Florência Rosa de Jesus & Quintino Pavão de Oliveira

 

João Amorim, 10 with his grandmother Florência Rosa de Jesus, 64, in 1933.

Florência Rosa de Jesus was born on 11 March 1869, in Valença-RJ. 

Quintino Pavão de Oliveira was probably born in 1869.

Florência & Quintino were married on 4 October 1890, at the Registry Office of São Sebastião do Rio Bonito-RJ. In the 1990s, when I went to Pentagna-RJ, which is the name São Sebatião is known ever since the 1950s, I was given the Registry Books to research at my own pleasure. I took advantage of the great opportunity and made a point of paying careful attention to the signatures of both the bride and bridegroom. Florência as an illiterate young woman simply wrote an X as a signature, but Quintino's signature was neat and clean.

Not much was talked about Quintino in later years, for soon he became addicted to alcohol and must have led an irresponsible life. Suffice it to say, when Florência had her 3rd daughter on 2nd August 1897, Quintino went to the Registry Office to register the new girl and when asked what would her name be he simply said 'Altina', which was the name of his first daughter born on 29 June 1893, who was 4 years old. One could not say this was an act of an absent-minded man but the act of a man under the influence of liquor. 

Even though Quintino was mostly under the influence of pinga or cachaça, apparently he was not a violent man for Florência remained married to him until 1915, when she had Margarida, her last child. They lived together for 25 year at least. 

Circa 1918, when it was time to migrate to São Paulo, Florência took Margarida (3) in her arms and moved away with all of her children. Quintino, who was 49 years old then was left behind. Some say Quintino had been admitted to a psychiatric ward of a hospital in Barra do Piraí-RJ; others say Quintino ended up in a hospice in Varginha-MG. Anyway, Quintino died in March 1923, at the age of 54.

Quintino Pavão's background: it's been said that his father João Pavão de Oliveira was born circa 1848, in the Azores Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and North America. It was said João was born in Ilhéu, but I have noticed that this is a word commonly used in the Azores to designate a small island. Tereza Maria de Jesus, was Quintino's mother's name. We don't know when Quintino's father migrated to Brazil.

We cannot pintoint the exact date of the Great Migration of all these people from the mountainous region of the State of Rio de Janeiro to São Paulo, to finally settle in Ourinhos-SP, near the great Paranapanema River which separates São Paulo from Paraná in the south. As the Spanish Flu pandemic was one of the reasons for leaving Rio de Janeiro, I settled the date to 1918, but it may as well be 1919 or even 1920. 

Once the families Amorim, Pavão de Oliveira & Rosa de Jesus settled in Ourinhos-SP, Florência with her children went to live near her son-in-law Fernando Antonio Amorim and her daughter Albina. It was a great family. By the 1930s, Albina's household had two matriarchs: her mother Florência which was addressed as 'Mother' and Albina herself who was addressed as 'Little Mother' (Mãezinha). To complicate matters, as João Amorim (born on 24 September 1923) was baptized by his grandmother Florência, he used to address her as 'Madrinha' but could only utter 'Dindinha' and that's how Florência became known as since the late 1920s: Dindinha!

Antonio Pinto da Rocha had 3 children with Altina Rosa de Jesus (the original), who died still young. Antonio married again and had 5 more children. Unfortunately I don't know his second wife's name.  These are Antonio & Altina's children:

1. Florência Rosa de Jesus (1869)

2. Antonieta Rosa de Jesus

3. Estevam Pinto da Rocha

Altina Rosa de Jesus (the original) died sometime after having had 3 children. Antonio Pinto da Rocha married again and had 5 more children:

1. Francisco Pinto da Rocha married Carolina and had Antonio, Benedicto & Maria

2. Antonio Pinto da Rocha Filho married Balbina and had Jovino

3. Luiz Pinto da Rocha married Cigana Nenzinha and had Osvaldo, Álvaro, Aristides & Lalá

4. Manoel Pinto da Rocha who never married. He was blinded of both eyes.

5. João Pinto da Rocha married Rosa dos Anjos and had 10 children: 

João Pinto da Rocha was my great-grand-mother Florência Rosa de Jesus's half-brother.

João Pinto da Rocha & Rosa dos Anjos Cardoso's children: 

1. Jovino married Isabel and had Elita

2. Jovila married Herminio and had Nilton & Eunice

3. Rubem Pinto da Rocha married Maria José and had Roberto, Rosa Maria, Renato & Rubens; having migrated to Curitiba, Paraná some time in the mid-1950s. 

