From the book Chão da Vida – Memórias, by cousin Jayme de Barros (1901-1986)
My second great-grandfather was born in the parish of São Gonçalo, Campos dos Goytacazes, on 7 Sep 1843, and passed away in the same area where he lived his whole life, on 6 Nov 1909, almost two years to the day before my grandmother, his granddaughter, was born.
At first, finding his family was not easy because his siblings did not have the same surnames, and because Almeida was not found anywhere else in his tree. The way people get their family names in Brazil can be tricky, specially before the 20th century. There was no rule, just custom, often capricious.
Once I knew my way around the old issues of the Monitor Campista, José’s family came into focus. His father Manoel Ribeiro dos Santos died in 1879 and legal strife over the inheritance was published in the paper. His brothers, all of whom had their father’s names, as well as their mother, went through a lengthy estate settlement process.
Quitéria Maria do Espírito Santo was my second great-grandmother’s name, and I suspected Almeida was a surname that came through her. I was right, but getting proof of that was an ordeal. José’s birthdate was found on another document, and I could not locate the book with his baptismal record. I found his sister’s though, and it named both sets of grandparents: José Ribeiro de Barros and Anna Maria da Conceição, Manoel de Almeida Rabello and Joanna Maria de Souza Barros. Barros on both sides is not a coincidence, they were all cousins.
José Ribeiro de Almeida Barros married Rita Maria Ribeiro da Motta around 1868. I was able to find 13 children, though two of them remain a mystery, probably gone in infancy. Rita was the daughter of Miguel Ribeiro da Motta, the Baron and later Viscount of São Sebastião. Their children married cousins from the region, and became intertwined with the Wagner and Barroso families that make up the nucleus my grandmother was born into, the people I met and heard about throughout my life.
My grandmother said her childhood was happy, but not an easy one in terms of financial security. She did not elaborate, just saying whatever wealth they had was gone, in part due to gambling. I wrongfully assumed this involved her father. The accounts of two of her cousins who wrote their memories got the record correct.
The family went through a rollercoaster of boom and bust with sugarcane prices, but ultimately, the weight of mounting debt took its toll, and José died of angina pectoris, as it shows on his death certificate. His heart gave out. As Jayme de Barros puts in his memoir, his grandfather died of desgosto, of upset. He also played a high stakes card game akin to poker, often losing.
Cousin Mario Barros Wagner (1907-1967), who left for us a collection of chronicles that details the lives of the Barros and Wagner clan, including where they lived, says he died short after losing his penultimate plot of farming land. For the next 27 years, his widow Rita along with two children and a few grandchildren lived in the Chalé da Fazendinha, the quaint name for a grand albeit mostly shuttered home, where
“… in a drawer on the center table you would find his cigarettes and matches, as well as other objects carefully kept. Vovó Rita stood stoically in the midst of financial ruin. “
Reading these accounts give me a lot of context to understand what my grandmother mentioned in passing. These facts helped shape her family, affected her prospects in a town where money really mattered, and likely were part of what drove her father, Miguel Ribeiro da Motta Barros, to a similar end to his father’s in 1929, taken by sudden cardiac arrest aged only 57, still trying to make a living off the same industry, sugar prices in decline. Grandma Julia left not too long after her father’s death to find her life elsewhere.
Papers and documents disappear and can be inaccurate. The oral tradition of families, the stories that percolate in time and get to us, too, can disappear, be intentionally or unintentionally altered. They are often misremembered. DNA does not lie.
When I took my first genetic test, a gift from my brother as part of the now-concluded Geno Project, I found out my mitochondrial haplogroup is L0a1, which is linked to the Atlantic slave trade. There was an enslaved woman in my direct maternal line, a bit of family knowledge certainly lost in time, that surprised me because I assumed that all African ancestry I had would be through my paternal family.
The line I set out to trace back ran through Campos dos Goytacazes, my maternal grandmother’s hometown, the site of old cattle and sugarcane farms, where enslaved workers toiled to enrich the white elites. I knew my grandmother descended from some of the so-called “Sugarcane Barons” and thus would be unequivocally white. Through her mother side, we have the Swiss slice of my genetics, but that comes from my great-grandmother’s father. But this had to do with this wife, and I had to look at the Costa Guimarães branch, that I knew were Portuguese of somewhat recent immigration to Brazil, meaning they were not among the families that first settled in the ancestral Goitacá lands.
My second great-grandmother Anália died in 1887 and her mother has been hard to research. Anna Maria de Oliveira Bastos, like her daughter, likely died young, leaving small children. I was luckier researching Anália’s maternal grandmother, found a funeral mass announcement, which made it easier to locate probate records. Her name was Hyppolita Joaquina do Nascimento, born around 1790 in Campos to the Portuguese citizen Manoel Francisco dos Santos, and Brazilian-born Maria Rosa dos Passos.
