Flowers are a wonder
the garden a delight:
that means the planting
and transplanting,
the weeding and the pruning:
all Epicurian pursuits,
Lucretian counterweights.
Gardening is an art:
a four-dimensional endeavor:
length
breadth
depth
and time.
Gardening is Darwinian warfare:
gardens are at odds with nature:
not the fittest but the select survive.
The garden is an ecosystem:
one intentionally designed:
a faux habitat:
one that should not be:
it has no innate survivability:
no natural resiliency.
Though gardens have their cycles:
without the gardener they would not be.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
Prodigies
Prodigies
A peaceful summer evening, mild and clear
ripple clean lake water reflects
a silver still moon, bone bare,
on the shore, black pines and seldom silent popples,
dark cottages, almost shapeless small boats, humps indicative of cars
The children, my grandchildren, sleep
for them sweet dreams come easily,
no tossing, no turning
they are young, bothers fade
I stand outside, paying respects to the visit's first day
It is a day not mine, not really
it went faster than planned
the mark of a visit
I anticipated the visit
now that it's here
I find it most gone
For them, the grandchildren, it lasts
a bit longer, maybe even more
For me time flies
each year seems a moment
For them, the young, an hour's
time enough for most everything, a week
without end
I hear the hoot of an owl
a coyote, coy dog really, barks on the hill
something goes splash
I know time's passing
but tomorrow and tomorrow will come
and the visit will simply/merely have been
Everything passes
What my grandfather's grandfather and
his even before
knew privy
has long turned to ash
even their memories are now long forgot
they are gone and their children's children gone with the wind
When I was a youngster
Europe's wars weren't history
Hitler and Tojo really were there
their armies and navies, what are they now?
I anticipated this visit
now that it's here
I find it most over
It's not my time
It's the children's, the grandchildren
Prodigies
A peaceful summer evening, mild and clear
ripple clean lake water reflects
a silver still moon, bone bare,
on the shore, black pines and seldom silent popples,
dark cottages, almost shapeless small boats, humps indicative of cars
The children, my grandchildren, sleep
for them sweet dreams come easily,
no tossing, no turning
they are young, bothers fade
I stand outside, paying respects to the visit's first day
It is a day not mine, not really
it went faster than planned
the mark of a visit
I anticipated the visit
now that it's here
I find it most gone
For them, the grandchildren, it lasts
a bit longer, maybe even more
For me time flies
each year seems a moment
For them, the young, an hour's
time enough for most everything, a week
without end
I hear the hoot of an owl
a coyote, coy dog really, barks on the hill
something goes splash
I know time's passing
but tomorrow and tomorrow will come
and the visit will simply/merely have been
Everything passes
What my grandfather's grandfather and
his even before
knew privy
has long turned to ash
even their memories are now long forgot
they are gone and their children's children gone with the wind
When I was a youngster
Europe's wars weren't history
Hitler and Tojo really were there
their armies and navies, what are they now?
I anticipated this visit
now that it's here
I find it most over
It's not my time
It's the children's, the grandchildren
Prodigies
Sunday, September 4, 2011
How to learn a turtle
How to learn a turtle
for Curtis and Maggie
How do you learn a turtle?
How do you learn a snake?
Don't look in books
Don't look at pictures
Just pick up one
To learn a turtle
To learn a snake
To really learn in a way that lasts
You must look to where it lives
Watch it there
Study it
Really look to what turtle does
Really look to what snake does
Seek it out
Catch it
Put it in a pen or box or jar
Just for a little bit
Then release turtle
Then release snake
Back where you found it next to some water
Next to some tall grass
And watch it swim away
And watch it slither away
Watch it sink out of sight
Watch it disappear
Why do all this?
To care about turtle
To care about snake
Like nobody else
for Curtis and Maggie
How do you learn a turtle?
How do you learn a snake?
Don't look in books
Don't look at pictures
Just pick up one
To learn a turtle
To learn a snake
To really learn in a way that lasts
You must look to where it lives
Watch it there
Study it
Really look to what turtle does
Really look to what snake does
Seek it out
Catch it
Put it in a pen or box or jar
Just for a little bit
Then release turtle
Then release snake
Back where you found it next to some water
Next to some tall grass
And watch it swim away
And watch it slither away
Watch it sink out of sight
Watch it disappear
Why do all this?
