Tradition

I'm one-quarter Portuguese on my Mom's side.  Growing up around mostly my Mom's family, I associate myself more with Portuguese culture and traditions.  I also have dark hair and olive skin, unlike my east coast cousins, so it's not a stretch.  My Nana and Grandma D played major roles in shaping my life and both left big impressions with their personalities.  As a family, we would go and enjoy the Portuguese festas in Gustine, CA.  Gustine is where Nana and Grandma  D and their family came to after moving from Newport, Rhode Island.  Both HUGE Portuguese communities. 

Grandma D (Gloria da Silva), Great-Uncle Maurice Silva, and Nana
(Alice Silva Thurber, my great-grandmother)
The two ladies who taught me tradition

In any case, at the Our Lady of Miracles Festa, following mass would be a beautiful parade of all the princesses dressed in colorful dresses and the cows waiting to have their milk blessed (the Bodo de leite) for thanksgiving and good health.  We would also enjoy having big meals of sopas (stewed meat with pickling spice, mint, and soaked bread), sit on the curb and eat lupini beans, grab a linguica sandwich from one of the food trucks (Silva's is the BEST linguica), and get loaves of massa sovada (Portuguese sweet bread).  All delicious treats.  But, sweet bread is a family favorite...something that both Nana and Grandma D made every year for Easter.

As the story goes, my Nana would make her massa sovada straight from memory as she learned it from her mother, an old world recipe that wasn't written down.  Making the bread from scratch was and is an all day business.  She made the loaves in the shape of a basket and bake it with a dyed egg on top to symbolize fruitfulness and the resurrection. 

After my Nana could no longer make the bread, Grandma D took over, but tried to find a Portuguese recipe book that produced the same result.  The cookbook "Foods of the Azores" by Deolinda Maria Avila is the one she used since I can remember.  I remember Grandma D making loaves and loaves for the whole family and shipping them off to various locations around California.  When she became a bit older, I asked her to show me how to make the massa sovada.  It was an honor and a great time to share with her.  She handed down all of her tricks and hints to making the delicious, sweet, heavenly bread.  One thing that I always admired about her is that she NEVER had the dough stick to her hands.  No matter how much flour I cake on my hands, I still always get sticky dough hands.  I will always treasure that time we shared.  I received her copy of the recipe book with all of the handwritten notes after she passed away.

Four generations
My mom holding me, Nana, and Grandma D

Now, I make the loaves massa sovada.  I can hear Grandma D's voice when I knead the bread or shape the loaves.  I can also hear the admonishment when I do something wrong, like stirring wrong or leaving out the sugar :).  My family eagerly anticipates the package in the mail around Easter.  One batch makes 10 loaves.  I've made up to 4 batches, but now it's down to a managable 3 batches...or 30 loaves.  The best way to enjoy it is to slice it, toast it, and slather butter on it.  De-lish.  I leave out the egg baked on top, since it's difficult to toast with.  I'm glad it's Easter. 

Here is my link to an adapted version of Deolinda's recipe from "Foods of the Azores" that makes 5 loaves.  I posted the recipe to the Tasty Kitchen recipe site.  Enjoy!

http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/breads/massa-sovada-portuguese-sweet-bread/

Cooling loaves of Massa Sovada from this year's batch

My Great Grandparents Stanish

My dad's grandparents on his father's side are Michael and Sophia Stanish.  But, when they came to the United States through Ellis Island, they came carrying the names given to them, Michal and Zoska (Fydrick) Stanisz.  I know they came from Austria (from the town of Shonak (phonetic?)), but it's unkown if they actually were Austrian or if they were Ukrainian or Polish.  My dad remembers them speaking Russian.  In any case, Michael came  to the U.S. by himself sometime before 1900.  His brother, Profir, pushed and pushed him to bring his wife and daughter over, but from what I hear, he was having a good time as a renewed bachelor.  Eventually, Sophia and their daughter Sophie made it across the pond.  Fourteen or so kids followed after that with three sets of twins and a set of triplets (there may have been a son, Tim born before Sophie). 

Michael's brother, Profir and his wife Yusti, landed and lived in New Jersey.  Their names changed to John and Susan - I love it!  Sophia had a brother living with them in Pennsylvania.  He lived in a little shack in the back of the property.  His name was Wico (sp?) and all the kids called him Yonko Wico.  I'm hoping that the upcoming release of the 1940 census will unveil some more information about all of these characters.  Being immigrants they tended to be private and were suspicious of government folk, so hopefully there will be answers.

Grande Grande Grande Avo Maria Bettencourt

I have one photo of my great, great, great grandmother on my Mom's side.  It was taken on either the island of Sao George in the Azores.  I've always been so struck by the photo and what a classic Portuguese woman she is.  I know the young boy on the left is my great, great uncle Jack, her grandson.  I wish I knew who the other men were and what the occasion was.  They are sure to all be relatives.  But who????  My uncle Jack was born in the United States and this was one of their travels back to the islands.  It's interesting since they weren't a wealthy family or even a middle class family to be travelling, at least a handful of times, back to the old country. 

Maria Bettencourt>>Francisco Silveira Alvernaz>>Alice Alvernaz Silva Thurber (Uncle Jack's older sister)>>Gloria Silva DelaMere da Silva (my Mom's mom)

Holy Multiples!

My Grandpa Joe is a twin.  That's not so remarkable, particularly given the number of twins being born in our time. 

