Marcia The correct spelling of those names is: CALDEIRA (not Calderia) de ABREU MARCEL SERENA is an uncommon family name, but it STILL EXISTS IN LISBON (you made a mistake looking for this name in Madeira. Lisbon is in mainland Portugal, not in Madeira!). Take a look into the portuguese telephone book on-line at www.118.pt. FATI is a neek name for FATIMA (or MARIA DE FATIMA). DELOURES should be DELORES, but is not common in Portugal (it looks too castillian to me). Could it be "Maria de Lurdes"? You could be entitled to Portuguese citizenship if your parents were portuguese. Was your deceased grandmother portuguese? If you want to look further in your ancestry, you have to find DOCUMENTS telling you 3 things: DATES (birth or marriage) PLACE (parish where it took place) NAMES (full names, and/or parents names) And those documents have to be found right there where you are. Otherwise, you'll be looking for something almost impossible to find. You must try EVERYTHING: Your parents and grandparents birth and marriage documents: Passengers lists from the boats coming to S.A. Army lists. Census. Etc. And, above all, you must NEVER QUIT. Good Luck Luis K W Lisboa-Portugal ---------- > From: Marcia & Roland > Date: Terça-feira, 6 de Junho de 2006 19:11 > Good evening > My name is Marcia and I live in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. I have > just been reading with interest all the mails that have come through to me > from the mailing list regarding the Madeiran Archives Website. I also do > not speak Portuguese and am having great difficulty in tracing my ancestry. > My great-grandparents were born in Portugal. My great-grandmother was Maria > Clara (Calderia) de Abreu/de Abreau/Deabreu (not sure of the spelling). She > was born in Madeira but unfortunately the parish is unknown to me (I have a > faint suspicion though that it may very well have been Funchal - don't ask > me why, I just get these feelings sometimes). My great-grandfather was > Marceal/Marcial/Marcel Vieira Serena and he was born in Lisbon. They both > came through to South Africa in the early 1900's (I think). > I today tried to do a search on the Madeiran Archives for the surname > "Serena" but nothing comes up. I came up with lots of Vieira's and de > Abreau's but nothing at all that comes close to my great-grandparents' > names. I have been assured that Serena is definitely a Portuguese surname > so can't understand why nobody else has that surname. I have basically hit > a "brick wall" with my research. I have so far been unable to obtain birth > certificates or any sort of family record from my grandmother's family > members. Unfortunately the person who probably would have remembered the > most (my grandmother), passed away in 1990. > My great-grandparents' childrens' names were - De Lourdes Serena (died at > age 19) (I think she may have been born in Portugal), "Fatti" (not sure if > this is a Portuguese name or a nickname - He may also very well have been > born in Portugal) Vieira Serena, Luiz Jose Vieira Serena, Antonio Vieira > Serena, Deloures Serena, Theresa Maria Serena (born in South Africa I > think), Beatrice (Beatriz) Serena (born in South Africa), Angelina Clara > Serena (my deceased grandmother) (definitely born in South Africa) and > Lawrence (Lourenco) Serena (he died as a baby from consumption). > The reason I started my research in the first place was to try and see > whether I would be able to obtain my Portuguese Passport through my maternal > grandparents - So far the Portuguese Embassy in South Africa has been most > unhelpful in that they refuse to give me any information as to whether I may > or may not be entitled to a Portuguese passport. But, as my research has > gone on, my curiosity has just gotten the better of me. > My maternal side of the family seems to think that there is some huge secret > about my great-grandfather's departure from Portugal - something to the > effect that he could have stolen someone else's surname - but this has not > been confirmed. > Is there somebody out there that can perhaps help me in my quest for my > heritage? > Kind regards, > Marcia Bezuidenhout