To care about turtle
To care about snake
Like nobody else
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Every animal has a clock
for Curtis and Maggie
Every animal has a clock
At 7:00 this morning I spied a skunk
Then I spied another
I smelled a third
The first was rabbit-sized
The second too
The self-confident fellows
Suited black and white
Snuffled along in hunt for grubs and bugs
Late summer, early fall is morning skunk time
That's when the fearless creatures come round
They're fearless 'cause what's to their rear
Their spray can last for days
Every animal has a clock
Small birds sing mornings
Cicadas trill afternoons
Crickets chirp at dusk
Katydids saw the night away
Nature's clocks are orderly
Listen for the dove
The loon's cry
Watch for the firefly's dot/dash
The wooly catapillar's guest appearance
Every hour retires some to bring forth more
How many creatures can you find? And when?
Thursday, September 1, 2011
A Poem's place in a universe of death
We believe and disbelieve
A hundred times and more
That stones reveal
Time and death are one
Poetry though is the great postponer
The supreme fiction
A moral compass
Freed of television and like encumbrances
Poetry is imagination's twin
The mind's revenge on passing days and years
An immortal partition
It views reality and makes a weak aside
Take it
Build a haunted heaven
A lie
A haven against time where nothing is final
A haven against nature where there is no end
We believe and disbelieve
A hundred times and more
That stones reveal
Time and death are one
Poetry though is the great postponer
The supreme fiction
A moral compass
Freed of television and like encumbrances
Poetry is imagination's twin
The mind's revenge on passing days and years
An immortal partition
It views reality and makes a weak aside
Take it
Build a haunted heaven
A lie
A haven against time where nothing is final
A haven against nature where there is no end
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Madeira Exile
Madeira Exile
by
Charles Francis
Emanuel Gonzalves began his life on the island of Madeira off the coast of Africa. Folks there called him Manny. That must have been inevitable; the diminutive would stick with him the rest of his life. Manny's life ended in Friendship, Maine. That's where he is buried. Manny's gravestone reads Captain Emanuel Francis and has the dates 1805 and 1883. The facts are cut in stone.
Manny Francis has good many descendants, after all he had three wives. Those descendants can be found all up and down the east coast, from Nova Scotia to the Carolinas, to the westward and, of course, in Maine. Some of those descendants bear the name Francis, others Duncan, Shoppee and Rushford to name but a few. It is relatively easy to trace Manny's descendants. As for his antecedents, that is something of a mystery, an intriguing one.
Manny Francis never said much about his parentage and where he came from. He was a secretive, not all that talkative man. The only family name that has come down from Manny's Madeira past is that of his mother. Manny said her name was Jaswin, a name which suggests India. Other than this one fact and the Indian inference, Manny's mother is a mystery.
Manny Gonzalves came to Maine as a youngster, thirteen or so. He came as a runaway. He came as a stowaway on a vessel that put in at Monhegan Island. That tale has been preserved by at least two distinct lines of Manny's descendants.
Manny was a Madeira Exile. Madeira Exiles are a recognized group of immigrants. They are recognized as a unique singularity, tagged to or identified with a particular time period and place of origin. Most Madeira Exiles fall into one of two general groups. The groupings are based on why they left their home. Many left for much the same reason that the Irish immigrated from their homeland at the time of the potato famine. For this group of Madeira Exiles it wasn't potato blight that brought about their migration but rather a blight that hit the island's all-important grape production. The other Madeira Exiles group left for reasons of religious persecution, persecution by the Catholic Church. The latter group were either Protestant or Jewish.
Today descendants of the nineteenth century Madeira Exiles can be found all over the Americas, in Brazil, Guyana, the islands of Caribbean and the US. Others can be found in Africa and India or wherever else the Portuguese established themselves. The descendants of Manny Francis are to be counted among these once displaced exiles.
Manny could have come from the town of Calheta or from Funchal, Madeira's chief port, or from any number of other coastal towns or villages. His description of his hometown could fit Calheta, at least one of his sons thought so, but it might be otherwise. Whatever the case, Manny somehow managed to hide on a sailing ship bound for America. Several days out from Madeira the vessel's second mate discovered him. The mate must have been a compassionate fellow for he didn't turn Manny over to the captain. Instead he smuggled Manny food and water for the entire Atlantic crossing. Then, when the ship dropped anchor at Monhegan, the mate spirited Manny ashore.
That Manny was an audacious youngster goes without saying. Only a youth possessed with more than a modicum of audacity would leave his home for a strange land, and Monhegan Island and Maine would certainly have been strange. To begin with Manny would have not spoken the language. In fact, language would be an issue all Manny's life. There are indications that even late in life he thought in Portuguese. His grandson Charles Murphy of Friendship thought he did. A Smithsonian researcher who came to Friendship when Manny was an old man described him as slow to answer questions and slower still to talk about himself. Reading behind the lines written by the researcher one has a sense Manny feared revealing too much of himself. So just what was it Manny feared and how did it relate to the reticence that dominated his dealings with others all his life?
