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[Research Journal #6, Entry 3]
I began visiting the Portuguese Genealogy Chat on AOL (run by my friends and fellow researchers, Cheri Mello and Linda Crandall) and was boosting my research self esteem. I learned that I could order baptismal records for my Portuguese kin by mail. I was pretty sure the Family History Center in Oakland would have the microfilm I needed, but the last time I went they scared me to death (not on purpose, I don’t think) So, I took the easy way out and sent for the baptismal certificates for my great grandmother, Maria dos Anjos de Braga. Since I was fairly certain of her birthdate, I had a good chance of getting the record I requested.
If you’ve ever ordered records from the Arquivo in Ponta Delgada, you know that it tries the patience of a Saint while waiting for the anticipated results. I think they used something akin to the Pony Express back in the mid 1990s! At least, it felt like it!
Several weeks later, I received my records. I had some assistance translating the record. Maria was baptised 16 Jun 1876 in Divino Esperito Santo Church, Maia, Ribeira Grande, Sao Miguel Island, Azores. Her parents were given as Zosimos [sic] de Braga and Maria da Conceicao. Her grandparents were Jacintho de Braga and Rosa Barquiera and Felicianno de Mello and Rosa Botelho. Felicianno and Rosa were Maria’s parents! I needed other records to confirm this information, but I now had somewhere to start.
