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Genealogy isn’t just about tracing one’s family back as many generations as possible. It can reunite lost family members and even help people find a heritage they never knew about. Since starting my research I have found and connected with family members all over the country. It got to be that, at one point, whenever my aunt took a call from me, she would immediately ask, “Who did you find today?”! I have become known as the family detective.

I want to share just two of the many stories that have really made the hours of research so worth it.

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Since I could remember, Bibi, my great grandmother, spoke about her brother, Julio, who she never saw again after he boarded a ship for America in the late 1920’s. By 1918, Bibi (age 14)her brother, Julio(age 10), and sister, Carolina(age 6) were orphaned when their parents died during the global Spanish Flu epidemic. With only each other to rely on and with the help of their aged great-grandmother, Angelica, the siblings managed to survive their losses but life was permanently changed from the comfortable lives their parents had given them.

During this time, many Cape Verdeans, mostly men, risked everything in search for a better life and means to care for their families in Cape Verde. By the time Julio was in his twenties, he followed in the footsteps of family before him and boarded a ship for America. Bibi periodically heard about her brother through letters sent from America by other family members but they had completely lost touch with Julio until 1965, when a letter arrived from California. This letter included a picture of Julio, his wife, Rovilla, two daughters and two granddaughters.

Time went on and by 1971, Bibi finally arrived in the US – a month after Julio passed away. Bibi never let any of us forget that she had this brother and that somewhere in California we had family.

Fast forward 41 years and after years of researching my family history, I decided, last year (2011) to try again to look for information about Julio. I found an obituary for him from 1971 that listed his remaining survivors. Eventually, I found a tree on ancestry.com that included some of these same names and decided to send this person an email. Later that day, I received a response and by the end of the day, I was on the phone with Julio’s two daughter’s!!! The best part of this is that it was my birthday and I could never have asked for a better gift than to put closure to a family journey that spanned 83 years and 3000 miles.

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In 2010, I had autosomal DNA testing called Family Finder through FamilytreeDNA. Among my first matches was a woman named Linda who showed to be a 3rd cousin- we apparently shared a common great-grandparent. When we first spoke I learned that not only did she live in the same state as me but she was also adopted at birth and was trying connect with her birth family. Her mother was an American and she only knew that her father was a black Portuguese man from Falmouth. She had found records of people with her father’s name but they were from the Azores. She was never convinced her biological father was Azorean but rather a Cape Verdean. I assured her that if we were that closely related then he was Cape Verdean since all my great-grandparents were born on the islands.

One year later, I’m excited to say that Linda has made contact with her biological siblings in Massachusetts and speaks with one of her sisters on the phone at least a few times a day! Her father, unfortunately, passed away in 1995 but she now has a much larger family that includes many brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews – and one distant cousin 🙂

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In my family, growing up, we were raised to understand that family wasn’t just a set of parents and siblings. Family meant aunts, uncles and so many cousins that after a while you considered and treated everyone like cousins- like family (whether we were sure or not). We laugh sometimes because there are people in our lives that we know as “cousins” but no one had ever explained exactly how we were related. It’s actually fun,now,to be able to explain, for example, that cousins I grew up with and saw everyday, were actually related because their great-grandmother was my great-grandmother’s aunt! That’s how it is in many families, especially Cape Verdean ones. In recent years I have added many, many, many additional lines to my extended family tree and look forward to adding more.

Is it possible to learn more about the origins of the Creole spoken in Cape Verde today by studying its history and, more specifically, it’s genealogy? Is it possible that the people who eventually settled on the islands, besides the Portuguese, also brought their languages? Cape Verdeans are not just descendants of Portuguese slave traders and African slaves. In fact, among the white population found throughout its history, we find Spaniards, Italians, French, English and Dutch people, among others and to consider the African impact as a singular influence is incorrect. Among them were Mandigo, Jalofa, and  Fulani, to name a few. Each of the above had their own cultures and languages that is inarguably evidenced in Cape Verde, today.

Creole languages are believed to be the result of the convergence of two languages resulting in a pidgin. One theory is that our Crioulo is a simplified Portuguese used to communicate with African speakers. A second theory is that it is an example of the innate language sense and universal grammar we are all born with as described by Bickerton (1981) and Chomsky (1965). Antonio Carreira (1983) describes the origin of our Crioulo as derived from a Portuguese pidgin spoken in mainland Portugal in the late 1400’s by black slaves brought over from Africa citing “lingua dos pretos” (language of the blacks) in early writings that contain some linguistic features found in Crioulo. Some have also written that early Crioulo is derived from Galician Portguese which is very different for modern Prtuguese. Dr. Marlyse Baptista, a Cape Verdean linguist, calls the above “proto-Kriolu” that eventually traveled to Santiago with the first settlers.