A centuries old historic truism says that to be Portuguese in a foreign land was to be Jewish. Was Manny a Jew? Was he what is variously known as a crypto-Jew, a secret Jew, a Jew who hid his identity? Henry Russell Francis, a great grandson of Manny was adamant in his assertions that Manny was not Jewish. On a number of occasions he said “Don't ever let someone tell you Emanuel Francis was a Sephardic Jew.”
Henry Russell Francis and Charles Murphy represent two distinct lines descended from Emmanuel Francis that preserved stories about him. The stories support each other.
Manny Francis was not a church-goer. He did not like ministers and he especially did not like Roman Catholic priests. Manny fled Madeira to escape the Catholic Church. That seems clear. He became a Madeira Exile because Catholic priests were after his mother for money. The money was to pay for prayers to get her recently deceased husband out of Purgatory. Manny fled Madeira to get away from the priests he feared and circumstances he could not tolerate. When he came to Maine he changed his name to make it harder for Catholic authorities to find him. All his life he feared that priests would come looking for him. The two family traditions involving Manny corroborate each other on these points. They agree that Manny's fear would seem to have been something ingrained in him, a part of his basic identity.
There are a variety of terms used to identify or designate crypto-Jews with connections to the Iberian peninsula. They include converso, marrano and anusim. A converso was a Jew who converted to Catholicism. The term is often taken to mean New Christian. Marrano has a number of meanings, it was often used to indicate that conversos were regarded as swine by those born Catholic. Anusim were Jews who had been forced to convert. While forced to convert, anusim were usually thought to continue practising Judaism. Conversos and anusim were not regarded as true Catholics. The general understanding was that all New Christians practiced some form of Judaism to a greater or lesser extent.
Lest one think the above brief discussion of Portuguese crypto-Jews relates only to the period of the infamous Inquisition, Roman Catholic records for Madeira of the 1840s show the island's Bishop ordering all young people be confirmed according to Church rites. The Bishop also ordered that all island inhabitants attend Confession and Mass. Those that did not do so “were to be proceeded against for heresy and apostacy [sic]”. To be convicted of either crime meant imprisonment. These points are found in Record of facts concerning the persecutions at Madeira in 1843 and 1846 by Herman Norton.
The Church and born Catholics in general made things difficult for New Christians and Catholics suspected of being secret Jews. That priests demanded exorbitant amounts of money of New Christians to get the souls of deceased loved ones free of Purgatory was a commonplace. The Exiles of Madeira written by W. M. Blackburn in 1860 describes the latter practice. The book was put out by the Presbyterian Board of Publication. Many Portuguese converts to Presbyterianism fled Madeira to settle in Illinois and elsewhere in the US. They fled to escape the persecution of the Church on Madeira.
By 1800 the forced conversion of Jews was a centuries old practice in Portugal. Practically this meant that crypto-Jews had a long period in which to evolve methods for perpetuating their sense of who they were. What evolved was a strange mix of Judaism and Christianity, a mix created by intensive Catholic instruction and a lack of Jewish instruction. Crypto-Jews might elevate Old Testament figures to sainthood. Thus we have St. Esther. Studies of Portuguese crypto-Jews have revealed an elaborate culture of fraught subterfuge with highly developed congeries of masked identities and hidden phrases. One such phrase, once thought to be meaningless, linguists have determined to be a garbled Hebrew disavowing the rituals in which the worshipper is about to participate. Was this the sort of culture Manny Francis experienced in his formative years? If so it would help explain his conduct as an adult as well as the family stories that have come down about him.
There are a number of excellent resources on the nature of and character of the secret Jew that offer suggestions to determine whether or not one has Jewish ancestry of the cryptic kind. Eduardo Dias of UCLA is an expert on secret Jews and has written a number of books on the subject including Rituals and Secret Practices of the Crypto Jews of Portugal. Practices extend to but are not limited to avoiding a variety of dairy products, meats and shellfish, clipping the nails of the deceased and use of names predominately associated with New Christians. Dias points to the name Emanuel as one of the more common if not the most common masculine first name. He goes on to list family names like Duran, Lopez and Gonzales with all the latter's alternative spellings as Jewish. (A Polish Jew named Emanuel Gonzales is on record as coming to Calheta in the 1500s. He may have been the first of the Gonzales name in the community. The first explorer of Madeira was Joao Goncalves Zarco. It is generally accepted by historians of the great Age of Exploration that he was converso.)
