General Notes

Walter Ernesto Torres answered John B. Craven's question:  Why are some of Saturnino Rabello de Oliveira's children called "Rabello" and others "De Oliveira"?  The Spanish custom is to place the father's family name in the middle nad the mother's family name last.  The Portugues custom is generally to place the father's family name last and the mother's before that.  But the Portuguese custom is not rigid and Saturnino did not follow that custom.  Ernesto's answer was that Saturnino wished to honor his wife (b. Maria Jose Thompson Mendes), but he also wanted to honor his mother, Clara Rabello de Oliveira Bitencourt.  As a result, Saturnino gave each of his children a middle name of "Mendes" (as did his son Oliveiros to his children), but Saturnino gave two of his sons, Oliveiros and Jose, the last name of his mother, Rabello; the rest got his father's family name de Oliveira (e.g., one of Oliveiros' brothers is called Joao Mendes de Oliveria).  (from Christmas Letter, 1999)