Linguists have then postulated that this “pidgin” was deliberately taught to these black slaves in order to use them as translators on the Guinea coast during the beginnings of the Atlantic Slave trade. For this to have been the beginnings of Cape Verdean Crioulo spoken today would have meant that every early Portuguese (and Spanish, Dutch, Italian, and English) settler spoke the same pidgin and taught this to every black slave brought to Cape Verde.

When you look at the early population of Cape Verde within the first 100 years, we know that among the white population existed a large number of Jews who were either “enticed” to leave Portugal with promise of a part in the settlement of Cape Verde or were exhiled during the Portuguese Inquisitions of the 1490’s onward. There were Conversos, as well as non-conversos, who may have found a place to practice their faith in relative anonymity and isolation. Many were relegated to “ghettos” and not fully accepted into the elite circles. These Jews, mostly men, freely intermingled with the black and mixed populations of the islands.

We also know that at the same time there was disdain among the Portuguese royals of the growing “Crioulo” culture and language resulting in more women (including female Jewish exhiles) sent to Cape Verde and they discouraged the use Crioulo being spoken. They were clearly not proponents of using and teaching Portuguese Pidgin to the population in its reign during the Atlantic Slave Trade. It’s very likely that the Crioulo language that emerged among the mixed people was hugely influenced by the Judeo-Portuguese speakers who were involved in every aspect of Cape Verdean culture.

Take, for example, Papiamento spoken in the “ABC” islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. Speakers of Crioulo easily understand Papiamento and, indeed, it has been documented that Papiamento has its origins based in the creole languages of Cape Verde and the guinea coast. It is also widely written of its Ladino, or more correctly, Judeo-Portuguese origins, as well. The people who settled these islands were the same people in Cape Verde and there are many passport records documenting Cape Verdeans traveling to these islands, among others, during this time period. If Papiamento is based in Judeo-Portuguese then it has to also be assumed that Cape Verdean Crioulo is, as well.

Judeo-Portuguese, just like its Spanish counterpart, Ladino, was spoken by Sephardic Jews in Portugal and Spain. Traces of Ladino is found in most Latino countries, including Mexico, where many Sephardic Jews and conversos were found. Ladino is still spoken but its speakers is dwindling in numbers.Judeo-Portuguese is thought to have died out in the 19th century. It was spoken by Morranos or conversos in Portugal and spread to other countries like Holland, Italy and Northern Germany where these Morranos “re-assumed Judaism” according to http://www.jewish-languages.org. In many places, Judeo-Portuguese speakers were absorbed into the larger Spanish – Ladino or “judezmo” speaking communities. There is nothing to suggest that Judeo-Portuguese was not spoken in Cape Verde.

We have evidence of Jewish ancestry in our traditions of Nodjadu, cemeteries and even towns called Synagogue. Couldn’t it then also be possible to study words used in Crioulu such as “fijo” (son/daughter) which is “filho” in Portuguese and “hijo” in Spanish to show evidence of Judeo influence? Words like “fijo” is used in Ladino where the /h/ is replaced by /f/. I think there is a very good case to be made for the study of Judeo-Portuguese roots in Cape Verdean Crioulo. If this proves to be true then it may open more conversation as to the impact on Cape Verdean culture by Jews from the beginning of Cape Verdean history and not just the influence of those found on the islands from Gibraltar and Morocco since the mid-1800’s.

I have written previously about Jews in Cape Verde and about “Nodjadu” reflecting the Jewish Shiva. Jews have been present in Cape Verde since its first settlement and undoubtedly brought their traditions with them. During the Inquisitions of Spain and Portugal, Jewish families were forced to convert to Christianity or face persecution and sometimes death. Thousands of Jews were burnt alive for refusing to renounce their religion.

For those who found themselves in Cape Verde, it was possibly an opportunity to continue practicing their traditions without as great a risk as they may have faced in Portugal. Many families practiced their beliefs privately while living as Christians publicly. They observed holidays and ate kosher. They didn’t baptize their children and even practiced Rosh Hashana!

Religious synchronism is the merging of two or more belief systems. What I grew up observing is probably a very good example of the synchronicity of religions in Cape Verde. Synchronistic traditions are not solely Christian and Jewish. We have many traditions that also have African as well as other European roots. Much of the traditions of Sephardic Judaism have been lost and of those that remain, most who still practice them have no idea why they do them. Many, like I had, think its part of Roman Catholic traditions or “just the way Cape Verdeans do things”. But it seems that those rituals that have to do with the way we come into this world and how we leave it remained almost unchanged.

In many Cape Verdean families, it is traditional to name a child on the eighth day, “setima Noite” with a small celebration. This is very similar to the Jewish Bris where a child’s name remains secret until the 8th day and circumcision ceremony for boys. My great-grandmother, who was also a mid-wife, made sure to tell me before the birth of my daughter, that the first thing to touch her body should be a piece of clothing that belonged to her father. She explained that this was something that was done long ago to bring luck to the child. I have no idea whether there is any connection to Jewish tradition here but I wanted to include this because it was a very important tradition in Brava that demonstrates the role of ritual in their way of life.

