User talk:Muriel Gottrop~enwiki/Marques de Tavora


 * See my reply at the bottom muriel@pt 09:26, 5 May 2005 (UTC)

I gathered a lot of information from your "Tavora Affair" which filled in some blank spaces on my ancestory for which I thank you. I've been able to trace my direct descendancy from DOMINGOS MARQUES Fidalgo da Casa Real, 1730-1787 com Brazao e Armas. Irmao de Marques de Domingos Marques de Tavora no reino de D. Jose Vila do Mato, Coimbra, Portugal. Research indicated that his three brothers, Jeronimo de Ataide - Count of Atouguia 1721-1759, Luis Bernardo de Tavora - Count of Sao-Joao-da-Persqueira 1723-1759 and Jose Maria de Tavora 1736-1759 as well as his mother Leonor de Tavora - 3rd Marquioness of Tavora 1700-1759 and father Francisco Assis - Count of Alvor 1703-1759 were all tortued and executed by the Marques de Pombal on behalf of the King. Domingo himself was jailed and tortured but released for reasons unknown. Fearing for his life he chartered a boat, gathered the remains of his family wealth and with one brother and some other family members escaped Portugal and arrived in Goa where they deposited about 60 pounds of gold in the Bank of Calcutta and then Domingos sailed to Macau while his brother sailed to Brazil. When the brothers sent for the gold, the ship carrying the documents was lost and the bank had refused to release the gold to this day although some decendents have tried but failed. It is estimated to be worth about $1,000,000 with compound interest over the last 240 years.

I found some discrepencies on dates so I wanted to ask you where I can verify the family tree of the Tavora ancestry. I wrote an article that appeared in UMA, San Francisco newsletter last month. I will attach it for you:

BACKGROUND HISTORY of Leonardo Carlos Rivero on MACAU

I traveled with my mother, Maria (Alicia) Ferras Rivero from Shanghai to Macau in 1949 after the Communist take over. My father Jose (Joe) Antonio Rivero, was chief accountant for Dodwell & Co. was not permitted to leave until all business matters were finalized with staff paid off and the business closed. His British bosses had left before the Communists arrived leaving him in charge of the company. We worried that he may be imprisoned and never allowed to leave but he finally was permitted to leave two years later to join us and we then all traveled by freighter to Japan where my father was employed by the US Army as a Field Auditor in Korea.

I was 9 years old when we lived in Macau and 12 when we left. My memory of that experience is limited, but I do remember that we first had to live in some sort of refugee camp with other Portuguese who fled Shanghai. It was not pleasant as we had to share a room with other families where as we lived in a nice roomy apartment in the French section of Shanghai as upper class aristocrats. A relative of my mother offered to share her home with us and so we were able to move out of the camp. I fondly remember that on warm summer nights a bread vendor would call out and we would rush to buy this Portuguese hot bread that we ate eagerly with butter. The other thing that I remember well was the great Portuguese dishes that my mom and her relative made. My all time favorite food was “Minchee”.

My mother told me that her ancestors came from Portugal and settled in Macau around 1750 and that she was able to trace her family tree up 7 generations to Domingos Marques who was born in Portugal in 1730 and died in Macau in 1787. This is the history as my mother researched her ancestry before she passed away in 1985.

King Dom Jose I of Portugal, who in 1750 succeeded his father Dom Joao V, granted full powers to Sebastiao Jose de Carvalho e Melo, a former diplomat in the service of his father, Dom Joao. Along the years of his administration, Caravalho e Melo was elevated in rank and received the titles of Conde de Oeiras in 1758 and Marques de Pombal in 1770. As Prime Minister he controlled not only the government but also the entire country, including the king himself – who showed scant ability to govern.

On November 1st, 1755, an earthquake destroyed half of Lisbon and a good part of the South of Portugal. Some 5000 people perished in the ruins of the capital from the fires that followed the quake, and as many again the ensuing month from injuries and other causes. The catastrophe enhanced the prestige of Carvalho e Melo for the strong and efficient measures he immediately took to restore order, dispose of the dead, cared for the injured and reconstructed the city.

After eight years of reviling and humiliating the nobility in various ways, the Pombal regime gave rise to a conspiracy by the nobles to get rid of the king and have him replaced by his daughter Dona Maria, later to become Rainha Dona Maria I.

Headed by the Duque de Aveiro, an attempt was made on the life of the King on September 3rd, 1758 which failed. This attempted regicide gave Pombal the pretense he had long been waiting for to act against his enemies who he accused of plotting against the monarch. Three months after these imprisonments an infamously set up tribunal tried and condemned to death a duke, 2 marquises and a marchioness, a count, as well as servants and members of their households. The majority of the Jesuits were expelled from the country in 1759 while many were jailed and one died on the scaffold, accused of heresy. Subjected to the tortures of the Inquisition, the condemned were executed on January 13th, 1759 at early dawn.

