a preface to my story.

On July 8, 1861 in Praia do Norte (North Beach), Faial, Azores, a son was born to Jose Silveira Maciel and Maria Dutra Maciel and was named Jose after his father. He grew up and was well known as a mason contractor. There are buildings still remaining built by by him and under his supervision. He made two trips to the U.S. for short visits. (I recall being told that he was here when I was 1 or 2 years old although I have no recollection of that fact.) I was told that while he was here on one occasion he worked on the construction of the stone wall that still remains to this day around the property (church and cemetery) of the Rumford [Newman] Congregational Church.

In 1887 Jose married Maria Aurelia de Silveira Furtado, daughter of Jose Silveira Furtado, a native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, who had returned with his parents to Praia do Norte. Of this union, there were 10 children, 7 boys and 3 girls. Antonio (my father, the oldest) was born June 5, 1888; Arlindo (Harold) August 22, 1891; Jose, July 19, 1893; Francisco, February 20, 1895; Joao (John) died in infancy; Maria, February 19, 1897; Francesca, September 9, 1900; Joao (John) (no date or month available) 1902; and two girls, Ana and Estacia who died in infancy.

Antonio (my father), the oldest, emigrated to the U.S. from the port of Horta, Faial on June 6, 1902, on the steamer "Dona Maria", reaching New York on June 17, and East Providence on June 18, 1902, staying temporarily at the home of Louisa Maciel Cordeiro, living at 34 Orchard St., until the 1st of July when he moved to the home of Estacio Andrade in Seekonk. He began working at the farm of David S. Peck. At the end of 1905 he returned to East Providence and for some time worked at [the] W.W. Co. (Woolworth's?), and from 1906 to 1912 for Henry J. Spooner on the East Side of Providence. In the summer of 1912 he went on a visit to Faial, and upon [his] return to the U.S. was employed by the Adam's Express Co. (forerunner of Railway Express.) From 1915 to 1917 he was employed by the D.W. Flint Ford Co. In 1917, with his brother Francisco (Frank) they founded the Maciel Brothers Market at 62 Purchase St., at the corner of Orchard St. in East Providence.

On January 16th, 1913 he had married Maria Jose Costa, born in Pedro Miguel, Faial, daughter of Antonio and Maria Paulina Costa. She was one of 13 children, born July 2, 1889, and came to the U.S. when she was twelve. I have little information of her other than that she worked in a mill in East Providence until she became a maid in the home of an East Side lawyer. At one time I recall my father saying he was a chauffeur for an East Side lawyer, and he earlier mentioned the name of Henry Spooner for whom he worked. (Could Spooner have been the same lawyer, and how he met my mother?)

My parents had two children, Anthony, Jr., who graduated from East Providence High School in 1932 and attended Providence College for one year when he went to work for our father in the liquor store, which he inherited and later operated as owner until his retirement when he sold the business. I was the second child, and in the Army when I married Odette A. Cardanha, the daughter of Serafim C. and Zulmira A. Cardanha, a well known couple in the Portuguese community of the Blackstone Valley, and lived in Pawtucket.

The market established by Anthony (my father Anglized his name when he became a citizen) and Frank grew until they were joined by brothers Harold and Joseph and moved to Warren Ave. where it became the largest grocery business in the area until the advent of the supermarket A & P in the mid-1920's. [The grocery business] had 2 small delivery wagons which employed drivers Manuel Dutra and Claude Silva with whom I used to ride on Saturday deliveries.

In 1928, my father left his share of the business to his brothers and became a co-founder and associate of the Alliance Finance Corp. with [an] office at 3 Governor St. in Providence and was the treassurer and manager until 1933 when he founded the Maciel Beverage Store at 233 Warren Ave. in East Providence and of which he was the proprietor until succeeded by my brother, Anthony, Jr., better known as Mickey.

Throughout a major part of his life, my father took an active part in Portuguese organizations, serving as an officer in some. He became president of the Holy Ghost Beneficial Brotherhood, which was also a branch of the Portuguese Fraternities of the U.S.A. of which he was elected Supreme President at a convention in 1926 at Plymouth, MA and in 1927 was re-elected by acclimation. After the 1926 convention he visited California accompanied by my mother, where there were several lodges, on the way stopping to attend the Eucharistic Congress in Chicago, and where they met the Bishop of Angra, Antonio Augusto de Castro Meirles, and in Oakland, CA, at a dinner in honor of the bishop he presented the bishop to the gathering.

For several years he served as a correspondent in RI for Portuguese newspapers of Fall River and New Bedford, MA where they were published.