4. Alcides married Mercedes (Cearense) and had 4 children

5. Euclides (still lives in Rio State)

6. José married Odite

7. Maria de Lourdes, born in 1921; never married

8. Nair (never married) 

9. Ernane, born on 12 November 1927;

10. Amélia, born on 26 January 1929, married Antonio Felício and had 6 children and still lived in Valença-RJ in the 1990s.   

Most of these people were born and raised in the region of São Sebastião do Rio Bonito-RJ which is now called Pentagna-RJ; some lived in Rio Preto-RJ and others were born or lived in Valença-RJ. 

Rosa dos Anjos Cardoso, João Pinto da Rocha's widow sits by herself at he centre of this family picture taken in 1947. From left to right: 1. Rubem; 2. Lourdes; 3. Alcides; 4. Nair; 5. Jovino; 6. Euclides; 7. Jovila; 8. Ernane; 9. Amélia; 10. José (Zézinho). 

In 1951, after having lived in Ourinhos & Marília for more than 30 years, Fernando Antonio Amorim (my grandfather) took a sentimental journey to São Sebastião do Rio Bonito and brought along Maria Rosa Amorim, his youngest daughter who was 13 years old then. Maria Rosa told me that Rio Preto (Black River) ran behind the house of Rubem Pinto da Rocha, who was actually her grandmother's Florência Rosa de Jesus's half-brother. 

From left to right: Roberto, Rosa Maria, Renato e Rubens Pinto da Rocha, the offspring of Florência Rosa de Jesus's half-brother Rubem Pinto da Rocha. Photo taken in Rio Preto-MG, on 12 November 1951. 

Rubem Pinto da Rocha ended up migrating to Curitiba-PR with his wife and 4 children some time during the 1950s. From then on Rubem kept in contact with his relatives in Marília, and that's how I ended up meeting my great-grand-mother's young half-brother some time in the late 1990s. 

Rubem Pinto da Rocha, my great-grand mother's nephew with his wife Maria José, in the backyard of their house in Piraquara-PR, a suburb of Curitiba-PR, in 1995. 

Rubem Pinto da Rocha & wife Maria José, in Piraquara-PR. 

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. 

Albina Rosa de Jesus aka Altina in the early 1920s.

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.  

Margarida Rosa de Jesus, 10 June 1937; Florência Rosa de Jesus circa 1933.

Augusta Rosa de Jesus (born on 20 May 1904).

Joaquim Pavão de Oliveira aka Quincas (1908-1951).

Anna Rosa de Jesus (1900-1981) & her youngest child Paulinho, circa 1946.

Maria Rosa Amorim 1938 - 2012

Maria Rosa Amorim being pampered by her elder mother Albina Rosa de Jesus. 

Maria Rosa Amorim  * 4 March 1938 + 2nd November 2012

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 and I a little older than a toddler. I was born in 1949, when she was only 11 years old. By the time she was coming of age (16 going on 17) circa 1954-1955, we happened to be both in Ourinhos-SP where we quite often visited a myriad of relatives like aunt Anna Rosa de Jesus (her mother's sister) and uncle Virgilio Amorim (her father's youngest brother). 

I remember going out with her on a Sunday afternoon dance in downtown Ourinhos. after leaving the Funeral Parlour we had been guests for a couple of days. She somehow made herself prominent into the local young society wearing her stunning organdy white dresses 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 the 1st floor of a 2-story building, 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 

JOÃO AMORIM

 

João Amorim in 1936 (left) and 12 years later (1948) on the right.

João Amorim, in 1943, when he was 20 years old.

Ecidyr Darin, Yolanda's nephew & João Amorim in Aparecida do Norte in the mid-1950s.

João Amorim lighting a cigarette with Cipriano, a fellow from the Northeast who stared working as a cleaner at Clínica Ortopédica Angélica, and ended up being a nurse. João worked as both nurse and shoemaker at the same place. Here it must be the late 1960s.

João Baptista Darin Filho, 1944 appointment book

I started visiting Marília-SP in the early 1990s, when I was 44 years old. Although I was born there in May 1949, I left town with my family in December 1960, when I was 11 years old, and never looked back except for a few quick visits while I was in my teens. 

By 1993, when I visited Marília for more than a few days, most of my Darin uncles & aunts had already died. My Mother's sister Rosa Darin (1915-1996) and sister-in-law Maria da Gloria Redondo Batista (1931-2021) were the only ones still alive. I still had quite a few cousins alive then but the earlier generation was basically gone. 