Before a child is baptized, it is usual to place a “conta d’odju” on a string around the waist of a child. The conta d’odju is a black ball with white dots. The number of dots vary but they are always odd numbered. The belief is that any evil spirits or the evil eye is absorbed by the ball and wards the child from those evil spirits before baptism. When the ball has absorbed any of these evil spirits it bursts and the next time a mother goes to change the child’s diaper, she may only find the string intact and no conta d’odju! Baptisms usually happened soon after.

Christians believe that all children are born with original sin. Baptism is a way to rid humans of this original sin and welcome a child into God’s family. Jews believe all children are born pure, without the blemish of sin and are born into God’s family.

Jews do not baptize their children as this was an act of Christianity. In Cape Verde, it was not unusual for a family to go through the act of baptism. I believe this may be another example of synchronicity. There are many records of children being baptized within a week of birth and this was also when parents first named their children.

When a person dies, there is a custom in some families in Cape Verde to tear clothing which is then tied around the wrist of the immediate family members. This is very similar to the Jewish Kriah, where immediate family tore articles of clothing, on the left side (close to the heart) for immediate relatives and the right side for others. Sometimes, a black ribbon is simple tied around the arm of the relatives. Here is a picture of a family member in Brava demonstrating Kriah with the black armband.

My great-grandmother first explained to me the proper ways of Nodjadu to explain why it was improper that some of our younger family members were going out during the first 30 days after a family members death. I remember her explaining to me how she had helped tend to many people after death which included closing their eyes, washing their bodies and wrapping them in cloth. They would bury the body by sundown but where the death may have occurred later in the day, she would sit would the body through the night. It was, also, customary for the family of the deceased to wail as the body was carried from the home to the burial site

Bibi explained that the family stayed in the house and did no work for seven days after the death of a loved one. Extended relatives and friends would come to the home for “visita” – a very important act that is still very important within the Cape Verdean culture. During “visita” others would bring food for the family. During most visitas I have been to, the immediate female relatives stayed in the bedroom, never the kitchen or living room, while the men received people in the living room. Mirrors in the were supposed to be covered or turned around. Bibi explained that because people have to work, we only do this in America on the weekends  (which equals 7 days) whereas, this takes place over the first seven days in Cape Verde. It’s customary for family members to stay at the home where “visita” takes place but its acceptable for family to go home to sleep and return in the morning.

When my paternal grandfather passed away, my father observed tradition by not shaving or cutting his hair during the mourning period. It’s expected that family members wear black during the first 30 days and when making any “visitas”. The observance of wearing black extends for 6 months for immediate family and a year for parents and children of the deceased. It is not uncommon for widows and widowers to continue wearing black for a longer period of time. My great-grandmother wore black continuously for 42 years when she was widowed at the age of 24. She rarely wore bright clothes even afterwards.

The Jewish Shiva begins when the person is buried and continues for seven days. Sitting Shiva includes family members of the deceased not leaving the home during this time and receiving people who bring food as they are not allowed to cook. Mirrors are covered in the home in observance of the idea that mourners should not do anything for their comfort which includes changing clothes or other things of vanity like looking at yourself in a mirror. Sitting Shiva includes family members staying in the home but it is acceptable for them to go home to sleep. You’re not allowed to wear leather, shave or cut you hair during this time as well.

Shiva services are done in the home which includes prayer. During Nodjadu, it is common for a cape verdean priest or nun to come to the home to lead prayer services with the family.

During the first 30 days, a widow or parent of a deceased child usually does not return to work while other family members do. Once the 30 days are over, for most, people continue usual life activities but it’s frowned upon to listen to music or attend celebratory activities. The end of the first 30 days of mourning ends with a mass followed by food in the home of the deceased. People are not expected to continue “visitas” after the 30 day mass.

For Jews, this period of time is called Shloshim. The first thirty days, some activities are permitted for most people besides parents of a deceased child.

The Cape Verdean mourning period does not officially end until one year after the death of a loved one. There is a mass held for the deceased followed by “visita” or receiving of people at the home where food is served. This is also the time that it’s expected to have a gravestone placed at the burial site. There is no steadfast rule to the timing of the placement but it is definitely expected that this be done by the first anniversary of the death.

Jewish custom is to have an unveiling or dedication of the grave marker at the one year anniversary of the deceased’s burial. 

Another tradition I believe was observed at least on the island of Brava, was Rosh Hashana, or the Jewish New Year. My great-grandmother told me that when she was young, she and her family members would dress in white and go to the beach around New Year’s day. They would say prayers and throw bits of food into the water as a way to usher in the new year. I always believed this to by some synchronistic ritual with African roots as it had no elements of Catholicism that I recognized, especially after 12 years of Catholic school educations. That is, until I began to research Jewish customs and traditions and found that this is exactly the ritual followed by most Jews at Rosh Hashana!

