Anna's Story

Anna sailed to America on the ship Amizade on July 12, 1873. She arrived in the Port of Boston, MA and travelled to New Bedford, MA where she made her home. She worked as a seamstress, fashioning garments using the skills taught to her by her mother in the Azores. Sometime about 1879, Anna married a young farmer, Manuel Bettencourt Silva, also a recent immigrant from the Azorean island of Sao Jorge.Anna was now a farmer's wife. They spent the first years of their marriage on a farm in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts and became the parents of four daughters, Isabelle, Margarida, Mary and Anna. Their oldest child, Isabelle, contracted diptheria and died at an early age.By the year 1880, the Silva family had moved to Rhode Island. It was there Anna taught her daughters to sew and crochet, and to cook the delicious foods of the Azores.She took them to Mass and taught them the religious values handed down to her from generations of her Catholic ancestors. Anna saw to it that her girls studied well to learn the English language and to excel in their schoolwork. Music filled the house. Her daughters learned to play the piano in the parlor.The girls grew into lovely young women. They married, but did not go far from home. Each young family was provided a tenement for their own growing families. Anna became the proud grandmother of five grandchildren. She lived for many years surrounded by her loving family.Anna died on October 26, 1923 at 73 years of age. She is buried with with her husband Manuel and her two daughters, Margarida and Anna in Saint Francis Cemetery in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.


	Anna's Story Home Anna Gomes 1920 My great grandmother, Anna Gomes, was born on the island of Flores in the Azores in April of 1852. Her parents were Joao Furtado Gomes and Catarina daJesus Triguerios. Anna sailed to America on the ship Amizade on July 12, 1873. She arrived in the Port of Boston, MA and travelled to New Bedford, MA where she made her home. She worked as a seamstress, fashioning garments using the skills taught to her by her mother in the Azores. Sometime about 1879, Anna married a young farmer, Manuel Bettencourt Silva, also a recent immigrant from the Azorean island of Sao Jorge.Anna was now a farmer's wife. They spent the first years of their marriage on a farm in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts and became the parents of four daughters, Isabelle, Margarida, Mary and Anna. Their oldest child, Isabelle, contracted diptheria and died at an early age.By the year 1880, the Silva family had moved to Rhode Island. It was there Anna taught her daughters to sew and crochet, and to cook the delicious foods of the Azores.She took them to Mass and taught them the religious values handed down to her from generations of her Catholic ancestors. Anna saw to it that her girls studied well to learn the English language and to excel in their schoolwork. Music filled the house. Her daughters learned to play the piano in the parlor.The girls grew into lovely young women. They married, but did not go far from home. Each young family was provided a tenement for their own growing families. Anna became the proud grandmother of five grandchildren. She lived for many years surrounded by her loving family.Anna died on October 26, 1923 at 73 years of age. She is buried with with her husband Manuel and her two daughters, Margarida and Anna in Saint Francis Cemetery in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Anna's Pedigree Chart