In 1913 at a meeting of the HGBB he was nominated to a committee of three to study the possibility of founding a Portuguese church in East Providence. Eventually masses were said in the club's hall until the St. Francis Xavier church was founded in 1915 with it's first pastor, Rev. Father Jose P. Lopes. My father served as a collector at masses for many years, eventually being named auditor until his death.

In 1911 he purchased a house at 64 Prospect St. at the corner of Orchard St. Mickey and I were both born there at the 2nd floor apartment. Shortly after my birth in 1918, they purchased a one family house at 29 Prospect St. and we remained there until 1938 when the home at 229 Mauran Ave. was built.

On May 8, 1945, one year after the purchase of the summer home on Platt St. In Bristol Narrows, while in the process of moving a flag pole he suffered a heart attack and later on a couple of occasions was hospitalized after strokes. I was in the army in Europe when he suffered his first attack and I was unaware of condition until after my return in 1946.

Foreword

The following is a historical background of the island of Faial taken from the Bradt Travel Guide "Azores, " a book that Jay found at a yard sale.

"Discovered by the Portuguese in the early half of the 15th century, Flemish settlers came to Faial in 1468 and just 20 years later their numbers had grown to 1500. Horta became a busy seaport, then the only safe anchorage in the Azores. Portugal's population in the middle 1400's was only 1.5 million, so Prince Henry encouraged immigration from Flanders and for a time the Azores were known as the Flemish Islands because so many settled there."

In the middle 1900's, I met a man who had a cousin who had married a man from Flanders named "Maciel"! When he heard my name he thought I was a native of Flanders, he couldn't tell me much more. The couple had moved to the midwest and he didn't know exactly where.

Other nations of Europe were contacted by the Portuguese royal family to send their people to the Azores on the promise of land if they would become Portuguese citizens. Somewhere in some notes I found that one of my mother's grandfathers was a Swede! But no further information [was available] ... except that it makes our [more distant] background somewhat complex.

After Margaret [Brown Maciel] died, Jay brought me a box from the Mauran Avenue house that contained some notes written in Portuguese written by my father.

He started by writing that his father (my grandfather) was born on July 8, 1861 to Jose Silveira Maciel and Maria Dutra Maciel and named Jose. He became a well known mason and at the time my father wrote there were still buildings remaining that were built by him. I was told that Jose (my grandfather) visited the U.S. on a couple of occasions- once when he was a baby- of which I have no recollection. Also that while he was here in the U.S. on one occasion, that he supervised and worked on the stone wall that is around the Rumford Congregational Church and Cemetery.

In 1887, my grandfather Jose, had married Maria de Silveira Furtado, the daughter of Jose Silveira Furtado, a native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, who had returned to Faial with his parents. They had 10 children: Antonio (my father) was born June 5, 1888; Arlindo (Harold), August 22, 1891; Jose, July 19, 1893; Francisco, February 20, 1895; Joao (John) died in infancy; Maria, February 19, 1897; Francisca, September 9, 1900; Joao (John), November 9, 1902 (?); and two girls, Ana and Estacio who died in infancy.

Antonio (my father) the oldest child emigrated to the U.S. from the port of Horta on June 6, 1902 on the steamer "Dona Maria", reaching New York on June 17, and East Providence, June 18, staying at the home of Louisa Maciel Cordeiro (?) living at 34 Orchard Street until July 1st when he moved to the home of Estacio Andrade (?) in Seekonk and began working at the farm of David A. Peck. At the end of 1905, he returned to East Providence and for some time worked at W.W. Co. (Woolworth's?) and from 1906 to 11912 for Henry J. Spooner on the East Side of Providence [not East Providence.] In the summer of 1912 he returned on a visit to Faial and after returning to the U.S. was employed by Adam's Express Co. (forerunner of the Railway Express.) From 1915 to 1917 he was employed by the D.W. Flint [Fleet?] Ford Co. in Pawtucket. In 1917 with his brother Francisco (Frank) they founded the Maciel Bros. Market at 62 Purchase Street at the Corner of Orchard Street in East Providence.

On January 16, 1913, he married Maria Jose Costa, born July 2, 1889 in Pedro Miguel, Faial, daughter of Antonio and Paulina Costa. She was one of 13 children, the eldest girl (she had older brothers) and she came to the U.S. at the age of 12. I know little of her early life, except that she had worked in an East Providence mill until she became a maid in the home of a Providence East Side lawyer.

Earlier I mentioned that my father had told me that he had worked as a chauffeur for Henry Spooner, a lawyer who lived in the East Side. (Could Spooner have been the lawyer for whom my mother worked, and how they met?)