52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks #47: Thankful - Domingos J. Silva

This Thursday was Thanksgiving in the U.S., and the theme for this week's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge is Thankful. What or who are you thankful for finding in your genealogy research?

I could have answered this in so many different ways, but I've decided to write a little about my great grandfather Domingos Jose da Silva, known sometimes as Senhor Ramos because finding a small bit of information on him enabled me to confirm other people and events in my tree and to find some more information on my grandfather and his brothers.


He was born around 1877 in Brava, Cape Verde Islands, back when C.V. was still a territory of Portugal, and married my great grandmother Domingas Alves on July 30, 1906. He along with all of his sons (except for two), his son-in-law, and many cousins, in total more than 50 brave men, set sail on a clandestine, transatlantic voyage to the U.S. aboard the packet ship Matilde on August 1943. It was a time of famine on the islands, and the voyage was clandestine because of war time restrictions on maritime travel. The Matilde never reached its destination and was lost with all souls on board, leaving those on the island devastated.

I grew up with the story of the Matilde, and how my grandfather, his brothers, and his father had all perished in the sinking of the Matilde in 1943, but those left behind were still pained by the memories of the men aboard and the ship lost at sea. It was difficult to speak of, and still is for many of the descendants, and so, although I always knew the story, I didn't find out until much later, after uncovering some small bit of information on Domingos J. da Silva (Sr. Ramos), in addition to reading what Ray Almeida had written about the packet trade, and finally finding a blog post about the Matilde, that there was a play of the event written by Artur Vieira called Matilde, Voyage of Destiny, which I later was able to track down, thanks to a library exchange, and read. I'd seen a copy of the Matilde's passenger list more than a decade ago, and had been told that there was a monument to the men of the Matilde, but I was finally able to see photos of the monument, in addition to a photo of my great grandfather Domingos.