When I visited Marília, I usually stayed at aunt Rosa's little house built in the back of a larger one at Rua 9 de Julho, 2008, in which João Baptista Darin Filho & family lived since they moved out of Rua Campos Salles, 350, a couple of years after my grandfather Marco Giovanni Battista Da Rin Zoldan died in August 1959. 

Rosa Darin (1915) was only 4 years younger than João Baptista Darin Filho (1911). They lived together their whole life for Rosa never married and João married late in life (37). When João finally married he went on living with his father & sister; he only brought the wife in to live with them. Rosa was the family 'archivist'. She kept family mementos which other people would've chucked out. That was my luck. 

Here's a little 1944 Appointment Book (day-book) which belonged to João Baptista. It is amazing what one can surmise reading these little notes João wrote during part of 1944. 

João must've got this little appointment book for 1944, from his friend Eikichi Kaneno. João lived on Rua Campos Salles, 350 and worked as a mechanic and truck driver at Fábrica de Cigarros Sudan S.A., on Avenida 10 de Novembro, 859. João wore shoes size 38, weighed 62 kg and stood 1.70 metres tall. 

João Darin Filho was born on 18 April 1911, so he was 32 years old when 1944 started. He was the last Darin male child left at home with his father Marco Giovanni (72) and sister Rosa (28). João could be described as a melancholic person (sanguine, choleric & phlegmatic are the other 3 kinds). See his first entry in the little book: 'I started 1944 very bad. What a weight!' (Comecei o ano de 1944 muito mal. Que peso.) João's spelling was not really good. He had had only elementary education at the rural property owned by his Father in São José do Rio Pardo, before moving to Marília, when he was 16 years old. 

His 2nd entry on Thurs, 10 Feb 1944, is not much different: 'Estou de azar. Entrei o ano de 44, com o pé esquerdo' ('Bad luck. I started '44 with the left foot'. 

17 February 1944, Thursday: 'I had lunch at Pompéia-SP.' (Almocei em Pompéia); Friday, 18: 'Passei em Vila Fortuna' (I passed through Vila Fortuna); Saturday, 19: 'Cheguei de viagem de Bela Vista'. (I have just arrived from Bela Vista). 

20 February 1944, Sunday (Carnaval): 'Chuva. Fui ao cinema'.) (It rained, I went to the movies.); Monday, 21st: 'Carnaval péssimo. Fui ao cinema'. (Carnaval festivities were bad. I went to the movies.); Fat Tuesday, 22nd: (Destination: Lucélia-SP; the road was impassable.) (Destino: Lucélia. Estrada intransitavel.); Ash Wednesady, 23rd: 'Passei em Quintana'. (I went through Quintana-SP). 

24 February 1944, Thursday: (I had lunch in Quintana-SP) (Almocei em Quintana); Friday, 25: 'Saída para Tupã-SP; muita chuva; destino: Lucélia.) (I left for Tupã; a lot of rain; destination: Lucélia.); Saturday, 26: 'Cheguei em ... (unclear handwriting); não tinha quarto.) (I arrived at ...there was no room at the hotel.) 'Almocei em ...).

27 February 1944, Sunday: ('Passei o domingo em casa. Muito mal'.) (I spent Sunday at home. Too bad.)

28 February 1944, Monday: 'Viajei para Garça-SP. Almocei em Vera Cruz-SP; Posei em Garça'. (Traveled to Garça; had lunch in Vera Cruz; I stayed overnight in Garça.) Corinthians x Flamengo (two football teams). João probably listened to the match broadcasting on the radio of his truck; 29 February 1944, Tuesday: 'Destination Gallia; had lunch in Gallia; stay overnight in Gallia; 1st of March 1944, Wednesday: Destination: Marília. 

2nd March 1944, Thursday - João, candidly says, he spent some time at a whorehouse (zona) in Garça-SP; Friday, 3rd: I paid for the fixing of my watch (Conserto relógio, pago).

5 March 1944, Sunday: 'I started getting 560.000 a monthly in 1944. It's too little' (Em 44, passei a ganhar 560.000 réis. Muito pouco'. 

13 March 1947 (apparently 3 years later) João writes: 'Segui para São Paulo para tratar saúde'. (I went to São Paulo in order for health reasons.) João doesn't explain what kind of ailment he had or why he wrote the note 3 years later.

15 March 1944, Wednesday - Taça Cidade de São Paulo: Corinthians F.C. 2 x São Paulo Football Club 3; João must have been happy for he 'rooted' for Corinthians F.C. 

