As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been using Google Street View to view the house’s my relatives lived in on E. 25th Street in Oakland. the Pacheco’s and de Braga’s began moving to E. 25th Street around 1906. They then held court there for the next 50 years or so. I’ve never been down that way, so it’s awesome to be able to see each house and then visualize who lived there.
From about 1937 to the mid 1940s, my Grandparent’s Joao “John” Pacheco Smith and Anna Jackson (later Shellabarger) lived in this house:
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They rented the house from my Great Great Uncle and Aunt, Manoel Mello Bonita and Marie Grace de Braga. My Mom would walk the rent down to the Bonita’s house, which was at the end of the block.
I’ve got a couple photos outside the house, but none show the front. It’s neat to see it. This is the same house where my Grandma fed the hobos. Out front they had marked an X in the sidewalk showing it to be a friendly house. They didn’t have much money and my Grandfather was not really happy with the stream of folks wanting a free meal. I try to place the family there doing their every day things.
Other young couples related to the family lived in this house before my Grandparents. I know that Antonio Avelar and Maria Cosma, my Grandfather’s cousin, lived in this house just prior to my Grandparents. It was very common on the street for the older generation to own the houses and the young couples to rent from them. In fact, next door on the left, at 1922 E. 25th Street, lived my Grandfather’s cousin, Francisco “Frank” Pacheco and his bride, Angelina Cabral, in 1925. That’s how things were done in those days. Family took care of family.
I’ll be posting more photographs as I get them identified.
I think I might have an old brass Bango tag and am wondering if you would like it. Pictures can be viewed at
http://ntweb.mcn.org/thechase/Bango.jpg
http://ntweb.mcn.org/thechase/Bango2.jpg
Someone gave me several of these thinking they might be good for jewelry. I loved them and made a necklace and earrings but neither my friend nor I could ever figure out their purpose. Several years ago I was on Maui and we drove past an abandoned industrial building near some fields that had the H Co logo so I always suspected it stood for Hawaii Co. or something along those lines. At that time I thought the tag might be for a locker. Just recently though I saw a movie about field workers in Hawaii and that they were given identification number tags. I started to put two and two together and did some research and found an article written by you about Bangos. I sell things on eBay and was going to list this but your research was so extensive I feel compelled to offer the tag to you instead. Please let me know what you think and thank you very much for all your dedication to your heritage. Best ~ Cyndy Chase
I think that you were looking for someone who was related to Serafin and Olympia Braga. They were my husbands’ Grandparents on his fathers side. I think you had a website which is no longer up. I remember seeing some photos on it. Let me know.