The issue of color in a country like Brazil is complex. Old records will bring information about the subject’s race. For slaves, the origin in Africa would often be written down as Mina, Angola, Guiné, Jêje, or the vague “de nação”. Enslaved people born in Brazil were referred to as “crioulos”. Many enslaved and free people were biracial, and more often referred to as “pardos”, which was a generic term for people of darker skin, and it could also encompass free people of indigenous ancestry.
These descriptors were widely used in religious and legal records. In church books, specially when all parties in a baptism or marriage were people of color, be it the parents of a newborn, or the bride and groom, the record will mention their race, almost without fail. However, when one of the parties (the man) was white, this notation may or may not be present, something that lends itself to an interesting discussion about how that makes the couple white.
Since I knew that Anália, Anna Maria, Hyppolita and Maria Rosa descended from a woman that was brought to Brazil in bondage, I was hoping that one record out there would give us proof. I combed through the spotty São Gonçalo parish records and found the baptismal record of one of Maria Rosa dos Passos’s children. It is very interesting to see that the note “parda” was squeezed in after her last name, as if it was, at first, not there and was added afterward.
Maria, born 9 Aug 1818 in Campos, daughter of Manoel José da Costa Bastos, from the parish of Santiago de Figueiró (Portugal) and Hyppolita Joaquina do Nascimento. Paternal grandparents José da Costa and Rosa Maria. Maternal grandparents Manoel Francisco dos Santos from São Jorge, Porto, Portugal, and Maria Rosa dos Passos from Rio de Janeiro.
The record also bring the information that Maria Rosa was baptized in the city of Rio de Janeiro, so I was hoping I would find out more about her in one of the old parishes in town. I was in luck.
Marriage between Manoel Francisco dos Santos and Maria Rosa dos Passos – Rio de Janeiro – 19 Nov 1774
The marriage above does not have any mention of race because the groom was white, and it pushes us one generation back in time with his parents, Manoel Francisco and Joana Francisca de Pinho from São Jorge de Feira, and the parents of the bride, João de Souza Nunes and his wife Anna Ribeiro da Silva, baptized in the Mother Church of the See in Rio de Janeiro, and already dead by the time of this record. Another attempt at finding a marriage record ensued.
Marriage between João de Souza and Anna Ribeiro da Silva – Rio de Janeiro – 30 Jun 1754
Another generation uncovered, with a Portuguese-born groom and a Brazilian-born bride. João de Souza (Nunes), son of Manoel de Souza Moreira and his wife Josefa Nunes from the parish of São Martinho do Campo, and Anna Ribeiro da Silva, born in the city of Rio de Janeiro, and here comes an important detail that cannot be overlooked: she was the natural daughter of José Ribeiro da Silva, a white man, and Joanna de Souza, a single woman, no race notation but we do not need that at this point, both of whom lived in Rio.
I do not know the nature of the relationship between Anna’s parents, but she was born out of wedlock to a white man and a black woman. She received her father’s surnames, but I do not know if she was born free. It is likely that her mother and herself, both, were born in slavery and were granted freedom later. I still search those documents in the Rio databases.
What I do know is that deep in each cell in my body I carry the evidence that one day, a woman was taken from her land and her people, endured a harrowing voyage, the erasing of their identity, their dehumanization. I believe Joanna de Souza was the daughter of one such woman. I treat this line of my research with deep respect, admiration, and gratitude. They live in me and in my siblings, in some of my cousins, my two children and two nieces.
Also very importantly, I found the term “parda” in my father’s ancestry, as well. This post is for Joanna, Anna, Maria Rosa and Anna Maria, but also, on my paternal line, for Vovó Aiquinha, and her direct maternal line consisting of Thereza, Joanna Pereira, Severiana, and Íria Maria, who was an enslaved woman. This post deserves a part two.
When I began researching the family, and got in touch with the cousins that had already started mapping out the Wagner family, I noticed the name Anália showed up a few more times than I anticipated. This was a name I knew, it was Grandma Julia’s grandmother’s and older sister’s name, and it was also the name of a few cousins born around the same time, which probably made family reunions interesting. I wanted to find out more about the first Anália, so I went to the digital newspaper library.
A small note tucked away into the Monitor Campista published on December 8, 1887, told me of how her story ended prematurely, aged only 45. She had died at 5 o’clock in the morning the day before, leaving her husband João Wagner dos Santos, and eleven children. Her burial happened the same day in their parish of São Gonçalo, as it was the custom.
With my grandmother Julia gone, my questions arising when I could no longer turn to her for answers, and with this death having happened before the time when we had civil records in Brazil that would give me more information, I thought I would not find out more about why Anália’s life had been cut short. A few years after, a cousin’s journal would bring me answers.
Born to a family of doctors and lawyers, Anália received a good education, which wasn’t the rule, specially for women, at that place and time. Incidentally, her future husband, an only child who grew up helping his widowed mother Delphina Wagner run their farm, felt he needed some tutoring. So, João Wagner dos Santos hired Miss Anália Leonor da Costa Guimarães for that job.
