On Fri, Mar 11, 2011 at 1:54 PM, JOSE FERNANDES <jose.fernandes@rogers.com>wrote: > Miguel, > this is one we share. How did his descendants (his son Francisco?) end up > in > Caniço/Camacha? > Actually they did, but I don't know how. > Did the name in some parts of Madeira become Cunha/ > It's quite possible, sometimes priests were not very accurate writing the names. > I think your hypothesis is very good. Another place I have got to visit. > Have > you taken over the fort for the family? > ; -) Of course. The Nóbrega clan is a fighting clan. And its origins still surrounded by mist. Saúde! Miguel > > Cheers, > José > > > > ________________________________ > From: Miguel de Castro Henriques <migueldecastrohenriques@gmail.com> > To: prt-madeira@rootsweb.com > Sent: Wed, March 9, 2011 1:20:30 PM > Subject: [PT-MADEIRA] The Canhas > > Some of us descend from Rui Pires de Canha (or Ocanha, or d'Ocanha - I > prefer this last one ). He was one of the first settlers in Madeira. He was > given a "sesmaria" (large area for cultivation, where there is now the area > known as " Os Canhas". > > He is regarded traditionally as the son of João de Canha, escudeiro of the > Duqe of Viseu, who together with his son was one of the first settlers in > Madeira. > > After a marriage with Beatriz Gonçalves, daughter of the first Zarco, this > rather seminal man married Leonor Rodrigues, and they had 15 children! > > Anyway, now I am not concerned with his descendants, some are known via > HHN, Felisberto BM and others. And here is my point. Up to now there has > been a big debate among genealogists about the origin of the name. It was > considered a toponym . Very good. Most probably. But from where? Some said > from Algarve, some said from the North. They were looking, of course, for a > village called Canhas, or something in the line. And they found one or two. > > Meanwhile, thanks to a journalist friend of mine I have a new hypothesis, > This friend recently was in a place called Ucanha (with "U" not "O") . It's > is near Moimenta da Beira and Tarouca. It means up on the North, in an area > called "Região do Douro" (which is mankind patrimony, btw). It is a very > old, medieval village, recently restored, with stone and wood houses, > outside stairs in wood, for instance. It has a quite imposing and beautiful > medieval Tower-Fortress. So here we have another quite probable hypothesis, > not considered up to now by what I've read about Canhas: Canhas or > D'Ocanhas, they may have come originally from Ucanha. And to reinforce this > possibility I've seen their name written D'Ucanha. > > So I'm just stirring the kettle, keeping this controversy on the go, > throwing one more hypothesis; -) > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > PRT-MADEIRA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes > in the subject and the body of the message > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > PRT-MADEIRA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >