MARILIA-SP 1930s, 1940s & 1950s
Thursday 10 October 2024
Marília graveyard
Monday 30 September 2024
São Sebastião do Rio Bonito-RJ (now known as Pentagna-RJ)
Monday 16 September 2024
Emilia Maria Nazareth aka Tia Nenê
As we have already seen, EMILIA MARIA NAZARETH aka TIA NENÊ was the 7th child of my paternal great-grandparents Jacinto Antonio Amorim & Placidina Maria Nazareth. She was born in 1889, in São Sebastião do Rio Bonito-RJ. Tia Nenê aka Sá Nenê, was 6 years old when Fernando Antonio Amorim was born in 1895.
In February 1908, when Emília was 19, there was a commotion in the area of São Sebastião where she lived with her parents and siblings. Early one morning when everyone was up to go to work, a bundle wrapped in some cloth was discovered on top of a tree stump near their street. To everyone's surprise, the bundle turned out to be a baby-girl which had been born only a few hours back. It just didn't die because February is the height of the Brazilian summer. The police was summed up and a great big search was put in place to find out whose the baby's mother was. The Police knocked on everyone's doors to find out whether they could find a young lady who had just lost a few kilos recently.
It didn't take too long for the Police to zero in on Emilia who had to admit that the child was hers. She had given birth to the girl with no help from anybody and decided to get rid of it to save her reputation. The little girl was eventually baptized and given the name of Catarina Maria Nazareth, born on 2nd February 1908. Emília said Manoel de Aragão, who worked as a drover (tropeiro) was the father, but he never acknowledged his part so little Catarina was raised by mother Emília and grandmother Placidina.
When Catarina was 4 years old and her mother was 23, Emília became pregnant from a Black man (his name has never been mentioned). Emilia's sisters Maria, Adelina and Aspasia wouldn't hear of their younger sister having a child of a Black man inside their home so Emilia had to have her second daughter out in the open, just like the first time although for a different reason. Thank God it was summer again, otherwise it would've been a messy business with both mother & child risking their lives.
On 3rd December 1913, Emilia Maria Nazareth gave birth to Virgilina Francisca Nazareth, since birth known as Chica, who was unlucky to be of a darker skin than a mixed blood child could be. So life went on for Emilia and her two daughters until 1919, when the whole family left the State of Rio de Janeiro and moved to Ourinhos-SP, near the boarder of Paraná, where everyone worked as labourers at coffee or sugar-cane plantations. Emilia was 30 years, Catarina (11), Chica (6) when they arrived in Ourinhos.
As time went by, Catarina, not yet 17, married Domingos Martins (22) on 12 January 1925, in Ourinhos. Domingos, who worked as 'carroceiro' (cart man) was a fair man with blue eyes having been born in in 1903 in Ribeirão Preto-SP; his father Christovam Martins and mother Rosalia Lopes were both from Málaga, Spain. Catarina & Domingos Martins had 5 children:
1. José Martins, born on 23rd July 1926, even though he was registered on 10 September 1926.
2. Nair Martins, born (probably) in 1929; married Joaquim Maciel; died in 1965 (36 years old);
3. Francisca Martins - born circa 1931.
4. Nadir Martins, born on 19 July 1937; died of a heart attack, on 29 July 2009, in Baurú-SP;
5. João Martins, probably born in 1939; João was 1 year old when Catarina died, so her uncle Virgilio Amorim ended up adopting João Martins who had his surname changed to João Amorim, the same name of his mother's cousin João Amorim.
After having 5 children or maybe more, for we don't know whether she had still-born babies or children who lived only a few days - Catarina was frail and dispirited. They had moved to Avaré-SP, 115 km away east of Ourinhos and probably lived in squallor for I was told Catarina contracted tunga penetrans known as 'bicho-do-pé' which is a sort of flea which burrows under the skin of humans and if not treated it can cause blood poisoning aka septcemia. They said Catarina walked barefoot near their pig sty. Catarina was taken to a hospital but never recovered having died at 33, in 1941.
