I’m excited in a way that only genealogists will understand. In Mystery Photo of the Week, I posted a photo of an unidentified bride and groom. I am happy to say that the photo has now been identified!
It took a little detective work and a forgotten photo of two small children to sort it all out.
Let’s start with the evidence…
This is the groom in the wedding photo.
We believe he is this man, Jose Medeiros aka Joseph Medeiros Andrews.
Through process of elimination, we believe this is his brother, Manuel Andrew Medeiros. We have photos of all the other siblings, Manuel is the odd man out.
Now, it is possible we have the men reversed. The groom could be Manuel and the best man Jose, but I don’t think so. Let’s look at the next clue.
The bridesmaid is this woman…
We don’t have any photos to identify this woman, so we must use photos of other family members. She has a resemblance to this woman, Angelina (Vieira) Pacheco/Borracco.
Angelina was sister to Shandra Vieira who married Manuel Andrew Medeiros pictured above. It seems reasonable to me that Manuel and his wife would be in the wedding photo for his brother, Jose.
The connections go further. Angelina married Bertha’s brother, Jacinto “Jesse” Algrava Pacheco. A crisscross of connections between the families.
This photo clenched it for me. This one is positively identified as Raymond and Velma Medeiros, the children of Manuel and Shandra (Vieira) Medeiros. Notice, especially in the boy, how the children favor their Vieira Aunt and the woman in the wedding photo.
If we know who the groom is, then we must know the bride. She is Bertha Pacheco, daughter of Manoel Pacheco and Jacintha Rosa Moniz. Bertha and Jose were both born in Kilauea, Kauai, Hawaii, but their families moved to the same street in Oakland, E. 25th around 1907. They were married 19 Dec 1913 in Oakland.
We’ve now identified all the children of Andrew Medeiros and Rosa Pereira who made it to adulthood. This collage shows the parents and their children.
We’ve also given Bertha Pacheco back her identify. This is the face that goes with the name.
This feels good!