16 March 1944, Thursday - 'Troquei o relógio; CrS 300.00. (I changed my watch.) Confusing statement. João probably wanted to say, he either exchanged his watch for another one or most likely he bought a new watch and paid Cr$ 300.00 for it. Now, things get more confusing still for Brazilians were introduced to a new currency named Cruzeiro Cr$ on 5 October 1942. It usually took a few years for people to get used to the new currency...maybe that's why João kept on writing Real symbols instead of the new Cr$ one. 

9 April 1944, Easter Sunday - 'A maior surpresa do ano: Corinthians 1 x Jabaquara 2'. João's favourite football team lost to Jabaquara. 

10 April 1944, Monday - 'Quebrei o meu relógio. Que azar.' (My watch broke. What bad luck.)

12 April 1944, Wednesday - 'Fiquei doente.' (I got sick). Not much information about what kind of sickness João came down with. 

13 April 1944, Thursday: 'Idem.' (The same; João was still sick).

14 April 1944, Friday: 'Idem. Um pouco melhor.' (Still sick, but a little better.)

15 April 1944, Saturday: 'Não viajei.' (I have not traveled.) Things get more confusing for João writes the word 'Junho' (June) below 'Saturday, 15). Now, we don't have means to know whether it is April or June. 

6 August 1944, Sunday - After 4 months with no entry at all, João Baptista shows a new vigour in his hand, writing with block letters: 'Hoje, domingo, 6 de agosto, um dia de pouca alegria para mim. Pensei muito, mas não resolvi nada.' (Sunday, 6 August, a day with little joy for me. I thought a lot, but have come to no conclusion.). God only knows what kind of thoughts João had on the Sunday. 

8 August 1944, Tuesday: 'A maior surpresa do ano: Palmeiras 1 x São Bento 2.' 

13 August 1944, Sunday: 'Irei jogar bola.' (I will play football.' It's surprising to know João could actually play football and not only listen to match broadcasts.

3rd September 1944, Sunday: 'Cortei o cabelo bem curto.' (I had my hair cut very short.)

4 September 1944, Monday: 'Aniversário do Francisco José. Completou 4 anos'. (Francisco José's birthday. He was 4 years old.' We don't know who Francisco José might be. Not a relative for sure. Could be some friend's child. 

1st October 1944, Sunday: 'Fui à Missa.' (I went to Mass.) Darin Family was very religious but João Baptista in particular was not really a regular Mass goer. 

2nd October 1944, Monday: 'Mandei fazer uma blusa.' (I ordered a blouse to be made.) One doesn't know what kind of 'blouse' João ordered. Or who took the order. 

7 October 1944, Saturday: 'Fui ao cinema'. (I went to the movies). João could have go to either Cine São Luiz, on Rua 9 de Julho, or Cine Marília, which was only 3 blocks away from his house. 

2nd November 1944, Thursday (Day of the Dear Departed): 'Finados. Dia muito chuvoso. Bem inferior ao do ano passado. Passei o dia bem triste, um pouco adoentado'. (A rainy day. Inferior to Departed Days of 1943. I was sad most of the time. A little under the weather.' We may only speculate what was João's reason for being sad the whole day. He probably thought about his Mother, Erminia Billò, who died 10 years before. Apparently, he was very attached to her; he was 23 when she died on 25 May 1934. 

6 November 1944, Monday: 'Comecei gozar férias contra a minha vontade'. (I started my annual vacation against my will'. 

7 November 1944, Tuesday: 'Não saí de casa'. (I stayed home.)

8 November 1944, Wednesday: 'Idem'. (Ditto.).

15 November 1944, Wednesday (National holiday): 'Fui pescar. Peguei...' (I went fishing...). João maybe intended to keep on writing about his fishing... but lost courage half-way the first word. 

18 November 1944, Saturday: 'Hoje, sábado 18, ainda estou na mesma. Nada resolvido'. 

24 November 1944, Friday: 'Vou entrar em serviço. Acabaram as minhas férias bestas. (I'm going back to work. My foolish vacations are through.)

March 1944 - Cash Account - Figures indicate João borrowed money from his friend Mioshi, and was paying him back bit by bit. He still owed Mioshi 50.00 whatever currency it may have been. 

February 1944 - Cash Account - 'Falta um motorista. Comecei a viajar em 28 February (Zona de Garça) até 1o. de Julho; depois viajei outra vez'. (We're short of one driver. I started driving on 28 February (Whorehouse in Garça) until 1st of July; then I traveled again'. 