Soon after Catarina died, Domingos Martins took a trip somewhere never to return, leaving all 5 children at their own devices. This is actually a male trait: when the going gets tough one might as well, fuck off. Hearing the news of Martins' desertion of his children, uncle Fernando Amorim traveled from Marília to Avaré to try and sort the whole mess. José (14) went to live with his grandma Emília, in Marília. Nair (12) and Nadir (4) went to live with Fernando and his family in Marília. Joãozinho (2) was legally adopted by Fernando's younger brother Virgilio Amorim who had only daughters and longed to have a male child. I don't know about Francisca Martins' fate, who was 10 then. She probably went to work as a handmaid for some next-of-kin in Ourinhos. Nair lived with her great-uncle Fernando Amorim for a few years. She went to primary school in Marília where she learned to read and write. By the time she was 15, Fernando thought Nair was unruly and could not follow instructions so she decided to go back to Ourinhos to live with another relative; probably went to live at the same place where Francisca had been living for the past 3 years. Dulce Amorim told me, Nair used to write back to Marilia (from Ourinhos) telling about her new life...until she herself got married to Joaquim Maciel and had a few children.
So this is the saga of Catarina Nazareth and her husband Domingos Martins who went AWOL.
In 1920, when the whole family migrated to Ourinhos-SP, Chica was 7 years. In 1926, when Chica turned 13, she started working as a handmaid for Sá Lodi, mother of Manoel de Oliveira, who was married to Anna Rosa de Jesus, Emilia's sister-in-law's sister, Albina.
On 16 December 1932, when Fernando (37) & Albina (35) moved yet again, this time to Marília, his sister Emilia (43) came along with her youngest daughter Chica (19) who by this time already had a baby boy born in Ourinhos called Álvaro, of an unknown Black man.
Virgilina Francisca Nazareth (*3rd December 1913 + 5 January 1952) soon met a Black man called Raimundo Andrade da Silva, born in 1901, who adopted Álvaro, and went on to have 2 daughters and another boy:
Virgilina aka Chica & Raiumundo's children:
1. Alvaro (Chica's first child, probably born in 1930, in Ourinhos, when she was 17 years old)
2. Regina Andrade da Silva (born in Marília, probably in 1938)
3. Guiomar Andrade da Silva (born in Marília, probably in 1942)
4. Milton Andrade da Silva, born in Marília, on 18 April 1945.
In conversation I had with Dulce Roza Amorim on 20 November 2006, she told me a few things about Chica's family. Raimundo showed up in Marília circa 1934, from 'nowhere'. No one knew where he came from. He had a shack by a brook that ran through the low northern section of Marília, called Alto Cafezal, running parallel with Rua Bom Fim. He owned a horse and managed to buy a cart which he loaded with wood he'd cut in his backyard and delivered to households around town. There was no cooking gas in the 1930s. Apparently, Emilia aka Tia Nenê, also lived with Chica and Raimundo near this brook.
Dulce said Chica would only visit Murim's house (nickname of Fernando Amorim, her uncle) after dark for she was afraid she'd stained his reputation for having business with a Black person. Slavery had been abolished only 45 years before and Blacks were deemed as sub-humans then. She'd have a cup of coffee and off she went on her way.
Chica worked as a handmaid during the day while Raimundo kept busy with his 'lenhadora' (firewood) business. They lived a hand-to-mouth existence. Chica became very frail and died of malnutrition on 5 January 1952, only 38 years old. Regina was 13, Guiomar was 9 and Milton only 6. The children were supervised by their grandmother Emília who was 62 years old.
Raimundo outlived Chica by 4 years. Raimundo Antonio da Silva died of hyper-tension on 29 October 1956. Regina and Guiomar were adopted by a white family who belonged to a Lutheran Church in Marília. Milton, who was 10 when his father died was kept by his grandmother (Tia Nenê) who died
In the lack of Emília Maria Nazareth's photographs I took the liberty to post a photo of her mother, Placidina Maria Nazareth, lying in an open coffin at Ourinho's cemetery, in 1923, a few moments before being lowered 7 feet into her grave. This is Placidina's only extant photo. For some unique reason I happened to be present when Emília died in a bedroom in her brother's house on Rua Mato Grosso, 397, on .... 1956. My family lived in a house just in front of Fernando & Albina's abode. One day I thought I had someone shoutin 'Tia Nenê is dying!!'. It was Nadir Martins' crying, her own flesh and blood, actually her granddaugher. I rushed to our grandparent's house, climbed the steps to the front porch of a wooden house, for I knew Tia Nenê had been staying for the last few days. I don't remember whether I saw her alive, but I'm pretty sure I saw her body for a prolongued stretch of time. Actually, I think I saw Tia Nenê when she was still grasping for air on the verge of dying... or maybe it is my imagination playing with me. That's why, this post-mortem photo of Placidina reminded me of her daughter Emília...