Anália’s father, Joaquim José da Costa Guimarães, a lawyer, likely born in Portugal (this is an ongoing research), died not long before her wedding, and I found out he knew his future son-in-law well. When João Wagner dos Santos’s father died in 1860, José Joaquim was appointed as his legal guardian, even though João’s mother Delphina Wagner was alive. I cannot be sure of the reason for that, whether this was because she could not write or read, posing a legal impediment, or if there was another reason. Regardless, we know João and Anália certainly knew each other for some time, if not for that, for the fact that they went to the same church and Campos wasn’t a big place. They got married on 14 September 1867.
Anália’s mother was Anna Maria da Costa Bastos, whose father was born in Santiago de Figueiró in Portugal, and whose mother descended from an enslaved woman, according to notes on baptism records. A mitochondrial DNA test confirmed that, showing my matrilineal line in the L0a1 haplogroup, related to the transatlantic slave trade. I do not know when Anna Maria died, but I suspect it was at a young age. Anália had only one brother, born one year before her. He followed in the family tradition and became a doctor. He passed one year after his sister, in 1888.
Anália and João Wagner had twelve children together. Firstborn João made his appearance a little under six months after the parents’ wedding, which methinks may have happened in a hurry. The second child was Joaquim, who died in a tragic accident that my cousin Mário Wagner, who wrote the family’s memories, credits as being the reason for Anália’s decline, and eventual death. My great-grandmother Alda was the third child, then came Anália Leonor carrying both of the mother’s names, Carlos, Delphina, Gil, Adauto, Júlio, Otávio, Otto, and Maria José.
There is a slight discrepancy between Mário’s memories and what I was able to confirm in a news clipping about the accident, regarding the victim’s name, whether it was Alberto or Joaquim. Since it happened decades before Mário was born, I believe the correct name would be the one published the day after it occurred: Joaquim. This would also make sense because this was his maternal grandfather’s name; his eldest brother had been named after the paternal grandfather.
The account of what happened is correct, the boy aged around 13 fell into the moving sugarcane mill on the family’s farm. Mário’s memories give us more context. The eldest brother had gone to Great Britain to learn more about steam-powered engines that could replace the old horse-powered mill and stay competitive in their business. The younger brother took on some of his duties during the absence, and on the morning of the accident he went to the mill carrying a kerosene lamp. He dropped it and started a fire that startled the horses, abruptly starting the wheel that crushed him.
After this tragedy, Anália moved out of the farm into a house in the parish’s urban area, as she could not stand to hear the turning of the wheel anymore. There is another small discrepancy between what Mário heard from older people living on the family farm, and what the newspapers reported, and it is the timeline between the passing of son and mother, which did not occur in short sequence. Rather, five years passed, which does not make it any less heartbreaking. Some of my great-grandma siblings were very little, just out of toddlerhood, when they lost their mother. I suspect Alda, who was a teenager and the oldest among the girls, quickly had to take on some of the responsibility of rearing her brothers and sisters.
Anália’s memory lived on with the granddaughters who were named after her, on the name of oldest son João’s own farm. I would love to know if there is a portrait of hers with one of the many cousins I do not know, and I hope it would make its way to my hands as cousin Mários memoirs did.
What happens when you are not considered a citizen of the only place you have ever known, the place you call home? Where everything that is familiar, from the language to the food, the songs, the hills that surround the lakes where you played as a child? What is life like when you are, still, homeless in your own country? When your homeland does not recognize you as a citizen, making you stateless, an outcast?
This was not something I was contemplating when I found the Frey family in the Canton of Fribourg 1818 census.
Entry 51 in this folio lists as residents in the parish of Gurmels in the Canton of Fribourg, taken on 16 January 1818 : Anna Maria Frey, age 55, Zemn, Canton Lucerne, widow; Elisabeth, 16, Kriegstetten, Solothurn, single; Mariana, 13, Biberist, Solothurn, single; Katthry, 8, Bremis, Wallis. The far right column notes they are all Heimatlos, or stateless. I took to Swiss genealogy discussion boards to learn about the possible reasons for their status, and also to figure out where the mother, Anna Maria Frey, was born. “Zemn” is not a place I could find in Lucerne or in any other cantons. Fortunately, a native Swiss-German speaker experienced in dealing with old documents figured it out: she probably told the enumerator she was “zu Emmen“, from Emmen, which is indeed a commune in the Canton of Lucerne. The same researcher was able to locate her baptismal record:
Anna Maria Elisabetha Æmila Frey, born 4 April 1769 in Emmen, parents Josephus Frey and Elisabetha Zubler.
I did not find the parents’ marriage in Emmen. The record does not mention their places of origin, which makes the search harder. The pattern of absent, inconsistent, or incomplete information starts and becomes the norm with this family line. This record shows no indication that Anna Maria’s parents were foreigners, stateless. This was either by omission on this particular record, or she was born a citizen but lost this status due to marriage.
