For the love of family

By Lara Pickford-Gordon

snrwriter.camsel@catholictt.org

Familia Ferreira is the title of the book tracing the ancestry of Stephen and Maria ‘Vio’ Ferreira. It contains detailed research, numerous photos and personal stories as a family’s history and the Portuguese assimilation into Trinidad and Tobago unfold.

“In 1916, at the age of fifteen, Stephen took up work with the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, and in 1920, was transferred from Scarborough to Rio Claro. He returned to Tobago for Christmas holidays that year, and on Christmas Eve met Vio at the home of their friends, the Pascals, where friends and family gathered for an evening of merriment.”

Chapter 1 ‘Stephen and Vio Meet and Marry’ gives insight into the meeting of two teens, their courtship and eventual marriage which spanned 66 years (Stephen died in 1990, Vio died in 2003) and from which many generations came.

The fathers of Stephen and Vio were from Madeira, Portugal, and Chapter 2, ‘Roots of Madeiran Immigration to Trinidad and Tobago’ outlines the history of the Portuguese. The chapters which follow are: ‘Stephen’s Family Line’, ‘Vio’s Family Line’, ‘Picton Street Memories’, ‘The Children of Stephen and Vio’, and ‘Conclusion’.

Why publish this book? The authors E Norbert Ferreira and Dr Jo-Anne S Ferreira summed it up: “for the love of family”.  There was always interest in the family’s roots and heritage.

They explained, “It is about honouring our parents and grandparents, Stephen and Vio and their (our) genealogy. From a civil servant and a homemaker have sprung four generations whose roles in and contributions to society encompass various careers, professions, and vocations. These include homemaking, accounting, management, insurance, business, banking, commerce, culinary arts, visual arts, musical arts, creative and academic writing, teaching… many, many more areas of endeavour and success.”

While the decision to work on the “legacy book” was recent, the family has been recording its heritage for decades, they said. In many families there is oral history but much information about ancient family and events are lost with time. Asked how they were able to compile their story, The Catholic News was told that “a number of documents” from Stephen and Vio started the collection. Stephen was a photographer and Vio “maintained family ties and traditions”. Two nieces of E Norbert Ferreira including Dr Ferreira began putting together a family tree and doing informal research in the 1970s. Dr Ferreira began formalising the sociohistorical aspects of her research in the 1980s and 1990s at universities in three countries in three languages.

The authors state that the book is the beginning of their family history but there will always be many more stories to tell. The project closed April this year, the centenary of Stephen and Vio’s wedding anniversary. A judgement had to be made on what to include or leave out of the book; a front-page photo of the charred remains of persons who died at Broadway House, Port of Spain in the 1949 fire including Stephen and Vio’s first-born, Maurice Ferreira, and 22 known generations of Vasconcellos de Souza family of Machico, Madeira were omitted.

Asked the interest to the wider public of one family’s history, the Ferreira’s said: “The focus of the book is honouring Stephen and Vio Ferreira and their legacy. The book is about family love and ties, and good timeless values, and staying together through thick and thin. It is also a window into the 1940s to 1960s era of Port-of-Spain. As Professor [Emerita] Bridget Brereton said, it may inspire others to do the same for their own families, so that we get a better collective understanding of ourselves and our nation.”

The authors hope the book will inspire present and future generations of the family to keep documenting stories, individually and collectively. “It is our prayer that this family will forever be united in love and that this testament to our forebears will glorify the One who made us and who loves us all. Above all, we want to use our words to give thanks and praise to our Heavenly Father, whose perfect gift to us is His living and written Word,” they said.

A small print run of the book was done for family members and friends. A second print run will be done if there is wider public interest. A digital version can also be available. Interested members of the public can contact Dr Jo-Anne S Ferreira at: ferreira.js@gmail.com.