Friday 13 September 2024
Jacinto Antonio Amorim & Placidina Maria Nazareth
Jacinto Antonio Amorim & Placidina Maria Nazareth were my paternal great-grand-parents. They had 9 children who reached adult life. We don't know about still-born children or those who died in infancy.
Monday 2 September 2024
Florência Rosa de Jesus & Quintino Pavão de Oliveira
Wednesday 28 August 2024
Rosa de Jesus (females) & Pavão de Oliveira (males)
João Amorim was my Father's name; his father's was Fernando Antonio Amorim and his mother's name was Albina Rosa de Jesus. This is Albina's family history.
Before we go any further I'd like to stress that in the 19th and early 20th century, Brazilian families had a peculiar way of passing the Father's name (Male surname) only to their Male offspring and passing the Mother's name (Female surname) only to their Female offspring. So there was no way one could guess whether your sister was your real sister and vice-versa.
Albina's father (my great-grandfather) was called Quintino Pavão de Oliveira, born in 1865, and Albina's mother (my great-grandmother) was called Florência Rosa de Jesus, born in Valencia-RJ on 11 March 1869. They were married on 4 October 1890, in São Sebastião do Rio Bonito-RJ, and had 10 children who lived to adult life. Probably, there were other children who died in infancy we don't know about.
Circa 1919, they all moved to São Paulo in search for a better life. As they were labourers in their native Rio de Janeiro (state) the only work they could do was farm work. They all went to work as peasants in coffee or sugar-cane plantations. 1918 was the year the Great Spanish Flu pandemic broke out, so the family tried to flee from certain death.
All children of Quintino Pavão & Florência Rosa de Jesus were born in São Sebastião do Rio Bonito-RJ, which was re-named Pentagna in the 1950s.
1. Olímpio Pavão de Oliveira - born on 26 July 1891; died on 17 March 1932. We know very little about him. It's said he married a woman of German extraction called Alzira. The only thing we know about her is she used to sleep in her wedding gown long after being married but due to a habit of peeing in bed, she would hang up her stained wedding gown on the clothes line to dry as soon as she got up. This must have been a bizarre act to have survived in people's memories all these year. Olímpio Pavão died when he was 41 years old. For some unknown reason he never migrated with the family to São Paulo.
2. Altina Rosa de Jesus - born on 29 June 1893; got married to a man called Quintino (like her father) who was 40 years old. She was only 17. Altina & Quintino left the State of Rio de Janeiro in 1919, with the rest of the family. They all arrived in São Paulo together. As they didn't have a place to go, they would lounge at Jardim da Luz (Light Park) next to the railway station waiting for men who worked for coffee plantation owners to show up and take them to the various plantations in the states of São Paulo, Paraná or Minas Gerais. Most of family was relocated to Ourinhos-SP on the border of São Paulo and Paraná.
Altina & Quintino ended up being taken up by a coffee plantation master to Londrina-PR (according to Antonia Amorim) or Vargem Alegre-MG (according to Albina) in a conversation I had with them in the 1970s. The bulk of the family in Ourinhos lost contact with Altina for the rest of their lives. Fernando Amorim, Albina's husband used to make inquiries about Altina's whereabouts all his life. Fernando used to be a traveling man selling ladies' fashion magazines (figurinos) around Paraná and São Paulo. Once, Fernando even advertised on Radio Tupi which had a 'Find-a-long-lost-relative' section in their news programme... but to no avail.
