I was born into a family that is scattered in Portugal and internationally. Particularly on my father’s side, the family seems to enjoy crossing oceans and exploring a new life in new lands. Finding about them – who they were, what they did, where and when, is increasingly fascinating for me.
In this process I discovered many interesting things about my father’s family, including that:
– they ALL comes from the “Beiras”, in particular Vale Formoso, Cernache do Bonjardim, Nandufe
Рhas established itself in Portugal, Brazil, Guin̩, USA, UK, at least.
– that it included farmers, traders, railway and telecommunication engineers, haute couture dressmakers, military, antique dealers, etc.
– in Beira baixa, my ancestors, like most women were “tecedeiras” or “fiadeiras”.
– many men fought and died in the Great War in France, but some survived.
– I find generation upon generation having really difficult lives, with many children dying very young, poorly payed and hard jobs, German concentration camps, disease, etc… My generation is probably the first to have what one would consider a simpler life. I guess I need to be very thankful for all of them for trying so hard to make it less difficult for all of us that are alive now.
On my mother’s side, I am finding a family that as far as I can trace has been firmly rooted in the “Bairrada” Region of Beira litoral in Portugal (Bolho, Cantanhede), with a single venture into the promised land of Brazil. A mixture of farmers and traders with more recent generations benefiting from higher levels of education.
I have been using use Reunion for Mac to organize this research, but while I have grown a bit tired of this. I need more of a “Lab Note Book for genealogy”, where I can keep track of my own infrequent work and growing to do list, so I am now testing Mac FamilyTree 8 . I also use MyHeritage to share my data with family members. For my father’s family I have this page.
Below is a short genealogical chart, showing only my direct ascendents. It was generated using Mac FamilyTree 8. The image should have enough resolution for enlarging and reading.
If you happened to know of these people below, drop me a line. Also if you have information about the history and/or old media of Nandufe (Tondela), Aldeia do Mato/Vale Formoso (Covilhã) or Pampilhal (Cernache do Bonjardim), I would love to hear about these places.