This particular tradition of dressing in white and throwing bread in the water was usually done by the Cohanim, or members of the priestly family of Tribe of Levi, descendants of Aaron, to bring the New Year by tossing away sins from the past year and beginning anew. These people, the Cohanim/Cohens, historically, held certain responsibility during synagogue services including Tashlich – the exact ritual described by my great-grandmother!

 The origin and meaning of Tashlich comes from this verse in the Old Testament;

God will take us back in love;
God will cover up our iniquites,
You [God] will hurl all our sins
Into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19)

(This is actually one tradition I think I may start to observe. I like the idea of tossing out the sins (and mistakes) of the past year and not carrying the baggage into the new one.)

Even more interesting is the fact that my family name, Coelho, is a variation of the name Cohen or Cohanim – Priestly family. It is thought that Coelho was a name taken by conversos (Jews converted to Christianity) that had a meaning in nature, rabbit,  like da Lomba (woods), da Silva (bush) or Oliveira (Olive bush). But the actual name that would have derived from rabbit is Cunha which is a surname found in Cape Verde. Coelho is not a converso name. It is actually the Jewish name of my ancestors who either fled or were exhiled to Cape Verde during the Inquisitions. There is an Inquisition record of a Joam Coelho in Portugal. There is also record of a Joam Coelho and his brother, Ergas, who were donantarios of the island of Maio, ancestors to the Coelho’s of Brava.

My paternal ancestors would light candles on Friday nights. My father recalls that he saw his mother, aunts, and grandmother do this on Friday evenings but did not know that this was the ritual of Shabbat to usher in the day of Sabbath. Shabbat is a ritual of lighting candles, usually two, to signify “Remember the Sabbath” and “Observe the Sabbath”.  Some families use the number of children in the household to determine how many candles to light. But that number can never be reduced.

There is no question that Cape Verde’s history includes Jews who were fleeing or who were exiled solely because of their religious beliefs. And now, as more and more Cape Verdeans are more open about their memories of family prayer rituals and other Jewish traditions, we can begin to look at how these and other religious and ethnic influences have shaped Cape Verdean identity.

In the first session held of the 28th Congress of the United States in 1844, on the floor of the US capital, the story was told of a young man named Marcelino who escaped from slavery in Cape Verde after boarding the Barque, Pantheon.

Joao Jose Claudio de Lima, a merchant from Rabil, Boa Vista, had his most trusted and skilled slave, Marcelino, tending to his many boats. First hand accounts from that day describe Mercellino as a “ladino” which best suggests that he was of mixed ancestry and probably the son of Mr. De Lima. Other accounts tell of Marcelino rushing past the custom house with a bundle under his arm and when asked where he was going, he replied that he was going to look after one of the boats that had gotten tangled up. Another witness described seeing Marcelino swimming from his master’s boat to the Pantheon where he was helped aboard.

Joao Jose Claudio de Lima immediately tried to get his slave back but was unsuccessful since the Pantheon was already outside of Cape Verde’s jurisdiction. His only other resort was to file an official complaint against Captain Borden, the owner of the Pantheon and  the United States government for compensation of his “stolen property”. His complaint, filed on March 7, 1844, stated;

I, John Joseph Claudius de Lima, a merchant in the city of Praia, Santiago, declare that on the 26th of December last, the whaling barque Pantheon, from Fall River, in the United States of America, while under sail off this port, set about to buy refreshments, which remained all day, and retired at seven o’clock in the evening. During the stay of that boat ashore, her crew enticed away a young “ladino” slave named Marcelino, by trade a carpenter and sailor, belonging to the petitioner and carried him away furtively on board and took him to the place whither the vessel was abound, causing the petitioner to lose an annual sum of a hundred and fifty milReis, clear of all expenses, as he earned at least 600 Reis a day…


Captain Borden and the Patheon sailed out of the port of Fall River, Massachusetts in 1841, stopping in Cape Verde for supplies. The ship was owned by Isaac Hall who served as a state representative for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1837 to 1872. Mr Hall was known to be very anti-slavery and even left the Democratic party because if it. The Pantheon was a 271 ton whaling ship which was commissioned by President Martin Van Buren on June 3, 1841. I haven’t found further information on Joao Jose Claudio de Lima’s petition or whether he received any of the 800,000 milReis he actually petitioned for. In searching the records for the Pantheon, I only found a “Manuel” from Cape de Verd who arrived with the ship to the US in 1844. Captain Daniel Borden died at sea in the summer of 1849 and Isaac Hall kept serving the Massachusetts House of Representatives until his death in 1872.

Joao Jose Claudio de Lima was a well-to-do land owner, ship builder, merchant and slave holder from Boa Vista, Cape Verde. There are records of him in his dealings with Manuel Antonio Martins, also from Boa Vista who was the first civilian governor of Cape Verde, who built the salinas on the island of Sal and made his money in the salt industry.