Twins, Catherine & Joe Stanish

But, what is remarkable is that among the siblings, who preceeded Joe and his twin Catherine, there were a set of triplets and two sets of twins.  So, if you're counting, that's four sets of multiples out of fifteen (or sixteen) kids.  Can you imagine that?  This was obviously at a time when there were no ultrasounds or tests to determine such things.  I wonder what my great-grandparents were thinking when the fourth set of multiples arrived, let alone the second and third set.  I think I kind of have an idea of what they were thinking...holy schnikeys (or insert your own exclamation here)!

I was fortunate to come across a photo at my Grandma's last year that has most of the Stanish kids in it.  Turns out the babies held in the photo are my Grandpa Joe and Aunt Catherine.  I can definitely see a family resemblance in the Stanish kids.

Front right, Michael Stanish (his triplet sisters had passed away), Joe and Catherine are the babies being held.   Julia Stanish is the little dark haired girl holding one of the infant twins to the right of Michael.  Twins Ann and Annette are the blonds directly behind Julia and the other dark haired girl.  Sophie Stanish is in the black dress on the right and she is holding on to Frances, whose twin John is third from her right.  Don't know who the other cute kids are, sadly.



You Ought To Be In Pictures

As I have been going through and scanning more photos from my Grandma's collection, I keep seeing these great photos of my Dad as a young boy.  He was a pretty cute little guy.  But, as I look through these photos, I keep having movie title run through my head as I view them.  See what you think:

Seabiscuit

A Christmas Story

American Graffiti

The Three Amigos

Children of the Corn

Little Rascals

Family Members I Would Like to Meet - Part II

Anna Figunes Nunes Lopes
b. 29 June 1863 - d. 9 Jan 1961
Born in Sao Jorge, Azores

Anna Lopes is my Great Great Grandmother's (Maria da Gloria Figunes Alvernaz) older half sister.  She was born in the Azores and came to the United States in 1909 at the age of 46.  She was travelling with her 12 year old daughter, Lizzie. 

What I know about her from family stories is that she came to the United States to join her husband, Manuel Nunes Lopes, in the gold fields of Nevada City, California.  Apparently they made a little bit of money.  One of the stories my Mom told me is that when she was little, she was playing in her family's front yard digging holes with a spoon made of gold from Anna and Manuel's claim.  The spoon was lost that day and my Mom got into a LOT of trouble.

Somewhere along the line, Aunt Anna ended up in San Francisco, CA without Manuel.  It's not known if they divorced or if he passed away.  Lizzie was with her in 1910, but I don't know what happened to her after that or if she had any siblings.  Anyhow, San Francisco is another interesting piece of Aunt Anna's story. 

Aunt Anna lived with a man named Bernard Dickman.  They never married!  Oh, the scandal!  How was it that she arrived in the States in 1909 and by 1910 she was living with a man who wasn't her husband?  She ended up with profits from the gold claim.  What happened to Manuel?  Who was Bernard?  How did they meet?  They lived together until Bernard's death.

The 1930 census shows Bernard and Anna living in an apartment in San Francisco where they worked as a waiter and waitress. 

My Mom remembers going to visit Anna in San Francisco.  She remembers that she had no refrigerator and that she kept her groceries out on the terrace of her apartment.  My Mom and her sister were offered Saltines as snacks when they came to visit and if anyone knows San Francisco, it's usually foggy.  Saltines on terrace = stale...ick.

The times that my Aunt Anna lived, she did some unconventional things.  I would love to know how she met her husband, why she left the Azores, how did she come to live with a man she wasn't married to. 

Family Members I Would Like to Meet - Part I

Over the years, I have heard stories of different family members.  Some have been more prominent in family oral history than others and as their stories unfold in front of me the more I wish I could sit down over a cup of coffee cold beer and ask questions of them.  Sophie Stanish is one of those people. 

Sophie is my grandpa Joe's oldest sister.  She was either the oldest or second oldest (a brother Tim may have preceeded her) of 15 (or 16) children.  She was born in Austria in, or around, a town named (or sounds like) Shonak.  Her father Michael left for the United States leaving Sophie and her mom Sophia behind.  Apparently when he arrived in Pennsylvania he had no plans to send for Sophie or her mother because he was having far too much fun as bachelor.  After some persuading by his brother, Profir Stanish, he finally sent for his family.  That is how Sophie made it to the United States.  I haven't found which year yet, though.

Through family history it seems that Sophie became the somewhat matriarch of the family.  What is interesting to me is that she ran a successful restaurant in Oil City, PA called the Penn Restaurant.  I would love to know how long that business ran.  Out of it she was able to purchase enough land for the large Stanish family to live on, on Shaffer Run Road.  She had her own large house built by my Grandpa Joe and one of her man friends, which still stands today.  With her finances, she built a house for her parents to live in, which subsequently my grandparents, dad, aunt, uncle, and their cousin grew up in - and is still in the family. 

She obviously played an importent role in her family.  I'm sure that her status in the family was elevated as she was the oldest child and first to primarily speak english.  She probably had a huge sense of responsibility.  I'm amazed at her industrious nature and strength.  Sophie didn't even have a high school education. 

I just wish I could find out how she did it.  What kind of struggles did she have to deal with, particularly being a woman?  What led her to running a restaurant?  How was the food?  How was she able to buy so much property? 

Beyond that, she was married twice.  Archie Purdy was her first husband, followed by Tom Thomas.  She had no children.  She passed away at a relatively young age.  Researching archived newspaper articles it is apparent that she was clearly missed by her family.

Sophie Stanish Thomas

(b. 14 Nov 1899 - d. 23 Dec 1952)