Among the imprisoned members of the House of the Duke of Aveiro was one DOMINGOS MARQUES, son of Manoel Francisco Marques, born in Bidoens, District of Guarda, Portugal. Keeper of the Duke’s horses, and only 26 years of age. He was questioned, tortured on the rack and then released. Fearing arrest by implication with the plotters against the monarch, he fled the country to escape political persecution seeking refuge first in India, and then in Macau. He was known to be traveling by boat with a great amount of gold that his family and friends wanted to get out of the country because they feared confiscation by Carvalho e Melo as reason for their sons’ involvement in the plot. Fearing losing that large amount of wealth to pirates in the South China Seas, Domingos deposited the bulk of the family wealth estimated at 60 pounds of gold in a Calcutta Bank at 5% interest compounded annually.

When Domingo settled down in Macau, he sent the documents to the Bank of Calcutta by boat to transfer the gold to Macau. Unfortunately, the boat got caught in a storm and sank with loss of all the documents. After corresponding back and forth, the bank took the position that without the proper documents, they would not release the gold. However, recent laws have favored the depositor if no other claims come forth after a specific time period. The descendants of Domingo Marques may file a class action suit to claim the estimated $1,200,000,000.00 with compounded interest over 245 years. That’s one billion two hundred million dollars.

Domingos Marques married Maria Francisca Dos Anjos de Noronha and had a son by the name of Domingos Pio Marques de Noronna who became Governor of Macau (born and died in Macau 1783-1849) and who married Inacia Maria Cortela and who had a son by the name of Antonio Germano Marques who had a daughter by the name of Maria Francisca de Almeida Marques 1851-1927 who married Manuel Jose Maria Gonsalves da Silva and had a daughter (my grandmother) named Maria Augusta Marques da Silva and who married my grandfather Joaquim Antonio Ferras 1874-1916. They had 8 children including my mother Maria Alicia Ferras who married my father Jose Antonio Rivero and they had two sons, my brother Renaldo Antonio Rivero and myself Leonardo Carlos Rivero. Now anyone with these sir names may be eligible to claim this inheritance. If you can document your ancestry to any of these names who lived in Macau, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Portugal or Brazil please contact me to request that your name be added to the pending class action suit.

MORE INTERESTING HISTORY

Domingos Marques: The history of Domingos Marques began some time in the 1750’s in the reign of Dom Jose I. The family of the Marques were “Fidalgos” (Knights) of long standing in the service of the Portugues Kings, and Domingos Marques was the brother of the Marques de Tavora, the family which made history in the reign of Dom Jose I (1750-1777) in Portugal, and whose two sons, Luis and Jose, in 1758 were the ringleaders in a plot to overthrow Dom Jose I, Sabastiao de Carvalho and the Marquis de Pombal, who, as the King’s Prime Minister, wielded arbitrary powers which he directed towards the nobility and the clergy, principally the Jesuits whom he caused to be expelled from Portugal and Portuguese possessions. The plot by the Tavoras to overthrow him miscarried and the ringleaders, the brothers Jose and Luis Marquis de Tavora, their brother-in-law, the Count of Atouguia, the Duke of Aveiro, and four other commeners, were imprisoned and condemned to death. Domingos Marques was suspected of being one of the leaders of this conspiracy by the “fidalgos” to overthrow the King, Dom Jose I because he was the brother of the Marquis de Tavora and when he was executed on the scaffold in Lisbon, Domingos and the whole family of the Marquis de Tavora had to flee to Brazil, India and eventually Macau. Cousins of the Marques family were: Noronha, Castella Branco, Cortella, Maher, Carvalho, Paiva and Albuquerque.

Domingos Marques married Maria Francisca dos Anjos Ribeiro Guimaraes de Noronha e Castel Branco. Of their union was born Domingos Pio Marques, in Macao 1783 and who wedded Ignacia Francisca Faria Baptista Cortela. This marriage produced eleven children, the most illustrious of whom was Commendador Laurenco Caetano Marques, whose biography lists the names of his other brothers and sisters, of whom Antonio Germano Cortela Marques was the eight in the family. When his father, Domingos Marques died, his widow Maria Francisca Dos Anjos Ribeiro Guimarales, of the noble family “Castel Branco” induced her son, the Macau born Domingos Pio Marques, then about 37 years of age to equip a ship at his own expense and voyage to Brazil and plead to the Court of Dom Joao VI, (who also fled Portugal when the Spanish and French armies under one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s generals invaded and conquered Portugal and kept the Portuguese enslaved for about sixty years.) The purpose of the visit was to petition the King for forgiveness for Domingos Marques’ participation in the plot against the Marquis de Pombal as well as to beg the King to restore to the family the right to bear again their COAT-OF-ARMS, in view of the services the Marques family had always rendered their sovereigns in the past and on the battlefields in Portugal and foreign lands. And also in order that the descendants of this illustrious family might not lose clarity of sight of their ancient and noble lineage. This request was granted by Dom Joao, upon payment of some back taxes which is documented and ratified by his Master-of Arms, in a document signed and sealed in the city of Rio de Janeiro, dated the 25th of October 1817. From the history and genealogy given, it can be seen that the ancestors of the families of the Marqueses of Macao originated from Portugal and that from political persecutions sought refuge first in India, Brazil and Macao. The Portuguese families from Portugal of the Castros, the Bastos, the Cortelas, the Albuquerques, the Marqueses, were all related to each other through degrees of parentage, having married and constituted amongst their families in Macao. The decendants today are dispersed throughout Macao, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Portugal, Brazil, Canada and the United States.