It is difficult to make a direct connection between my earliest Lima ancestor, Rosa Joanna de Lima, and Joao Jose Claudio de Lima, however, they were both from the exact area of Rabil, the northern part of Cabecinhas.  The vital records that are in existence for Boa Vista only date back to the 1870’s. But there are other records showing Mr. de Lima as the owner date back to the early 1800’s so I am placing his birthdate to the late 1700’s. I am guessing Rosa was born around 1800 or so. Her son, Luis Antonio, was born in 1826. Most of the de Lima’s I have found from that time period were all from Rabil.

I hope Marcelino was able to make a life for himself after escaping slavery in Cape Verde. He probably arrived in the US with the Pantheon in 1844 and maybe even continued working on other whaling ships for a living. Maybe he settled in Fall River or New Bedford and had a family. Perhaps he decided to get off at another port in New Zealand, Cardiff , or Hawaii, as so many other Cape Verdean whalers did. We may never know what happened to Marcelino but the story of a slave named Marcelino who escaped slavery in Cape Verde is forever recorded in the Congressional Papers in the Library of Congress of the United States of America and his story is still being told almost two hundred years later.

I previously wrote about how I was a bit uncertain on when my great grandmother, Joana, was born. On some documentation, she is listed as having been born in the 1886. Her obituary reads that she was 75 years old when she died in 1961. But her headstone says that she was born in 1876! In doing more research, I actually saw paperwork that shows 1886 crossed out and someone writing in 1876. This paperwork was corrected by her son, Daniel.

So this means that she was the child and not the grandchild of Luis Antonio de Lima and Camilla Fortes Ramos Lima. This also means that her name was originally Querina and that she was born in Rabil, Boa Vista on March 25, 1876. She was one of five children,including, Palmira, Manoel, Maria, and Antonio. Their father, Luis, died in 1882, at the age of 56. There are no further records for Camilla after this time.

Boa Vista was devestated between 1883-1886 and between 1896-1898, when crops failed there. It was around this time that Joanna was sent to Brava to live with relatives who at the time were being sustained by money and goods being sent from America. She had an uncle, Francisco Lima, living in Brava at the time. It is probably the case that she was brought there as an orphan because of the droughts.

According to Richard Lobban in the Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cape Verde, there was a total of 58 years of famine and over 250,000 deaths between 1747 and 1970. Learning more about my great-grandmother, Joana, has made me realize that we, her descendants, are so lucky to be alive today.

I became very interested in the Gomes Family of Harwich and Onset, MA while researching my Great Grandmother’s life in Onset after she immigrated to the US in 1916. Joana Fortes Lima arrived in New Bedford, MA in 1916 and was able to save and send for one of her sons, Daniel Fortes Lima, in 1918. Daniel was 5 years old when he traveled with his father, Marcelino Teofilo Rodrigues, on the trans-Atlantic trip that would reunite him with a mother he barely remembered.

Joana lived on Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford with her god-mother, Domigas Fernandes, and her husband, Julio. How she made a living is a bit unclear but it would have probably have been in one of the many textile mills in New Bedford. She may have even supplemented her income with seasonal work on the Cape picking cranberries as many Cape Verdeans living in New Bedford at the time did. This assumption is made even more plausible when she met and married Manuel B. Gomes on December 18, 1920. A widower, Manuel lived in the Pleasant Lake area of Harwich and then in Onset, MA at the time.

The 1930 census of Onset, Ma shows Manuel and Joana living with his sons John, James, and daughter, Virginia from his first marriage and twins, Edward and Benvinda, who were 8 years old at the time.

Manuel arrived in the US in 1894 from Fogo, Cape Verde, with four brothers, John (Joao), George (Jorge), Peter (Pedro) and Joseph (Jose). He also had a sister, Amelia (Gomes) Viera, also living in Pleasant Lake, and a sister, Louisa, in Fogo, Cape Verde. His parents were Guillermo (William) Gomes and Maria Monteiro. Guillermo may have also lived in Harwich and died in 1935. Manuel’s brother John, owned a local store in Harwich but was, tragically, killed possibly by the former husband of his wife in 1913.

George, born in 1889, was married to Mary Pena (1891) on April 10, 1909. Peter (1891) was married to Eugenia Gomes Santos on January 16, 1913 and then to Caroline Viera on November 6, 1915. Joseph was married to Mary, date unknown. Joseph and Mary lived in Onset, next door to Manuel and Joana, with their children, including Joseph B. Gomes, who died in the battle of Iwo Jima, I believe, while saving the life of a fellow soldier. There is a bridge located on Charge Pond Rd, Wareham, dedicated in his name.

