Paulo da Silva’s Second Marriage

I would like to begin this post by saying I love the work that is being done by the Arquivo Regional da Madeira.  They have been extracting information from their records and compiling a database.  It makes doing research very simple.  Thanks for this vital work.

But, this post could also be titled “why primary sources are so important.”  I have been reviewing some copies of these original documents that were filmed and part of the Family History Library microfilm collection of the LDS Church.  I looked at the marriage record that I have for Paulo da Silva to his wife Júlia Coelho dos Santos.  I was double checking the dates I have in my database, and I took a look at the little note in the margin.  Here’s a scan of the margin:

It is a little note that says that he was born on the 18th of February 1835, married a second time 28 June or July (my Portuguese is poor) 1868 and died 26 July (I think) 1910.  That sure is nice to get all that information from one record.  Then I realize, sadly for the first time, that it says he was married a second time in 1868.  I would have never known that if I didn’t look at the primary source document!

So what did I do next?  Well I hopped over to the Arquivo Regional da Maderia website and search the marriage record with “Paulo%da Silva%” as the husband and 1868 as the year.  Sure enough the database says Paulo da Silva married Maria Antónia de Vasconcelos in the parish of Porto Santo in 1868 (according to book 6302 page 7).  See I love their work.

Now armed with this information I hit the baptism records.  I search again for “Paulo%da Silva%” and “Maria%de Vasconcelos%” (I use the % wildcard when I search these databases) and find the following children

Child	Father	Mother	Parish	Date	Book	Page	Link
Manuel	Paulo da Silva	Maria Antónia de Vasconcelos	Porto Santo	07-01-1872	6272	2	VIEW
Agostinho	Paulo da Silva	Maria Antónia de Vasconcelos	Porto Santo	11-02-1877	6277	5	VIEW
Maria	Paulo da Silva	Maria Antónia de Vasconcelos	Porto Santo	26-01-1879	6279	3 v.º	VIEW
Helena	Paulo da Silva	Maria Antónia de Vasconcelos	Porto Santo	05-06-1881	6281	18	VIEW
Evangelina	Paulo da Silva	Maria Antónia de Vasconcelos	Porto Santo	08-08-1885	6285	26 v.º	VIEW
Leonilde	Paulo da Silva	Maria Antónia de Vasconcelos	Porto Santo	13-04-1891	6291	13	VIEW
Manuel	Paulo da Silva	Maria Antónia de Vasconcelos	Porto Santo	20-02-1888	6288	10	VIEW

So I now have a second family group!  The thing that I love to do is use both sources together.  Do searches using the ARM databases (since their archivists are more skilled at reading these documents than me) and use it like an index to find records when I order a film to from the FHL.

So that’s what I’m going to do.  It also leaves me with a question on when Julia Coelho died.  This was a great find!

Clara Soares – Mother of 9

I was revisiting the 1910 census for the Soares family and noticed something that I had never seen before.  According tot he census, Clara was the mother of 9 children, 7 of which were still alive.  This is of interest because I have only identified 5 children.  There are more children that I need to find.

Contacting Rose Silva’s Funeral Home

In reviewing the documents that I have I noticed that according to Rose Silva’s death certificate, the funeral director was Charles P. Bannon Inc.  Well after a quick Google search I found a CP Bannon Incorporated of Oakland CA.  I sent a quick email to see what information they could provide.

Cp Bannon Mortuary Incorporated

Taking a second look

I have been recently looking over sources that I have found for a second time with new eyes. It is interesting and insightful. For example, I looked at the 1930 Census for my great grand father John Silva. He and his second wife were living in Oakland California at the time with their children. The house that they lived in was valued at $4,000. This equates to about $50,000 today (I get this using the BLS’s inflation calculator). I then looked at a statistical abstract for the United States, published but the U.S. Census Bureau, for 1930 and discovered that the norm for foreign born whites in urban California. Yes I knew that my great grand father lived in Oakland California prior to this exercise but now that knowledge is so much richer.

Ready to Resume Research

After taking a pause to move my family, and purchase a house, and wait for RootMagic to release version 4 I am ready to resume my family history research.

Alfred Soares SS-5

I received a letter in the mail from the Social Security administration.  At first I thought it was another one of those phony Statement of Benefits for Social Security.  You know the forms that make it look like I am paying into a system and accruing benefits.  They are very misleading but that is beside the point. 

