A Portuguese Princess Herself
Okay, maybe not ‘princess’ but on some days... I’ve always took much pride in my Portuguese heritage. I was blessed with the olive skin tone and dark features of my father’s side of the family and I will never complain about that. I grew up eating some traditional Portuguese foods at home, especially around the holidays, and enjoyed going to the feasts at Holy Ghost Park every summer. I even still enjoy attending a Christmas mass at Saint Anthony’s where the priest will sometimes ramble off in Portuguese.. The music and dancing, the language, Cristiano Ronaldo - I love it all!
I’m not sure how accurate this is but a quick Google search suggests the Portuguese surname Mello translates to “blackbird”. My father’s family is from Graciosa, the second smallest island in the Azores. I was also told that I am a long distant relative of the Portuguese explorer, Vasco de Gama. I really hope this is, in fact, true because it would given reason to why I’m so curious about places I’ve never been - it’s in my blood!
Both of my father’s grandparents came to America around 1905/1906 from Graciosa. When I asked my dad a little about his family he said “my grandmother, Vovo Silva - her name was Maria Carolina (Tomas) came from the village of Guadalupe in Gracisoa. My grandfather was Manuel Silva (classic Portugee name), but get this, his real name was not Silva. He left Graciosa when he was 14 to be a baker on another Azorean island and then, secretly, stowed away on a boat that was coming to America. He changed his name to Silva when he got to Ellis Island. He came to Lowell where he worked in the textile mills for 16 hours a day and lived in a boarding house”. He died when my dad was 6 or 7 at about 67 years old. He didn’t speak English - actually, my dad didn’t remember him to speak much at all. He was a rough, hardworking fella.
My own grandparents were very much affiliated with the Portuguese church. Their social life was revolved around the church, functions and dances, heritage & cultural things. They were sure to be at Mass every Sunday. By the time my dad was growing up, they didn’t speak Portuguese in the house but his older sister, Brenda, spoke the language. Although they were more “Americanized” than some of their friends, traditional Portuguese homemade meals were still being served when my dad was a kid.
My dad has been to Portugal when he was 10 years old - that was 58 years ago! He seems to think he may have some distant relatives still living over there. We were organizing a family trip over to the islands for August 2020 but then the Coronavirus pandemic broke out. We’ve pushed the trip out and the timing on that is TBD but, nonetheless, we are excited to soon walk the lands of our ancestors!
