Randy’s latest Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge is up. Tonight’s challenge is to go to my genealogy database. Scroll down to the letter B, and select the last person in my list. Then, tell what I know about this person.
1. The last person in my letter B’s is Manuel Buttelo.
2. I see that I only have vague information about Manuel. He was born ca 1900. He married Jorgina Pacheco ca 1931. He died in 1976 and was buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Oakland, CA. Manuel and Jorgina had 4 children.
3. I decided that ol’ Manuel needed some more data, so I searched for the family in the 1940 census (the first that he and Jorgina would be together.) Surprisingly, he is listed as John Buttelo–and this is not the first time he was noted as John. His name was given as John in an obituary for one of their children.
From the 1940 census I learned that he was 17 (so my ca 1900 needs to be moved over a bit) in California. The family was living in Alameda, CA in 1935, but moved to 93rd Avenue in Oakland by the time the census was taken. He had 7 years of schooling. His occupation was pipe fitter for the shipyards.
I tried to research Manuel/John further but couldn’t get beyond 1930. I did a search for Buttelo as soundex (in case it was originally Botelho or some other form) but I came up with no John or Manuel. Very curious.
I decided to move over to familysearch.org because I hate dead ends. Using vague information I found Manuel Buttelo in the California Death Index. He was born in 1903 but it says “Other Country” for his birth place not California. I did a search on John Buttelo and found the exact same entry, so he went by John and Manuel.
I did a little searching in the Daily Review and the Oakland Tribune to see if I could find an obituary. No luck. Maybe I’ll try again later when my brain is fresh.
I ended with a city directory search. I used ancestry.com’s search form and found two entries. If I went through each year manually, I’d probably find more.
I found John and Jean Buttelo in 1935 living on Redding Street. John was an auto mechanic. In 1943, they were on 93rd Avenue (same as in the 1940 Census) and he worked for the shipyards. In both years, they are the only people with the Buttelo surname. This leads me to believe that the surname was Botelho or some other variation originally.
So, beyond the 1940 Census, two city directory entries, and the California Death index, I wasn’t able to take Manuel Buttelo back any farther. And, I collected another question: Was he born in California or another country?
4. Manuel was the husband of Jorgina Pacheco (aka Georgina Algrava) who was my grandfather’s first cousin.
So, once again I don’t get anything done that I was supposed to because I was researching 
I did pick up a little information but not a lot.