Here is how things went for her: In 1818, the Canton of Fribourg entered an agreement with the Portuguese crown to send 100 families to settle in the mountains outside of Rio de Janeiro, where Portugal’s court had relocated during the Napoleonic Wars. The agreement was mutually beneficial, as King John VI wished to experiment with subsidized colonization, and Europe was experiencing crop failure and population displacement following the wars that raged in the prior decades, and the environmental aftermath of the Mount Tambora eruption, that led to the “Year Without a Summer”.
According to Swiss-Brazilian genealogist Henrique Bon, who has done extensive research and published a book recounting the voyage (made also into a children’s version), several of the immigrants bound for Brazil traveled with their expenses paid for by the local communes, that wished to be rid of poor citizens who burdened the local administration and churches’ treasuries.
Mr. Bon is very generous answering my inquiries, but we could not come with a definite reason for the Frey-Guttemann women to be considered stateless. He pointed out that some of the immigrants in that journey were widows with children. It is not difficult to infer that those were people who could not secure a living without the male head of the household, and would be likely candidates to get a ticket out of town from the local authorities.
Anna Maria’s immigration papers show she was the daughter of Joseph Frey, and the widow of Agostinho Gutermann, as their names were written down by immigration officials. As it was customary in Brazil, she showed on records with her husband’s last name, henceforth appearing as Anna Maria Gutermann (with various spelling variations of the last name). She came in the company of the three daughters aboard the Daphne. Their journey was harrowing, with overcrowded vessels in which nearly a quarter of the passengers perished due to the unsanitary conditions, as I wrote in two previousposts about the other half of my Swiss ancestry.
Shortly after her arrival, Anna Maria married a fellow immigrant, a French-speaking widower by the name of Joseph Ferdinand Steulet. She died in the city of Nova Friburgo on 16 July 1839, by then twice-widowed. The eldest daughter married immigrant Anton Klein, the second daughter went to live in the capital city of Rio de Janeiro, and we lost track of her. The youngest child married an old neighbor from Gurmels, Hans Wagner, starting a numerous family in Campos dos Goytacazes.
I wanted to find out more about their circumstances, or at least make the most educated inference possible in the light of the civil laws of their places of origin. Also, I needed to find out more about the family member who never made it to Brazil: Agostinho, or Joseph Augustin Guttmann.
As of the writing of this post, I have not yet found their marriage record. I found documents showing they had a son named Joseph born in Deitingen, Solothurn, on 29 Oct 1798. He was buried in Kriegstetten, SO, on 24 May 1799. In Joseph’s baptism entry, the parents are Joseph Augustin Guttman and Anna Maria Æmila Frey, Godparents Joseph Stüdi from Grenchen, and Maria Anna Grolimund. The place of origin of the father is Canton Wallis, or Valais. They are noted as vagi, short for vagabondi, vagrants, maybe part of the traveling peoples who have lived in Switzerland for centuries. Their presence in many communities was, and still is, generally not welcomed, and historically they have been seen with prejudice and little tolerance by the communities on their way. They moved together in caravans, typically looking for employment on farms during harvest season, and found other temporary jobs in trades as blacksmiths and carpenters. I cannot determine with certainty if this was their situation.
Joseph Guttman’s baptism record
One year after Joseph’s death, his sister Elisabeth was baptised in Kriegstetten. Born on 30 April 1800, the father’s name appears as Augustinus Guttman, mother Anna Maria Frey. Josephus Stüdeli stands as the godfather as he did for Joseph, and another Grolimund woman is the godmother, which leads me to believe they may be related to the Guttmann-Frey family. Regarding the father’s origin, the notation has Lausanen, different from what we see on the previous record. Also noted the word conversus, indicating Augustin was not born in the Catholic faith.
Elisabeth’s baptism record
The next daughter, Maria Anna, was born in Biberist, another community in Canton Solothurn, on 29 May 1803. This time the parents are noted as vagrants. The godfather is Sebastian Werbold from Schüpfen, godmother is maternal aunt Maria Anna Frey.
Maria Anna’s baptism record
The last birth I could find was that of my ancestor, Katharina. She was born in Bramois, in the Canton of Valais. Unlike her siblings, she was born in a French-speaking region, where church records are not easy to research, and I had to request hers directly to the current abbot from the parish where she received the sacrament. Alas, older books are not housed in the church building, they were transferred to the state archives and can only be viewed in person. Abbot Rotten drove there to send me one more piece of the puzzle, and he has my immense gratitude.
Katharina – Catharina Guttman’s baptism record
This time the father is named Joseph Guttmann, mother Anna Maria Æmila Frey. The parents are noted as inerto vagorum. The officiating priest was the godfather, the godmother was Catherine, her last name not readable.
