Discovering new family members

Since beginning my My Family Tree project a couple of years ago, I have discovered family members I never knew existed.  It has been exciting to find out about them and their families and even more exciting when we have the chance to meet in person.  Here are the family members I discovered chronological order.

Ugolina Baptista

 April 2010

How are we related?

Ugolina's paternal grandmother (Aurélia Machado Baptista) was one of the sisters of my mother's father (José Augusto Machado).  Her father (Gilberto Olegário Baptista) was first cousins with my mother. Ugolina and I are second cousins.
She was the first cousin I met.  A cousin of ours who knew that I was doing family research put me in contact with her because she has also been researching our family for a long time and he thought she could help me.  As luck would have it, Ugolina was in Lisbon at the time.  We arranged to meet for tea in Chiado in Lisbon and exchanged recent photos so we could recognize each other. At the agreed meeting time, I easily recognized Ugolina as she walked smiling toward me.  She said that she could recognize me from the memories she had of me as a little girl.  I couldn't say he same of her as I had no memory of her.


Over tea we exchanged details of our respective families. She knew we had gone to America but the news about us from my mother stopped when she passed.  I gave Ugolina a liqueur glass with her grandmother's name (Aurélia) engraved on it. I remember that my mother ralways kept it in the china cabinet on the shelf with her fancy glasses.  Since my mother had passed, I thought it would have more of a sentimental value to Ugolina than to me.  She was surprised and appreciative of my gesture.


Our meeting was short as she was returning the next day to São Miguel where she lives. As I was going to the island in a few months, Ugolina invited me to spend a few days at her house so she could show me the results of her family research and also take me to library which houses the archives so I could research my father's side of the family.


I spent a couple of lovely days with Ugolina and what a surprise.  She is a very talented artist in painting and ceramics.  Her house is like an art gallery which exhibits her paintings and fine china creations.  She is yet another talented member of our family.  Ugolina has created a plate with the Machado family crest.

Machado family crest



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In July of 2008, my cousin Mário Alberto (whom I have known all my life) and his wife Estrela celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.  I went to São Miguel to attend the celebration and met many cousins I had not seen since leaving the island as a child; others  I had never met as they had not yet been born by then. It was in effect a family reunion which brought together cousins from different lands: Brazil, United States and continental Portugal.  It was nice to reconnect with them.  The "boys" were all gray haired while it was difficult to find any gray hairs on the "girls".  There were also their children and grandchildren none of whom I knew. 

Machado family members reunited at Mario and Estrela's 50th Wedding Anniversary
July 2008, Ponta Delgada, São Miguel

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Délia Baptista, July 2008

The next cousin I discovered was Délia, Ugolina's sister .  I met her in the summer of 2008. She is now retired but still enjoying life with a big smile.  She loves spending summers in her little cottage in Caloura where she is near the ocean and she can go swimming.  One evening during my visit in 2008, Délia and Ugolina invited me out to dinner at the restaurant of a hotel in Caloura.  Before dinner, Délia took us out to visit her summer hideaway.  It is lovely place, a kind of community where the people all know each other because they have been sharing this space for many summers.   From the way, Délia talked about this place, it was obvious that it is very special to her.  It is no wonder, just look at her private ocean swimming pool and the beautiful sunset. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fernando Faria Pinheiro

March 2012

The next family member I discovered is a cousin from the Faria branch of the family from the island of Faial in the Azores where my maternal grandmother was born.  The Family Tree Project was going well but it was missing family members from this branch in Faial.  My brother wrote, "Now, you have to find the family members from Faial".  “This will be a challenge”, I thought, since I had no contact with anybody there since a trip my mother and I made to the island in the mid 70's.  My mother was the only one who corresponded with any family members in Faial and she passed many years ago.  

But I’m not one to be afraid of a challenge. I turned to Google and Facebook.  I had one name that I remembered, Maria Berta Faria with whom my mother corresponded, but was pretty sure she would not be on Facebook. From a visit to Faial many years ago, I remembered that her husband had been Principal of the high school in Horta, Faial.  Although I didn’t remember his name I knew the approximate dates that he held that position so I Googled the name of the school and found his name, José Silveira Pinheiro.  With this information I turned to a FB friend from Faial who had attended the high school to seek his help.  It turned out that my friend was a friend of Mr. Pinheiro’s brother and he offered to write to tell him that I was looking for family members and needed contacts.  Everybody was very cooperative and I was able to find Fernando in less than two weeks.

How are we related?

Fernando's maternal grandfather, Armando Vicente de Faria and my maternal grandmother, Emíla da Glória Faria, were brother and sister born to Francisco Vicente de Faria and Maria Adelaide da Silva (Faria). His mother, Maria Berta Faria (Pinheiro) and my mother were first cousins.  Fernando and I are second cousins.

Fernando and I exchanged introductory emails.  I was surprised to find out that he has lived in São Miguel for the last 23 years. I have been to São Miguel at least twice during this time.  He is married, has two children and works in telecommunications. I told him about my genealogy project and enlisted his help in gathering information about the family.  He kindly and patiently provided me with a detailed list of family members and significant dates and life events for each one.  I am grateful to him and his mother, Maria Berta, for the information.

Fernando and I have exchanged emails but we have not had the opportunity to meet yet.  He made an attempt to see me while I was in transit from Boston to Lisbon in June of this year but the strict airport rules of these days kept me behind glass walls.  Fernando braved a trip to the airport at Ponta Delgada at 7 in the morning in dense fog, but we could only speak on the phone.  Our meeting will be postponed until my next trip to Ponta Delgada or his next trip to Lisbon.

Fernando with his wife (Fátima), daughter (Sofia), and son (Miguel)