3. Maria Rosa de Jesus - born on 6 June 1895; died on 12 April 1925; 2nd daughter. She also migrated to São Paulo in 1919. She married a man called José Ignácio Lacerda and had a boy named Roldão Lacerda, who lived to be an adult. Maria died during her second child-birth leaving little Roldão alone for his father Ignácio soon went his way and formed a new family near Ribeirão Preto-SP. Roldão was raised by Florência Rosa de Jesus, his grandmother.
4. Altina Rosa de Jesus aka Albina - our grandmother was born on 2nd August 1897, in Sebastião do Rio Bonito-RJ (whose name has been changed to Pentagna-RJ, in the 1950s). One may find it strange that the 2nd and 4th daughter had the very same name. Her father, Quintino Pavão was known to drink rum (pinga or cachaça) quite often, so he must have drunk more than usual the day his 4th child was born. He went to the Registry Office quite 'light-headed' and when the officer asked the name of the new child he wasn't sure so he said 'Altina' in the spur-of-the-moment. When he was back home Florência asked him if all was right, Quintino told her the new girl was called Altina. Florência was mortified with his carelessness but couldn't do much. So, they decided to change a 'T' for a 'B' and Altina Rosa de Jesus II became Albina Rosa de Jesus.
Nobody would never know this 'comedy or errors' if it weren't for a Presbyterian pastor circa 1958, in Marília-SP. Albina wanted to be baptized at the same church Nadir Martins (her adopted daughter) and Maria Rosa Amorim (her youngest child) were members. Such Pastor asked for Albina's birth certificate to attest to her name and age. It took a few months for the document to arrive in Marília by mail... It was a shock to everyone when they realized Albina's name at the Registry Office was Altina, like her older sister. The Presbyterian pastor went ahead and baptized Albina as Altina, and tried to convince everyone that Albina was actually Altina. Some people accepted that fact, like Herself and Fernando, her husband... but others like her brother João Pavão e sister Margarida went on calling her Albina (or Dona Albina) as before. Fernando himself used to call her Bininha affectionately before 1958.
5. Anna Rosa de Jesus - was born on 9 September 1900; died on 20 May 1981, in Ourinhos-SP; Anna married Manoel de Oliveira a man of Potuguese ancestry and stayed back at Estado do Rio. A couple of years later Fernando Amorim sold a sewing machine and with that money paid for the fares of Manoel and Anna. Manoel de Oliveira started working as a grave-digger at Ourinhos Cemetery and ended up becoming really well-off in the end. They had a fairly large family too.
6. Augusta Rosa de Jesus - born on 20 May 1904; Not much is known about Augusta, even though there is a photo of hers around. Augusta married José Filisbino da Silva, whose mother was a mid-wife. Apparently José, who also went by the name of Benedito or Nelson, was a little wild having been accused of being a horse thief. The fact is Augusta had two daughters: Aparecida, who lived until the 1970s in Avaré-SP and Antonia. Augusta ended up dying of child birth in Palmital-SP.
7. José Pavão de Oliveira aka Zéca - born on 12 April 1906; only the 2nd male after 5 girls. Not much is known about Zéca who died at 18 years of age at Santa Casa of Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo-SP, a place a northeast of Ourinhos. They say he died of rheumatism in the knees. Some kind of knee inflamation that was not uncommon then.
8. Joaquim Pavão de Oliveira aka Quincas - was born on 19 April 1908. Quincas was João Amorim's favourite uncle for he played either guitar or Brazilian ukelele (cavaquinho). João said uncle Quincas played and sang Noël Rosa's 'O orvalho vem caindo' (1933) when João was 10 years old. Quincas married a Black lady called Joana Ribeiro, who had a baby-boy called Ramiro (or Ramilo) Ribeiro from a previous man. He died on 11 August 1951, when he was only 43 years old.
9. João Pavão de Oliveira - was born on 26 October 1910. João was still a child when the family migrated to São Paulo in 1918. João married a Spanish lady called Dolores Lopes Moreno, who was commonly known as Rosalina (or Rosalinda). She was born in 1920, and died of a heart ailment on 1st August 1962. My mother Yolanda Darin Amorim used to visit them regularly. They had a little wooden house on Rua Bom Fim; uncle João Pavão was known to make great bonfires in front of his house every 24th of June, Saint John's Day. João & Rosalina had an adopted son called Toninho (Antonio Pavão Oliveira) who had a blondish curly top and used to do the rounds with his father and his cart (barrow); he had some sort of business and was a popular fellow around town. I was told Toninho went to another town and never came back. Nobody knows whatever happened to him. João Pavão had a red complexion maybe helped by his intake of alcohol. But João Pavão was never a drunkard. Never, ever. He died in Marília on 24 November 1978, at 67, which considering his family story was a ripe old age.