I hypothesize that Anna Maria Æmila Frey was not born to vagrant parents, but I could not find other children by Joseph Frey and Elisabeth Zubler in Emmen. We know she had at least one sibling, who was Maria Anna Guttmann’s godmother. Frey is a somewhat common surname. Zubler is found in several communes in Solothurn. This is why I believe they could be from that area, and not travelers passing by. Finding the Frey-Zubler marriage record would give us confirmation of that.
Joseph Augustin Guttmann remains a mystery, and I believe Anna Maria became Heimatlos when she married him. Their daugthers, though born in Switzerland, would not be considered citizens, as citizenship is passed down by the father. The Register of Swiss Surnames does not indicate Guttmann, with this spelling, is an “old” Swiss name, although we do find the variant Gutmann more frequently.
I cannot affirm that they were a part of one of the traditional traveling peoples of Switzerland, if going from place to place was their chosen way of life, or if this was a matter of circumstances in which they were continuously forced to dislocate in order to survive because of the war, poverty, or both. Augustin died sometime between Katharina’s birth and the time the enumerator knocked on Anna Maria’s door in Gurmels, in 1818.
As of the time I was wrapping up this post, I found an interesting record which I have not yet completely deciphered.
Above is the baptism record of a child named Maria Anna Guttmann. She was born in Grenchen, Canton of Solothurn, on 16 June 1809. Her father was Franc. Augustinus Guttmann, mother Margaretha Fasnacht. The couple were not married. Margaretha was from the town of Entlebuch in the Canton of Lucerne. Two things stand out: first, the name crossed out right above hers. That is our very own Anna MariaÆmila Frey. Second, the place of origin of Franciscus/Franz Guttmann. It is not clear, but it looks like it says: “Darischar Distr(ikt) Melsch Depart(ment) S(ankt) Hypolit”
Melsch, Meltsch, or Melč, is a hamlet in what today is Czechia. In the 18th Century, it was part of Silesia, in the Austrian Empire. It seems like we may have a lead of where to look next.
Não sabemos exatamente quando faleceu Hans, ou João Wagner como era chamado no Brasil. Sabe-se que ele fez testamento em 1835, este testamento existe e eu tenho tentado localizá-lo. Penso que esteja no 4º Cartório de Títulos de Campos e aguardo resposta deles. Existe um outro rastro histórico dele deixado em cartórios campistas, quando em 1836 ele foi protestar um título. A próxima referência que temos é que em 1856, quando a filha Maria Catharina se casou, tanto João como Katharina Wagner já eram falecidos.
Temos relatos detalhados sobre os primeiros Wagner campistas graças às memórias de Mário de Barros Wagner (1907-1967), filho de João da Costa Wagner e Adálgica Ribeiro de Barros, primo-irmão de Vovó Júlia. Mário chegou a conhecer pessoas que trabalharam na fazenda de Delphina Wagner, e que ouviram histórias sobre seus pais. Interessante constatar que ele menciona a origem austríaca da família, assim como dizia Vovó Júlia. Mário diz ser a família suíça de origem austríaca e nós já conseguimos evidência da parte suíça.
João Wagner era o proprietário de uma oficina de ferreiro e construía seges, carruagens para transporte de passageiros. A oficina situava-se no centro da atual Goitacazes, e João era conhecido por seu temperamento irascível e sua recusa em falar o português. Para tratar com clientes, mandava chamar as filhas que ficavam nos fundos da oficina. Passou dificuldades com seu negócio pois o terreno da Planície Goitacá era mais adequado para cavalos, carros-de-boi e canoas do que para seges mais frágeis. Consta que João Wagner bebia muito e nunca se adaptou bem à vida no Brasil, nunca aprendeu o nosso idioma e tinha comportamento errático. Ele faleceu jovem, em 1834.
De duas filhas que chegaram à idade adulta Delphina era a mais velha. Como de costume à época ela ou usava, ou foi registrada em livros paroquiais com um sobrenome devocional, sendo seu nome Delphina Maria de Jesus. Não tenho posse do seu assento de falecimento, mas sabe-se que foi em 1882 aos 58 anos, situando portanto o nascimento em 1824 em São Gonçalo (Goitacazes), logo após a chegada dos pais à cidade. A segunda filha, Maria Catharina, nasceu em 1 Jan 1827 segundo consta em seu assento de casamento. Após a morte do marido, Katharina Wagner segregou-se mais ainda, ela também aparentemente nunca se adaptou ao Brasil. Com isso ambas as moças fugiram com seus pretendentes.
Delphina passou a viver com João dos Santos Oliveira, um fazendeiro viúvo que vivia na Fazenda Senhorana. Não pude me aprofundar na pesquisa documental da história da família dele, que era filho de Francisco de Oliveira Bastos e Maria Duque da Rosa, e tinha por avós paternos José Antônio Pereira de Carvalho e Ana Maria da Conceição. Desconheço se João dos Santos tinha filhos do primeiro casamento mas creio que não. Os únicos herdeiros mencionados em seu testamento são Delphina e o filho.