September 1944 - Cash Account - 'Mioshi. Mandei fazer um terno, dei Cr$ 200.00 cruzeiros'. João writes Mioshi's name but then changes subject: 'I ordered a suit. I gave 200 cruzeiros instalment'. 

Addresses & telephones: 'Fábrica de Cigarros Sudan S.A. Avenida 10 de Novembro, 867, phone: 3260'. 

Addresses & telephones: João Batista Darin Filho, Rua Campos Salles, 350; phone: there is none.

João Baptista Darin Filho with a mate on a Sunday afternoon romp at a bar. As one can see João knew how to laugh and have a good time. He must have been in his late 20s or early 30s, probably 1944, the year he wrote about himself in his appointment book. 

The impression one gets after reading João's day-book is of someone who's a loner. There is something that bothers him. He feels he needs to take some action or change something in his life but he doesn't say what it is. Apart from Mioshi's name, João seems not to relate to anyone; at least he doesn't write names of people, apart from the 4th birthday of a boy named Francisco José, whose relationship with him remains a mystery. 

João, surprisingly writes about visiting a whorehouse in Garça twice. But he doesn't expatiate about it. He seldom writes about his feelings except to complain about 'having to go on vacation against his will' or contrast this year's Finados (Day of the Departed was not as good as 1943's) with last year's.

João also seemed to be sick many a time. At one time he had to travel all the way to São Paulo to get treatment of a disease that remains unknown. Apparently, listening to football broadcasts on the radio and going to the movies were João's only pleasures in life. He also mentioned (only once) he would go out to play football (with friends, I suppose).

When I reach for the past for a glimpse on João Baptista Darin Filho's personality I don't come to any conclusion. I met him many times before I was 12 years old for he lived in the same house as my Grandfather's and aunt Rosa's. At first I thought he was mopey & gloomy but that may not have been the truth. If you look at some of his photos you know he had a bright jovial side too but he behaved in a very low-keyed way when I saw him as a child.

João ended up marrying a woman with an opposite personality to his own. Maria da Gloria Redondo was an outgoing and sociable person. They say opposites attract each other... then that must have been a marriage made in heaven. They got married on 13 October 1949, some 5 years after João wrote this day-book.

I once asked Maria Redondo why Marco Giovanni Darin sold his farm (Fazenda Apparecidinha) in São José do Rio Pardo and moved to Marília in November of 1927, and what she told me was almost unbelievable. 

In the mid-1920s Marco Giovanni Darin leased part of Fazenda N.S.Apparecida do Rio Verde to a Black man who tilled the land and planted coffee beans. After harvesting was done and the crop was sold, Mr Darin would collect the rent as usual. Something happened that particular year and the man failed to pay the rent. When it came to collect next year's rent, Mr Darin went to the man's house and while he was there the man had a heart attack and died. Some of the man's friends blamed Mr Darin for his death and bad blood set in. Life at the farm was not the same anymore with recriminations and threats flying around.

Just at this juncture (circa 1925), João Baptista who was 14 years old fell ill after eating a fruit everyone thought it was poisoned. The boy started having seizures similar to those afflicted by epilepsy which alarmed Marco Giovanni a great deal. Father took his son to be examined by doctors in the city but nothing came of it. Some said João had been the victim of witchcraft from those who blamed his father for their friend's death. We don't know details about the case but it was reported that once João vomited a ball of hair. 

Marco Giovanni was a deep Catholic man but he must have been superstitious too. Besides, Marco was 54 years old and probably tired of the hard work he had to put up in that farm. He had six sons: Rissieri (26) already married to Elisa Surian (32) since 16 June 1924, who was Apparecidinha's elementary teacher; Jácomo (25) about to marry his cousin Maria Corsini (20), Luizinho (20), Octavio (16), João Baptista (14) and Valdemar (4) but no one seemed to be interested in working hard.

In other words, Marco Giovanni was deeply unhappy. He saw the solution to all his woes would be to move away from it all; sell his property and with the money go west to Marília, where they said the streets were paved with gold. That's what happened in a nut shell. The sons and daughters: Maria (23) already married since 27 September 1923, to Gumercindo Dutra (31), Apparecidinha's milk man, Angela (21), America (18), Nina (12), Rosa (10) and Yolanda (6) would soon know a new life in town. 

All the children who were 10 or older rejoiced in the idea of leaving the farm they all had been born in and move to a town filled with excitement. Less than 2 years after, on 15 November 1927, the whole family took a train to Campinas-SP and from there another train that took them to the end of the railway line Garça, where they alighted and took a bus to Marília which was only a village by then.