The ship passage was fascinating. How did you find out where to go to get the information on the ship and it's passage? Ronnie PS: I have a de Freitas in our family. She was the fourth child, maybe there's a relation here. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Thomas Freitas" <family@railsoft.com> To: <prt-madeira@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2007 10:44 AM Subject: [PT-MADEIRA] Jewish Connection to Madeira and more on names > > I was reading a book called "Indentured Immigrants, A Jewish family > odyssey from Madeira to the Sandwich Islands",( about the Perrira and da > Silva family), and did not realize the large connection of Jews and > Madeira. The only reason that I was reading this book was because the > person that wrote it, had family that sailed on the same ship, > Stirlingshire, at the same time as my family. My Great Grandparents > were Antonio de Freitas da Silva and Julia Agrela. Julia also used the > last name Ascensao, her mothers. > > According to this book, "Because the letters "p" and "f" are > interchangeable in the Hebrew alphabet, a variant of the name Pereira in > Latin is Fer(r)eira from the word Ferrarius. That is, a blacksmith, or > one who works with iron. The family names of this group can be > associated with the Italian city of Ferrara where Jews were living from > at least the 13th century to possibly as early as the 11th century. > > The Pereiras, whose origins can be traced to the original family name of > Ibn-Dana or son of Dana. (Ibn is another form of patronymic.) The > Ibn-Danas left the Holy Land after the destruction of the First Temple > in Jerusalem around 2,500 years ago. This initial event ultimately led > the family to take up residence in Morocco, Span; mainland Portugal; > Madeira; the Sandwich Islands and finally California. The Ibn-Dana > changed their name to both Pereira as well as Ferreira while residing on > the Iberian peninsula. > > It is well known that both the Perrira and da Silva families lost > countless member to the Inquisitions under first the Spanish and then > the Portuguese starting in the 14th century. Over ten percent of all > those that perished were named Pereira. The only other family to suffer > such a great loss was the da Silva Family. > > A major contributing reason for the Spanish expulsion was the frequent > and false accusation that Jews killed Christians and drank their blood. > Ultimately, many Jews left Spain in 1492 under an Edict of Expulsion to > seek refuge in neighboring Portugal and elsewhere. > > According to this book, the Jews in Spain as well as Portugal had to > become closet Jews because the law at that time forced them to become > Christians. If a Jew did not convert to Christianity, then they had to > leave Portugal by October 1497, by order of Queen Isabel on December 5, > 1496. On Friday, March 19, 1497, the first day of Passover, Jewish > parents were ordered to bring their children between the ages of two and > fourteen to Lisbon. Once in Lisbon the crowds were informed that their > children were to be given to Catholic families who would raise them as > good Catholics. Many parents while assembled in Lisbon killed their > children and then committed suicide rather then allow them to meet such > a fate. > > Later in the book it states that "Starting in 1540 the first Auto-de-Fe' > took place in Lisbon. Because of this, many shiploads of Jews left > Lisbon - the only port for embarkation - bound for the Portuguese island > of Madeira." > > There are several pages in the book that explains the journey from > Jerusalem to Morocco, Spain and Portugal and then to Madeira. > > I thought that this might be on interest to those that do not know the > above story. > > The author of the above book is Phil Pasquini and his web site is > http://www.mac.com/philpasquini > The story of the Stirlingshire is at > http://web.mac.com/philpasquini/iWeb/Pasquini%20Site/Stirlingshire.html > > Tom Freitas > > > ------------------------------- > 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 >

Detective Work! My Ggrandfather was always known to me as Antonio Freitas or de Freitas. On his grave stone it states Antone S. Freitas and on his death certificate it states that his name was Antone Freitas and his fathers name was Antone Freitas. Mothers name was not known. I also knew that his wife was Julia Agrella. However, on one of their daughters birth and baptism papers it showed her last name as Ascensao. The spelling was not correct on most things since they, as most from Madeira, did not know how to read or write. The census records showed that they were married in 1885 and were from Madeira. I then went to the Madeira Archives on-line and looked them out, but could not find them. I then thought that I would simply query on the first name of Julia and the name Antonio with the mark above the o after the t. I must be exact! What came up was Antonio da Silva and Julia d' Agrela. The marriage date was 1885, the age was correct for both and his fathers name was Antonio de Freitas da Silva. It also showed that they had a companion, sister in-law, by the name of Antonia