CréditoJo: A Enciclopédia Campista https://www.facebook.com/AECAMPISTA
João e Delphina tiveram o seu único filho no dia 19 Dez 1848 e batizaram-no com o nome de João Wagner dos Santos. O filho foi legitimado com o casamento dos pais no dia 18 Jul 1854 conforme transcrito abaixo:
“Aos desesete dias do mez de julho de mil oitocentos e cincoenta e quatro nesta Matriz de Sam Gonçalo as duas horas da tarde em minha presença, e das testemunhas abaixo asignadas, por palavras de presente, na forma do sagrado Concilio Tridentino, e Constituição do Bispado, e mais leis a respeito, depois de proclamados, e presente o Reverendíssimo Vigário de Vara, o Doutor Conego João Carlos Monteiro na qualidade de visitador, tendo aberto a mesma, se receberam em matrimonio João dos Santos de Oliveira, viúvo de Francisca Joaquina de Jesus, com Dona Delfina Maria de Jesus, naturaes e baptizados nesta Freguesia, filha legítima de João Vagner e Catharina Maria de Jesus, suissos, e logo lhes dei as Bençãos Nupciaes, na forma do Ritual Romano, de que fiz este assento, que assignei – o Vigário Manoel José de Faria – (a) Antônio Alvez Ferreira”.
João dos Santos faleceu quando o filho era ainda pequeno, não muito depois do casamento. Delphina e o filho pouco depois venderam a Senhorana e adquiriram a Fazenda das Pedrinhas e Delphina, que nunca mais se casou, passou a administrar plantação de cana, engenho de roda, destilaria de aguardente, olaria e a exploração de matas em suas terras. Foi ali que João Wagner dos Santos, nosso trisavô, cresceu. Mário Wagner conta diversos casos acontecidos na fazenda que nos dão uma ideia de como era a vida na Fazenda das Pedrinhas, onde o trabalho era duro e o rendimento financeiro pouco. Delphina não sabia ler ou escrever, e o filho também não recebeu educação formal na infância. Ao chegar aos dezoito anos, João quis remediar isto e para tal contratou os serviços de uma tutora, Anália Leonor da Costa Guimarães, filha de conhecida família da mesma freguesia, cerca de cinco anos mais velha que ele.
João e Anália casaram-se em 14 Set 1867. Ele tornou-se Juiz de Paz e exercia outras funções de serviço público na Freguesia de S. Gonçalo, como inspetoria de escolas. Segundo relato de Mário Wagner ele era exímio cavaleiro e era juiz em competições hípicas em Campos. Tiveram os filhos João da Costa Wagner, Alberto, Anna, Alda (mãe de Vovó Júlia), Anália, Carlos, Delphina, Gil, Adauto, Júlio, Otávio, Otto e Maria José. O filho mais velho, João, quando rapazinho foi mandado para a Inglaterra e Escócia para aprender sobre máquinas a vapor, que eram o futuro das usinas de açúcar em Campos e o pai João Wagner queria modernizar o engenho. Na ausência do irmão mais velho, o segundo filho passou a ajudar no engenho toda manhã. Alberto era adolescente, cerca de 13 anos, quando na madrugada de 9 Jan 1882 ele faleceu vítima de um acidente envolvendo uma lamparina a querosene que se quebrou, causando um incêndio e um estampido dos cavalos que moviam a roda da almanjarra. Isto ocorreu mais ou menos na época da morte da avó Delphina. Anália Leonor não mais conseguiu viver na fazenda, na proximidade do engenho onde o filho perdera a vida. A família mudou-se para outra casa, mas cinco anos depois, no dia 7 Dez 1887 ela faleceu, contando com 45 anos de idade. O filho mais velho foi chamado de volta da Europa e nos próximos anos trabalhou junto com o pai para modernizar e reformar o antigo engenho, reavivar o fogo morto. A fazenda contava com algumas poucas reses, o melaço era transferido para a destilaria do Coronel Juca Barros. Temos três casamentos unindo as famílias de João Wagner e Juca Barros: João da Costa Wagner e Adálgica Barros, Miguel Barros e Alda Wagner, Sebastião Barros e Delphina Wagner. Em gerações futuras aconteceram outras uniões e as famílias são muito interligadas.
Termo de abertura de livro de registro civil de S. Gonçalo – Juiz de Paz João W. dos Santos
João passou mais tarde a viver com Eponina da Costa Carvalho, que era mais nova do que algumas das filhas dele. Esta observação sobre a diferença de idade é pertinente pois com Eponina ele teve mais dezesseis filhos, sendo eles Carmen, Guiomar, Sílvio, Délphica, Maria Isabel, Orbella, Aníbal, José Joaquim, Alzira, Maria Catharina, Clóvis Fabiano, Maria da Conceição, Maria de Lourdes, Antônio Francisco, Maria Madalena e Alberto. Os filhos do segundo casamento tinham o sobrenome Carvalho Wagner. Estes filhos foram legitimados com o casamento dos pais em 20 Jul 1920. João Wagner dos Santos teve também dois outros filhos de outros relacionamentos, de nomes Amaro Gomes e José Francisco dos Santos.
