Hi Denise, Seeing that you are from New York, maybe you can direct me to some research resources. My grandfather died when my father was only 17 years old with very little family history being passed down. What got me started looking for my family roots was learning that my aunt had my great grandmother's passport. It was issued in Funchal in 1858. It lists three sons traveling with her. One may have been my grandfather as his name was George and the passport gives one name as Jorge; however, my grandfather gave his birth as 1863 in New York. This would have made him 11 years older than my grandmother. Her family objected to the marriage because of the difference in age. So he may have understated his age. We know nothing else about the family while in New York except to have found my grand grandfather on the 1860 census. (He was counted at his place of employment. I have been unable to find any census record on his family.) His name of Alexandre de Agrella was recorded as Alexander DeGrella. Also we found his enlistment in the Union Army in New York. There the name was recorded as DeGrilla. There are some DeGrellas living in New York City today. I have communicated with one of them. They all appear to be related. Their ancestors came from Madeira but went to Trinidad for a generation or two before coming to New York around 1910-1920. Any suggestions you can give will be appreciated. David DeGrella Tennessee, USA On Thu, 24 Feb 2005 22:03:20 EST TARA1197@aol.com writes: > > Hi Paulo, > > Actually, the Antona is my husbands name and he was born in Italy. > Not too > many towns in Italy carry this surname d'Antona, which was > previously di > Antona and now D'Antona. His town is called Guardia Lombardi near > Avellino. The > other place that carries it is in Sicily. There is also a town > called > Antona in northern Italy. Someone else from Madeira commented that > I had a > beautiful Portuguese name Antona and said that it was used to refer > to people > coming from the Hampton Islands...My name growing up here in New > York was Denise > De Freitas. When my grandfather came here in 1937 they made > Goncalves his > middle name and capitalized the De making it one name. My > grandmother was born > in Massachusetts but her parents were from Sao Miguel (Cabral de > Mello and > Costa Lima etc.). Her family is of the earliest and noble settlers > of Sao > Miguel coming from Portugal and Spain. > I will definitely have to do some more research on my Pereira's to > see if > they tie in with what you listed below. I use the Latter Day Saints > films so I > need to order a few. Unfortunately, my grandfather passed away in > January > so I'll never get to tell him of all I find. But I will keep > looking! Thank > you for generously sharing the information you have. > > Denise