My brother Ray, lives in Laguna Niegel, California and specializes in streamlining and relocating manufacturing facilities throughout the world. He has three sons and one grandson. I live in Seattle, Washington and I have two sons, four daughters and eight grandkids. I’ve been successful as a real estate developer and investor. My hobby has been to build neo-classic automobiles and limousines. If interested, you can view my website: www.whatsuuup.com which promotes a barter business and has links to Dragon Coachworks and Clenet Parts for Sale. I am trying to gather Macanese Recipes for an upcoming cook book and would appreciate any contributions even if it’s your own variation of Minchee and Aluar.

Because of my mother’s research about her ancestors, I developed an interest in researching the history of Macau and learned that the Portuguese with their caravels (three-masted ships) were the first European nation to establish a trading port in China in 1557 which became the longest running import/export business between East and West. Later it became a Chinese banana republic devoted to gambling and great Macanese food. Only 6 sq. mi. consisting of a peninsular and two islands, and located on the western side of the Pearl River Delta just 40 miles from Hong Kong. Macau is a charming city of nearly half a million people, features graceful plazas, baroque churches, sidewalks paved in mosaic waves, and street sign of blue tiles. You can find great Portuguese wines, Macanese dishes made with the beloved dried codfish (bacalhau), garlic-laced sausages, egg custard desserts and curry-flavored “egg roll” crepes. My desire is to preserve the flavors of Macanese cooking, which is a culinary blend of Portuguese and Chinese ingredients and spices. This distinctive cuisine was perfected over the centuries and blended such strange combinations as wine and fish sauce, or curry and soy sauce.

MACAU’S BEGINNING

In the early 17th century, Macau only had about 900 Portuguese and several thousand Christian converts from Malacca and Japan and a large number of slaves from Portuguese outposts in Africa, India and the Malay Peninsula. By the end of the century their numbers had reached 40,000 including Cantonese who crossed the border from China. Priests and missionaries accompanied Portuguese ships which included Francis Xavier of the Jesuit order. In 1602 the Jesuits built the Church of St Paul which was the greatest monument to Christianity in Asia.

By the turn of the 20th century Macau was little more than an impoverished backwater, its glory days a distant memory. It did, however, continue to serve as a haven for refugees fleeing the Japanese occupation of Shanghai and after the Communist take over.

Between the mid 19th to the mid 20th century, Shanghai was a treaty port – a place where Westerners governed part of the city, where Western and Japanese businessmen, sailors, industrialists, and adventurers made their homes and sometimes their fortunes. These opportunities attracted a number of Portuguese from Macau to move to Shanghai where they worked for British and American companies and earned highly desirable British and American dollars in wages. These funds when converted to Chinese money made living in Shanghai very desirable as living expenses was minimal and Portuguese families could live a aristocratic lifestyle. The British accepted the Portuguese as European elite and welcomed them into their clubs and their infamous Shanghai Race Course. And when the British wanted to establish a home guard when threatened by a possible Japanese invasion, they formed the Shanghai Volunteer Municipal Police made up by many Portuguese from Macau as officers of high ranking. My father was one of the volunteers.

Dear anon user, i'm not sure what can i do for you. I read your stzrory with interest but i found major inconsistencies:
 * In one paragraph you state that Domingos Marques (DM) is the keeper of the horses of the Duke of Aveiro. In another he is the brother of the Marquis of Tavora who was executed with his sons because of regicide. Lets follow these clues...
 * 1) DM as the brother First, the Marquis of Tavora you mention was not Marquis of Távora!!! He was Count of Alvor - his wife was the Marquioness of Tavora in her own right and he was a consort (as she was consort countess of Alvor). Second he had only one brother Nuno Gaspar de Távora who survived the executions and continued to live in Portugal. In fact, one of his daughters married the 3rd Marquis of Pombal - curious isnt it?? The fact that the Count of Alvor and his brother have the surname Tavora is just a coincidence. So i dont find in my sources that the Alvor family was even persecuted after 1758.
 * 2) DM as the keeper: why would the keeper claim the fortune??? Moreover when there were living relatives???
 * Dont forget that after the death of King José I, his daughter Queen Maria I reinstated all the privileges of the persecuted families. She hated Pombal. So, no meore reason to hide in Macau after 1777.
 * The Portuguese were not enslaved by the French ever, not a year, nor 60 as you mention.
 * Half of the Portuguese surnames you mention are misspelled: Castella Branco Castelo Branco, Guimarales Guimarães, Noronna Noronha.

If you wnat to pursue this topic, i encourage you to study the political background of the regicide and the Tavora affair. Also, you may find this link interesting. You may do searches by surname (Pessoas/Famílias) or by title (Título).

HAve fun! muriel@pt 09:26, 5 May 2005 (UTC)