Manuel married Philomena Pena Dias on August 10, 1895, who was born in Fogo, Cape Verde. She arrived in the US with her sister, Mathilde, to meet their parents in Harwich. Her parents, Joaquim Dias and Julia Pena Dias arrived in the US sometime prior and worked in the cranberry bgs there. Manoel and Philomena, known as Fannie, had a daughter, Mary Gomes Sequira (1897-1930), Albert (1899-1900), James (1901-1901), Benjamin (1902-1971), Julio (1905-?), Amos (1907-1957), John (1910-1977), James (1913-1991), Virginia (1915-1991) and Raymond, known as Boboy (1919-1991). Fannie died on September 13, 1919. Raymond lived with grandmother, Julia, at age 80, as an infant after his mother died. His oldest sister, Mary, was shown to have cared for Benjamin and Raymond after their mother’s death. Her sense of family and caring for them ran deep; all the sibling burial plots had been purchased by Mary shortly after the death of her husband, Joaquim Siquera, in 1819. Grandmother, Julia, died in 1930. Twins, Edward and Benvinda, were born December 14, 1921.

The Gomes family lived on Bertino street in Onset. By 1940, Julio was living in Boston and Virginia was married and living in New Bedford. Benvinda, called Gala, was living with her parents and married to George Miranda (1915-1992), son of Francisco (Frank) Miranda and Justina J. Miranda. George had three sister, Mary, Margaret and Annie, and a brother, Amos.

Manuel died in 1942. His obituary listed a daughter, Irene, in addition to the ones listed above. He was buried at St Patrick’s cemetary where Joana was also buried along side him in 1961.

When my grandfather, Raimundo, finally arrived in the US in 1959, meeting his mother, Joana and brother, Daniel, (also known as Mochu) for the first time, he lived in the house on Bertino St. My uncles, Boboy and Reinaldo, and my aunt, Stella, lived for a time on the Cape before Raimundo moved the family to Brockton for work. Since then our families have grown apart through years and distance but has never forgotten one another.

I have such great memories of Ti Gala and George. Much of my summers were spent taking rides with my family to the Cape, going to Ti Gala’s house which was across the way from a field that my grandmother and other family members tended and harvested all types of vegetables. We would walk over to Ti Doris’ house, a cute blue cottage built by her husband, my great-uncle, Daniel, to have lunch, sitting in her front yard on her white garden furniture in the shade of a large tree. I will always remember her cat-shaped glasses and her white dog that I’m sure spoke English. If you said “hi” to him it really did sound like you got a “hi” right back! Nho Frank would come running from his house whenever he caught a glimpse of my great-grandmother – I think he had a crush on her and she never gave him the time of day…. I think, lol!

It’s my hope that we will be able to gather the family at an annual family reunion at Onset Beach. So if you’re a Gomes, Lima, Miranda and Baptiste (or related to one) from Harwich, Wareham and Onset, expect an invite for next summers reunion!

I’m guessing that ignorance is something that Amilcar Cabral would have probably not been in favor of. Cabral, father of Cape Verdean independence, not only fought a war of guns but, more importantly, of the mind. He felt it important enough to assure that Cape Verdean records were preserved for later generations to understand not just the struggle for independance but, in essence, the core of what it was to be Cape Verdean. Rather than having our history written for us, preserving the actual records allows those of us of Cape Verdean ancestry to understand our history and self identify as Caboverdeanos.

I don’t think it was right for the Portuguese government to dictate our identity based on political manipulations and untruths in an effort to squash independent thinking and I certainly don’t think that it’s for anyone to try to do the same thing now.

I began this journey to trace my personal family tree and genealogy and along the way learned a great deal about Cape Verde’s history as a colony and as an independent nation. These are just some of the truths I have learned more about through fact based research;

1. Cape Verde was “discovered” by Italian sailors under the Portuguese Flag. There is literature that state that there were Wolof as Fula peoples present in Santiago but not other islands. The Portuguese also found the Gaunches (Aboriginal Berbers) on the Canary islands and wiped them out as an ethnic group, killing them or selling them off into the Atlantic Slave Trade to the Americas.

2. It’s initial European population was made up of a significant number of “conversos” or converted Jews during the Inquisitions.

3. Slaves were brought to the islands to work its plantations as well as by way of Cape Verde being a seasoning point through which Africans were captured, baptized and given Christian names and then sold off to be traded in the Caribean, Central and South America, including Brazil.

4. Africans that were kept in Cape verde were used for particular skills the had, ie weaving,etc.

5. The Portuguese and other European settlers rarely traveled with women and such had relations, forced and otherwise, with African women, even marrying them. There are plenty of letters written to the King complaining of these relationships taking place and in response the Portuguese began exhaling more Portuguese women to offset this phenomenon.

6. Within the first century of its existence, Cape Verde recorded a large number of “mulatto” or mixed peoples.

7. On the island of Santiago, that had the largest number of African slaves that far outnumbered the Europeans, there were uprisings and many of them fled to areas outside the major settlements. This group of people remained mostly ethno-genetically pure African. They were called ‘badius (vagabonds in Portuguese).