João Wagner dos Santos (cortesia Erick Wagner)
A filha mais nova de Hans e Katharina era Maria Catharina, e assim como a irmã mais velha ela iniciou um relacionamento com um homem viúvo, antigo cliente de seu pai, após a morte deste. Tratava-se do francês Jean-François Bérenger, que trabalhava na cidade como relojoeiro, mecânico e bombeiro hidráulico, dono de um estabelecimento comercial. Deste relacionamento nasceram dez filhos: Benedicta Saturnina, Michel, Marie, François Xavier, Jean-Charles, Albert Anastase, Hilarionne Marie, Clara Marie, Marie Irene, e por último uma menina natimorta. Os quatro primeiros filhos nasceram em Campos e o casal oficializou o seu casamento em 12 Mar 1857 na Paróquia de S. Gonçalo. No ano seguinte eles seguiram para a França, onde nasceram os demais filhos. Maria Catharina faleceu em 5 Jun 1868 em Nice. Após isto os filhos e o viúvo retornaram ao Brasil. O filho mais velho tinha com o pai uma relojoaria em Campos. Jean-François Bérenger faleceu em 11 Dez 1877 e seus filhos casaram-se e deixaram descendentes em Campos, assim como os primos descendentes de Delphina, que juntos formam a grande família Wagner de Campos dos Goytacazes.
Podemos traçar a nossa linha desta família desde nosso hexa-avô Gervásio Ribeiro da Motta, que foi testamenteiro de Benta Pereira, renomada figura histórica campista e sua tia por casamento. Embora tenha ficado conhecido em Campos como Gervásio, o seu nome de batismo era Gervaz, nascido em 19 Out 1711 no lugar Petimão, em Cabeceiras de Basto. Foi batizado três dias depois na Igreja de Santa Senhorinha, Sé de Basto, filho de Pedro da Motta e Isabel Ribeiro, neto paterno de Manoel da Motta e Domingas Gonçalves, e materno de Pedro Fernandes e Isabel Ribeiro. A família materna de Gervaz era da cidade de Valoutas, atual Baloutas, a família paterna mais recente era local, de origem mais antiga na freguesia de São Pedro de Paus, Diocese de Lamego no Concelho de Viseu.
Cabeceiras de Basto pertence à Arquidiocese de Braga, que é a cidade mais antiga de Portugal e uma das mais antigas cidades católicas do mundo. Com ocupação contínua desde a Idade do Ferro, ali habitava a tribo celta dos Bracari. Conta-se que por lá passaram também navegantes de Cartago, e mais tarde a cidade passou a domínio romano como Bracara Augusta a partir de 16 AC e esta é a data de sua fundação oficial.
Gervaz Casou-se no Brasil com Senhorinha Ribeiro da Motta, filha do madeirense João Ribeiro Agrela e Estácia Requeixo, esta descendente de primeiros colonizadores da Capitania Real do Rio de Janeiro. Tiveram os filhos Domingos, Maria, Pedro e Miguel, este último casado com Rita Maria de Azevedo, que hoje temos como hipótese ser filha do Capitão Domingos João de Azevedo da Vila de São Salvador de Campos. Miguel e Rita deixaram grande descendência de fazendeiros e usineiros que formam a grande árvore dos Ribeiro da Motta em Campos dos Goytacazes, e seria muito difícil enumerar todos os ramos aqui, portanto tratarei mais da descendência do Barão e depois Visconde de São Sebastião Miguel Ribeiro da Motta, filho de Miguel e neto de Gervásio. Segundo Paulo Paranhos, em seu estudo “Os Póvoas de Barros, Descendentes do Visconde de São Sebastião” publicado na Revista da ASBRAP número 8, Miguel Ribeiro da Motta nasceu em 1814 na Freguesia de São Sebastião de Campos. Era fazendeiro e contava com vastas plantações de cana-de-açúcar e também produzia aguardente, dono da Fazenda da Ajuda e da Fazenda do Becco, esta última abrangendo mais de 200 alqueires em ambas as margens do Rio Paraíba do Sul e considerada por muito tempo uma das melhores do Brasil.
Construído em 1846 pelo Barão de Carapebus e tendo hospedado o Imperador Pedro II, o Solar do Becco mais tarde passou à propriedade do Visconde de S. Sebastião. O solar depois abrigou um asilo de idosos, hoje encontra-se em total desreparo.
