My family search is almost identical to yours. My great-grandmother, Rosa da Costa, was born (we believe) on Sao Miguel island on May 24, 1875. She was an only child. One, or both, of her parents were possibly of English descent and both died of a flu epidemic when she was possibly around the age of 2 or 3. After her parents' death she was raised by a wealthy aunt who treated her like a slave. We think she married my great-grandfather (Adriano, who was born on November 30, 1874 in Lisboa) and were married in 1991 in Sao Miguel. Her aunt greatly disliked him because he was dark skinned and my great-grandmother was very light skinned with blue eyes. He arrived in Sao Miguel with possibly one or two brothers. They had one child (possibly more who did not survive) in Sao Miguel. Her name was Angelina Patricia and was born on May 18, 1899. My greatest problem is their surname was changed somewhere between Sao Miguel and when they arrived in Hawaii in 1900. In 1908 they left Hawaii with six more children and when they arrived in San Francisco their surname was "Martins" according to the shipping manifests. I have checked all the records in Lihue, Hawaii (where six children were born) and cannot find them with the last name of "Martins". They settled in Oakland, CA and had five more children. After my great-grandfather's death in 1932 the name was shortened from "Martins" to "Martin".

I do not speak Portuguese but a few of my cousins know a little bit but not enough to read microfilms plus they all live in California and I live in Texas. I greatly need to find my great-grandmother Rosa's birth registry, baptism and marriage records and daughter, Angelina's, birth registry and baptism record. Maybe then I will be able to find out what their original surname was. But, until then, I am stuck.

I also have extensive information about the family after they arrived in California and we also have had no luck tracking them back to the Azores. While going through your family records if you could possibly keep my family in mind and maybe come across their records, I would so greatly appreciate it. Living in Texas really puts me at a disadvantage because all the records that could help me are in Hawaii. Other people with the Portuguese Society in Hawaii have tried to help me but have not been able to find anything yet. Also, can you tell me where you were able to get your microfilms? Thanks, Cheri