8. The other islands contupinued to have growing numbers of mixed peoples, with some areas having larger European descendants or new immigrants from places like Madeira and the Azores; some as voluntary immigrants but most were criminal, political and religious exiles. I have found and studied records of their sentences of time spent in Cape Verde for various crimes committed. Many never went back to Portugal.

9. The Africans who made up much of the slave population were Wolof, Fula, Mandike, and Yoruba to name just a few. Many were previously captured by other African kingdoms and used to trade with the Europeans for guns to use in other wars and battles.

10. Kriolu, as a language, is the culmination of various linguistic influences. A creole language by definition, is a culmination of two or more languages that emerges (by the off spring) with a it’s own distinct linguistic features, using the vocabulary and phonology (sound system) of those languages. Birkerton (University of Hawaii) states that the linguistic features of creole languages mirror the innate language sense that we’re all born with. So, Capeverdean kriolo could not have existed if it wasn’t for the mixing in the islands.

11. Lancados, people of mixed portuguese and african ancestry and usually son’s of european slave owners, were used capture Africans in the mainland or to, at times,negotiate in the trade of Africans with other African leaders.

12. In 1849, a commission was created in Boa Vista whose mission was the abolishment of slavery in Cape Verde. I have copies of the original documents.

13. Cape Verde had as many as 3000 slaves traded per year in the early 1600’s. The English signed their treaty abolishing the English slave trade while the Portuguese half-heatedly signed theirs in 1810. By 1851, it was illegal to transport slaves to Santo Antaõ and Sao Nicolão but I have passport records of people who traveled with their “escravos”, slaves well into the 1860’s and 1870’s. Slavery was officially abolished in 1878 in Cape Verde and the term “criada” or caretaker was used to classify servants who lived and worked for families (presumably with no pay).

14. AND because of a half Guinean and half Cape Verdean man who dared to stand against political oppression and colonialism that led to the liberation of two countries from the shackles of colonialism, I am free to sing a morna, dance funana and write all about it all day, if I wanted to – in English and Kriolu!

I can trace my Fogo family tree to the Canuto family of Sao Laurenco, Fogo of the late 1700’s. Fogo was one of the first islands populated by the Portuguese and was primarily used for plantations harvesting coffee beans and slave trading. Other than Santiago, Fogo had the largest number of slaves recorded in its census. There was also a fairly large number of Europeans there which included the Vasconcellos, Henriques, Roiz, Nozolini and Barbosa families that were heavily involved in politics and the slave trade.

One of the most interesting facts about Fogo is that it was the only island that did not
fly the Spanish Flag during the period of Spanish occupation of Portugal in the late 1500’s. That fighting spirit certainly lives strong in our Fogo genes today!

Some of the wealthiest Europeans lived in Fogo and during episodes of famine, drought or volcanic eruptions they would migrate to nearby Brava which up until the 1680’s had a population numbering in the hundreds. The initial inhabitants of Brava were Europeans, most probably of Jewish ancestry. The Fogo migrants brought some of their slaves with them. Some families returned to Fogo once conditions allowed while others stayed. We see evidence of this through records of even some families that split between Brava and Fogo; the Lopes, de Barros Abreu, Pires, Oliveira, and Barbosa families to name just a few.

Fogo also records some of the largest numbers of free blacks in Cape Verde. This is evidenced in records as late as the mid 1800’s where one’s free status was included in Baptismal and Marriage records. Only certain records contained this status clause leading one to conclude that this was to delineate certain people from others that were clearly identified as “escravos” or slaves of a particular person. The Europeans were either identified as “proprietors” or land owners or “trabalhadors”, workers.

My grandfather, Joao Antonio Lopes, was born in Relva, Mosteiro to Jose Antonio Lopes and Maria de Barros Abreu. Jose first emigrated to the States in the late 1890’s to New Bedford and to the Cape where he stayed with a cousin, Anibal Jose Lopes, and brother-in-law, Cristiano de Barros. Jose worked the railroads in the Cape as did many cape Verdean migrants who weren’t working the cranberry bogs.

Jose Antonio was the son of Roberto Jose Lopes and Caetana (Caterina) Lopes de Barros Abreu. Roberto was the son of Jose Antonio Canuto and Francesco Lobo of Sao Lourenco, Fogo. He also had a brother, Candido Jose Lopes.

Maria de Barros Abreu was the daughter of Pedro de Barros Abreu and Maria Michalina Lopes Friere. Pedro was the son of Andre de Barros Abreu and Joanna de Andrade. Andre was the son of Joao de Barros Abreu. Maria Michalina was the daughter of Joao Lopes Friere and Rosa Gonsalves.