Tratarei mais da vida do Visconde de São Sebastião em uma postagem futura, passando agora aos seus descendentes. Miguel Ribeiro da Motta faleceu em 8 de outubro de 1890, deixando testamento. Ele nunca contraiu núpcias, mas deixou dez filhos reconhecidos, a saber:
1 – Maria Francisca Ribeiro da Gama (1841-1933), que à época não sabia ser quem era sua mãe. Hoje sabe-se tratar-se de Francisca de Brito Rangel. Casada com José Baptista da Gama, sem geração.
Do relacionamento com Maria Magdalena do Nascimento teve:
2 – Ritta Maria Ribeiro da Motta Barros, nascida em 1 Jul 1848, falecida em 2 Jul 1936. Casada com o Coronel José Ribeiro de Almeida Barros. Tiveram os filhos Maria da Conceição, Quitéria Zenóbia, Miguel que é nosso bisavô, casado com Alda Wagner, Manoel, Adálgica, Olympia, Josepha, Honorina, José, Albertina e Alberto que eram gêmeos e que possivelmente morreram logo após o nascimento, Álvaro, Alice e Sebastião. Tratarei desta linha na página dos Barros.
3 – Josepha Ribeiro Drevet (1850 – 1845), casada com o francês Hyppolito Drevet, duas filhas.
4 – Ignacia Maria Ribeiro de Vasconcellos (1851 – 1944). Casada com Sebastião Ribeiro de Azevedo Vasconcellos, dez filhos.
5 – Maria Magdalena Ribeiro Cordeiro (1851 -1902). Casada com José Clímaco dos Santos Cordeiro, sem geração.
Não sabemos muito a respeito de nossa tetra-avó Maria Magdalena do Nascimento. Miguel Ribeiro da Motta reconheceu em batismo as quatro filhas que teve com ela, e ali temos os nomes de seus pais, que são meus penta-avós João Ribeiro da Silva e Maria da Penha. Maria Magdalena teria nascido em torno de 1823 e faleceu logo após o nascimento da filha mais nova em novembro de 1853. O assento de batismo da última filha, homônima da mãe, lista esta como já falecida e este batismo ocorreu seis semanas após o nascimento.
Batismo de minha trisavó Ritta Maria Ribeiro da Motta com assinatura de Miguel Ribeiro da Motta, que à época ainda não tinha título de nobreza. Freguesia de São Sebastião de Campos dos Goytacazes, 10 Jul 1848.
Do relacionamento com a portuguesa Anna José de Aguiar, Miguel Ribeiro da Motta teve um filho que recebeu o seu nome mas somente foi reconhecido no testamento:
6 – Miguel Ribeiro da Motta Junior (1859 – 1896) foi casado com Amélia Ribeiro da Silva, filha de Ignácia Ferreira do Rosário (vide abaixo). O casal teve três filhos antes da morte prematura de Miguel. Note que Miguel e Amélia não tinham relacionamento de consanguinidade, mas tinham meios-irmãos em comum.
O último relacionamento que gerou filhos reconhecidos foi com Ignácia Ferreira do Rosário, com quem teve:
6 – Cecília Ribeiro Werneck (1865 – 1944) casada com Joaquim Reginaldo de Azevedo Werneck, com quem teve nove filhos que pudemos localizar.
7 – Ernestina Ribeiro de Azevedo (1867 – ?) casada com Sebastião Vasconcellos de Azevedo, três filhos.
8 – Anália Ribeiro da Gama (1870 – 1907) casada com Domingos Baptista da Gama, nove filhos.
9 – Idalina Ribeiro Peçanha (1874 – ?) casada com o Embaixador Alcebíades Peçanha, irmão de Nilo Peçanha, presidente da república entre 1903 e 1907. Localizei somente um filho natimorto do casal nascido na Itália. A data e local de falecimento de Idalina não são conhecidos mas creio ter sido prematuramente.
10 – Reynaldo Ribeiro da Motta (1878 – 1932), casado com sua sobrinha Maria Magdalena Vasconcellos com quem teve doze filhos. Maria Magdalena era filha de Ignácia Maria Ribeiro de Vasconcellos (vide número 4 acima).
Com a morte de Ignácia Ferreira do Rosário em 1882 temos Miguel Ribeiro da Motta criando mais uma vez filhos órfãos de mãe. A única mãe de filho seu que não o precedeu em passamento foi Ana José de Aguiar que morreu em 1908.
Notamos muitos casamentos entre parentes Ribeiro da Motta. Três irmãos do Visconde, de nomes José, Gervásio e Quitéria, casaram-se com membros das famílias Ribeiro do Rosário e Vasconcellos, e houveram numerosos casamentos entrelaçando mais estas famílias tanto em sangue como em negócios pois haviam ali muitos fazendeiros e proprietários de usinas de açúcar.
Tratarei mais da vida do Visconde de São Sebastião em postagem separada, e da descendência de Ritta Ribeiro da Motta Barros em página da família Barros.