10. Margarida Rosa de Jesus - was the 6th daughter; she was born on 30 June 1915. Legend tells Margarida was 21 years old when she married José Tacla aka Gazuza, owner of a traveling circus. When his circus left Ourinhos, Gazuza abandoned his newly-wed bride to her own devices and was never seen again. Much later, in her 30s, Margarida met a man from Ceará called Domiciano and they lived together until her death. Margarida & Domiciano lived next-door to Quincas & Joana ever since her mother Florência aka Dindinha died in 1949. My Mother Yolanda used to visit both on Rua Coroados, Marília, until we left for São Paulo in 1960.
Margarida was always a nice lady; she knew how to 'read cards'. They lived in a one-bedroom house. Every time we visited them, we sat at their double bed while she went about making coffee and talking to my Mother. Domiciano was always quiet. They were both in their 40s in the late 1950s. Both of them smoked cigarettes made out of tobacco rolled in straws. Margarida died on 30 April 1966, in Marília-SP. She accidentally drank bleach out of a cup thinking it was coffee or maybe rum. As she was thin and undernurished she didn't survive.
Saturday 13 July 2024
Maria Rosa Amorim 1938 -
Maria Rosa Amorim 4 March 1938 +
I've been thinking about my aunt Maria Rosa for a few days running. We had a rather close relationship since she was in her teens. I was born in 1949, when she was only 11 years old. By the time she was coming of age circa 1954-1955, we happened to be both in Ourinhos-SP where we often visited a myriad of relatives like aunt Anna Rosa de Jesus (her mother's sister) and uncle Virgilio Amorim (her father's brother).
I remember going out with her on a Sunday afternoon dance in downtown Ourinhos. She somehow made herself prominent into the local young society and had a few male admires who asked her to dance at the local club.
Maria Rosa was at the peak of her charms. She wore a white dress made of organdy with large wine-coloured dots that made her a little queen and called the attention of passers-by. Earlier on, she had stained her white dress by sitting on a freshly-painted chair but the damage had been minimal and she got away with it. That particular Sunday afternoon is forever etched on my mind. I remember we had to climb a set of stairs to get to the dancing hall which was situated at a local thoroughfare. It must have been early yet for the hall was somewhat empty so she chose two chairs - all of them propped against the wall - and we sat down. That's all I remember... she must have danced a lot with many partners until twilight but I can't recall a thing. When one is very young, one only remembers parts and bits of events... not the whole thing.
I also remember going to at least a night session at Cine Marília with her and her then boy-friend. We sat close to the silver screen, so they could neck during the projection. I fell asleep for long stretches for I didn't understand the English language spoken in the featured films we watched and I couldn't read the Portuguese subtitles either.
Once on a Sunday afternoon I was taken by Maria Rosa and Nadir Martins to an amusement park downtown Marília near where the City Hall would soon be built. They decided to take a ride into a boat that would be propelled by both girls, each sitting on opposite and pulling ropes that made the wooden boat swing wildly. The higher they went the more thrilled Maria Rosa and Nadir felt... until the moment I couldn't hold any longer and vomited all over myself, and they had to stop the fun (and the bloody motion) to clean up the poor boy and his vomit.
Next time I remember Maria Rosa was when she started dating Arthur Bellini circa 1956 or 1967 for I remember Agostinho dos Santos' 'Meu benzinho' (My little one) being played on the radio. We had just moved into Dona Amabile's former house two houses down from where we lived on Rua Mato Grosso, 393. Actually, Nadir started flirting with Arthur who lived by himself on a brick house opposite ours after becoming a widow when his wife Elza Bisterço died on 19 January 1956, during the birth of José Carlos Bisterço Bellini.
In