My family had stopped using the Abreu and Friere surnames. I assume that the additional surname was to distinguish themselves from other lines of Barros and Lopes families. Abreu was sometimes used to identify people who came from Galician or northern/central region of Portugal, specifically Abreu in the Minho province. There was also a large presence of Abreu’s in Madeira. Fogo had many emigrants from Madeira.

The origin of Friere surname is a little more interesting. The Friere surname is most common in the Galician region, around Coimbra. It is said that when Charles V came to the throne, having been born in Germany, he moved to Spain bringing many of his friends including a Dutch Frie Herr family who settled in the Galicia/ Coimbra region. Another account tells of two brothers from the Bourbon Kingdom (border of France and Germany) who took up arms against the Ottoman empire in defense of Europe in the 1300’s. These brothers became known as Friere (brother) and many of the the men who fought with them took up this name as part of a fraternity. The Pope eventually gave them land in the Galicia region where you still have a very strong presence of Friere’s. It is also stated that a particular line of the Friere’s had a deep involvement in sea industry and exploration and eventually ended up in many parts of the world. The Friere’s were physicians, philosophers, farmers, priests and merchants. There is every reason to believe that they would have been a part of the new and growing industry of the Atlantic slave trade in Cape Verde. During the 14th and 15th centuries, the Friere de Andrade family was one of Portugal’s most influential and important families. The Friere and Andrade families are very well documented in Mosteiro. Relva, in particular, seemed to exist primarily of Lopes, de Barros Abreu, de Andrade and da Cruz families with a few Fernandes marriages in the 1800’s.

It may have been important during Cape Verde’s heyday to self-identify according to specific family delineations especially in places like Fogo where racial separation was an unfortunate way of life. A de Barros Abreu would have had a completely different status than that of a de Barros who was someone’s slave. As Cape Verde’s influence declined in the 1800’s such concepts weren’t as necessary since everyone was in the same boat trying to survive many bouts of drought and famine without Portugal’s aide and comfort.

Fogo had many large and influential families which included the Nozolini and Roiz families which I want to mention briefly to illustrate the diversity of European ancestry which can be found in Fogo. The Nozolini’s of Italian origins and Roiz’ of Spanish origins were the ancestors of Brava’s most famous citizen, Eugenio Tavares, who’s mother was born on the island of Fogo and later went to Brava to stay with family after having to leave the Guinean Coast during some civil unrest. Eugenio was born in Brava shortly after she arrived. She, unfortunately, died during childbirth.

The histories of Fogo and Brava are deeply intermingled. Many, if not most, of the families in Brava originated in Fogo. I know this is true of my Barbosa and Rodrigues family, as well as, many other surnames in Brava today.

The problem of identity is a complex issue when it comes to Cape Verde. Especially if your ancestry is from Brava and Fogo you will inevitably come to an undeniable question; What does it mean to be black or white? The business of genealogy implies the chance that you will find a person or branch that will make you question the core of what you always thought you were.

America has long established “rules” for identification. The one drop rule automatically defines us as black in the United States. Having one white and one black parent makes you black. Having one grandparent who was black makes you black. We self-define in this way without hesitation. I agree that if I were to go around telling people I was white even through the majority of my genes say that I am, people may question my sanity.

After getting the results of my autosomal DNA test, I had to take a good look at my family tree. The majority of my maternal and paternal lines are clearly European. The majority of most Cape Verdean family tree’s are going to reflect similarly to mine.

When I was younger, we would joke about those brown skinned Cape Verdeans who refused to identify themselves as black. They wouldn’t identify as white, either, necessarily. Their answer was always “I’m a Cape Verdean”, end of story. It makes sense to me more now after all these years of research. How do you embrace one part of you and disregard the rest?

I can’t disown my European heritage just as much as I can’t my African. I refuse to ignore my white grandmother in favor of the black one, and vice versa. They each loved me and I loved them.

Cape Verde’s slave history is undeniable. I will not excuse any of the evils of slavery. Slavery in Cape Verde was not better than slavery here in the US. The atrocities of slavery in the US happened in Cape Verde, as well. Slave holders here didn’t necessarily recognize their off-spring legally and very rarely were their liasons with slave women looked at as bona fide relationships. We all know about Sally Hemmings and Thomas Jefferson but they were definitely the exception.

The Portuguese had no problems with having relationships with African women. Many of the europeans were exhiled for certain crimes like practicing Judaism or were political adversaries. Once in Cape verde, most stayed beyond the original sentences and established families and other ties. They did recognize their children from these liasons and their children would inherit from their parents and carried their father’s names. In my own tree, I have found actual marriages between “black” and “white” ancestors.

I understand now why some people only reply “Cape Verdean” to self identify. To be a whole person means embracing all parts of oneself. My ancestors have made me who I am – all 68.7% Tuscan Italian and 31.3% West African. I am an American of Cape Verdean ancestry and all the things that brings with it.

And I love it!