Ascensao. With that I order the passport records and it confirmed that this was in fact my great grandparents. I then looked up all the ships that left Madeira for Hawaii on or after November 14, 1885, the date of the passport. The first ship to leave was the Stirlingshire. I went to http://www.lusaweb.com , a Portuguese web site that has passenger list of various ships. They charge a $25 fee per year. I went to the Stringshire and entered da Silva and found Antonio with Julia and a companion Antonia. That was my confirmation that they were in fact on this ship. There were a few other factors that played in this for confirmation purposes, that the above is basically it. Like I said, Detective Work! Since I found them I have been able to go back a 100 years so far and expect to get back to around the 1500's in Madeira. I never knew that my ancestors were da Silva until I found the above. This was about a month ago. I might also add here, that Jose Fernandes was of great help to me as he is to everyone else. Tom Freitas Ronnie French wrote: >The ship passage was fascinating. How did you find out where to go to get >the information on the ship and it's passage? > >Ronnie > >PS: I have a de Freitas in our family. She was the fourth child, maybe >there's a relation here. > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Thomas Freitas" <family@railsoft.com> >To: <prt-madeira@rootsweb.com> >Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2007 10:44 AM >Subject: [PT-MADEIRA] Jewish Connection to Madeira and more on names > > > > >>I was reading a book called "Indentured Immigrants, A Jewish family >>odyssey from Madeira to the Sandwich Islands",( about the Perrira and da >>Silva family), and did not realize the large connection of Jews and >>Madeira. The only reason that I was reading this book was because the >>person that wrote it, had family that sailed on the same ship, >>Stirlingshire, at the same time as my family. My Great Grandparents >>were Antonio de Freitas da Silva and Julia Agrela. Julia also used the >>last name Ascensao, her mothers. >> >>According to this book, "Because the letters "p" and "f" are >>interchangeable in the Hebrew alphabet, a variant of the name Pereira in >>Latin is Fer(r)eira from the word Ferrarius. That is, a blacksmith, or >>one who works with iron. The family names of this group can be >>associated with the Italian city of Ferrara where Jews were living from >>at least the 13th century to possibly as early as the 11th century. >> >>The Pereiras, whose origins can be traced to the original family name of >>Ibn-Dana or son of Dana. (Ibn is another form of patronymic.) The >>Ibn-Danas left the Holy Land after the destruction of the First Temple >>in Jerusalem around 2,500 years ago. This initial event ultimately led >>the family to take up residence in Morocco, Span; mainland Portugal; >>Madeira; the Sandwich Islands and finally California. The Ibn-Dana >>changed their name to both Pereira as well as Ferreira while residing on >>the Iberian peninsula. >> >>It is well known that both the Perrira and da Silva families lost >>countless member to the Inquisitions under first the Spanish and then >>the Portuguese starting in the 14th century. Over ten percent of all >>those that perished were named Pereira. The only other family to suffer >>such a great loss was the da Silva Family. >> >>A major contributing reason for the Spanish expulsion was the frequent >>and false accusation that Jews killed Christians and drank their blood. >>Ultimately, many Jews left Spain in 1492 under an Edict of Expulsion to >>seek refuge in neighboring Portugal and elsewhere. >> >>According to this book, the Jews in Spain as well as Portugal had to >>become closet Jews because the law at that time forced them to become >>Christians. If a Jew did not convert to Christianity, then they had to >>leave Portugal by October 1497, by order of Queen Isabel on December 5, >>1496. On Friday, March 19, 1497, the first day of Passover, Jewish >>parents were ordered to bring their children between the ages of two and >>fourteen to Lisbon. Once in Lisbon the crowds were informed that their >>children were to be given to Catholic families who would raise them as >>good Catholics. Many parents while assembled in Lisbon killed their >>children and then committed suicide rather then allow them to meet such >>a fate. >> >>Later in the book it states that "Starting in 1540 the first Auto-de-Fe' >>took place in Lisbon. Because of this, many shiploads of Jews left >>Lisbon - the only port for embarkation - bound for the Portuguese island >>of Madeira." >> >>There are several pages in the book that explains the journey from >>Jerusalem to Morocco, Spain and Portugal and then to Madeira. >> >>I thought that this might be on interest to those that do not know the >>above story. >> >>The author of the above book is Phil Pasquini and his web site is >>http://www.mac.com/philpasquini >>The story of the Stirlingshire is at >>http://web.mac.com/philpasquini/iWeb/Pasquini%20Site/Stirlingshire.html >> >>Tom Freitas >> >> >>------------------------------- >>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 > > >