I opened the envelope and was pleasantly surprised to find my FOIA request response was enclosed.  It included a copy of the original application for the Social Security number that I found for Alfred Soares.  I have scanned this copy and have posted it with this entry.

There are a few interesting points to abstract from this document. 

• Alfred Soares filled it out himself and signed it
• It is dated 5-28-47
• He was 28 years old when he filled it out and was living at 1921 19th street in Bakersfield CA 
• He has no middle name
• He was employed at Guso (Gusa?) Cafe of Bakersfield CA
• He was born on 12-8-18 in the Hawaiian Islands (no other details listed)
• His parents were Tony (Dany?) Maranes & Julia Soares
• His full name given at birth was Alfred Soares (interesting fact because his father’s last name was Maranes)

Now this information comes close to and coincides with the information provided by the Cochran Mortuary’s records.  When I was looking over this information it struck me that José and Clara Soares, Alfred’s adopted parents had a daughter named Julia.  She was born about 1892 and did not leave Hawaii with the rest of the family.  Then I wondered if Alfred was the son of Julia and was adopted by his Grandparents.  Julia would have been about 26 year old in 1918 when Alfred was born which makes it a possibility.

It also opens some new questions.  If this is the same Alfred Soares, what is he doing in Bakersfield, CA.  His family was living in Oakland, CA as far as I knew.  This Alfred Soares ended up in Wichita KS where he died without family.  Questions about employment and moving come to mind.

Unfortunately the SS-5 does not shed any light on the mystery of Clara Delae.  There is still a good chance that we have the wrong Alfred Soares.  So right now it is filed under possibility, along with all the related information.

Been too busy

I haven’t posted in a while because I have been too busy  with work and other responsibilities to find time to do my family history research.  I am still waiting on the FOIA request with the Social Security Administration.  Nothing has come yet although I have not been expecting the request to be fulfilled yet.

FOIA Request – Alfred Soares

I haven’t posted anything the last few days because I have been busy at work and home, and have not had a chance to do any family history research.  I took a few minutes during my lunch break to make a Freedom of Information Act request. 

Since I have reason to beleive that the Alfred Soares that I found in the Social Security Death Index is a match, I have requested a copy of his Social Security Number Application (Form SS-5).  This is exciting because the SS-5 will include the father’s and mother’s full name.  Hopefully it will list his adopted parents names, and thus helping me to overcome my Clara Delae brickwall.  There is a chance that it will list his birth parents.

A response from Cochran Mortuary about Alfred Soares

So I received an email today from the Cochran Mortuary. Here is the email:

Mr. Silva:

I have found an Alfred Soares. My records don’t show any family surviving. Only a conservator and a friend that stepped forward to take care of him in death. Based on some of the information you have supplied me, I believe this is the same Alfred Soares. Below is the limited information I found.

Alfred J. Soares
Address at death: 2051 S. Kansas, Wichita, KS 67211
Date and Place of Birth: December 8, 1918 in Oahu, Hawaii
Date and Place of Death: April 28, 1986 at home
Place of Burial: Lakeview Cemetery in Wichita, Garden of Gethsemane II, Lot 8, Grave 11
Parents Names: Father: Manuel Monez, Mother: Julia Soares

I don’t know how accurate the names and information is, again, Mr. Soares did not have any family that stepped forward to take care of him in death. Our information came from a conservator and a friend.

I hope this information helps. I am sorry I don’t have any further information for you.

Sincerely,
The Cochran Family
by: Todd A. Phifer

Source Citation: Todd A. Phifer <cochranmc@aol.com>, “Re: Genealogy Research” e-mail to author, sent 22 April 2008.

Very interesting! So he thinks this is a match. The information is not from the most reliable sources, but he thinks it is a match.

So to recap why there is a good chance that this is a match: He was born in Hawaii with an exact match on the birth date. His social security number is from California. Now the names may be his birth parents and not his adopted parents. I think the next step is to send away for his social security application. I’m very excited about this. This might help me solve my brickwall.

Emailed Cochran Mortuary About Alfred Soares

I sent a second email to the Cochran Mortuary for more information on Alfred Soares.  I hope that they respond.  The mortuary need to know my relation to the deceased before releasing any information.  Alfred Soares is my great granduncle.  I hope that although I am not a direct descendant, the mortuary will provide me with some information.  If not I will have to post a cemetery lookup request to the local genealogical society or something like that.  It’s tough being so close.  At the same time, the mortuary is a business and answering these kinds of data requests are understandably not the top priority.  I’ll keep you posted.