Except for the fact Manny Francis had an aversion for Catholic priests, most of the above is circumstantial evidence as to whether or not Manny was a crypto-Jew. Manny is, however, known to have avoided eating lobster and clams. But then, both were regarded as beneath the dignity of any self-respecting coastal Mainer of the nineteenth century. So are there any provable facts as to Manny's origins?
There are no pictures of Manny Francis. There are pictures of his son Fernando. The old photographs show a small man of an exceptionally swarthy complexion. His dark eyes are piercing, suggesting competence to a rare degree. Fernando was a deep-water sailor. He was the captain of his own ship. He once held off a mutinous crew bent on eating his infant son Manville. This occurred when Fernando's ship was wrecked on the coast of Patagonia.
Fernando Francis once sailed to Madeira. He went specifically to find his grandmother Jaswin. He went looking for a Madeira seaport where there were a lot of boys swimming. The reason for this was that Manny, unlike most Maine fishermen of the nineteenth century, knew how to swim. Manny once offered to bet money that he could swim from Pemaquid Point to Monhegan. He couldn't get any takers. He was that good a swimmer.
There is one real sand beach on Madeira, at Calheta. Fernando found no evidence of Jaswin Gonzales there. Nor did he find any elsewhere on Madeira. Jaswin had disappeared. Where could she have gone?
As mentioned above Jaswin suggests India. In the West the name is a rarity, not European. Though not as common in India as it once was, it can still be found on the Asiatic subcontinent. Could Jaswin Gonzales have fled to India? Perhaps she did. Perhaps Jaswin explains why Fernando Francis had a swarthy complexion. Portugal had colonies in India. Portuguese and Indians intermarried.
It has long been established that there were enclaves of Portuguese Jews in India, The enclaves were in Madras and Goa. Perhaps there is where Jaswin Gonzales fled to escape the persecution of the Church on Madeira. Or, perhaps she fled to another area where there were Jewish enclaves, South America or the Caribbean. (Dr. Ralph Gonsalves is Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the Lesser Antilles. His Gonsalves ancestors came to the Caribbean from Madeira. The maiden name of the Prime Minister's mother is Francis. The Prime Minister is Catholic. Some members of this particular Gonsalves clan recognize the possibility of Jewish ancestry.)
Manny Francis lived on Monhegan Island, Muscungus Island and in Friendship. He made his living as a fisherman. Although his gravestone identifies him as “Captain” it is doubtful he was a deep-water sailor as at least two of his sons, Fernando and Henry, were. Manny chose to live much of his life on isolated islands well away from mainland society, not moving to the mainland until late in life.
Before closing it is necessary to deal with the statement of Henry Russell Francis that Emanuel Francis was not a Sephardic Jew. Henry Russell Francis was my father. He was born in 1900. His father Ronello Laurance Francis, a son of Captain Henry Francis, was orphaned as a youngster.
Ronello Francis had a fair degree of financial success. He owned a box factory in Everett, Massachusetts. He retired to own a Red & White store in North Whitefield, Maine. Henry Russell Francis was brought up appreciating the nuances of social mobility. His mother, the former Miranda Mary Russell, was Episcopalian. Henry graduated from the University of Maine with a degree in engineering. He once said he was the first Francis that did not look Portuguese. I would describe my father as possessing a retentive personality. He disliked his father and adored his mother. Henry's gratuitous disclaimer regarding his great grandfather Emanuel's possible Jewish heritage is telling, especially in so retentive a personality, of at least a retrospective resentment. Bearing this out is the fact that in choosing my middle names he opted for Laurance rather than the Portuguese Ronello of his father and Humphrey the family name of my great grandmother Esther, Ronello's mother.
The story of Emanuel Francis is significant for a number of reasons. It has meaning within the context of being one of his descendants. It has meaning within the context of being a descendant of a Madeira Exile. And it has meaning if one knows, suspects or is unknowingly a descendant of a crypto-Jew.
What does identity consist in? Is it biological, cultural, ethical, theological? Are there traits of outlook that define or explain identity?
The name Gonzales is a variant of Gonsalvo. It is as much Portuguese as Spanish. Its origin is Latin and means battle. It is a very common name: it ranks #94 in the US. Francis is a common name too. It is Latin in origin and ranks #112 in the US. It has two meanings, Frenchman and free man. That the youngster who was known as Manny Gonzales changed his name to Manny Francis seems somehow more than fitting. Manny, whether or not he was a crypto-Jew, was born in contentious times and in a contentious place, a time when and a place where survival was a struggle, a battle. It is something of a step to suggest that Manny chose Francis, meaning free man, deliberately when he came to Maine and America. Yet, when he arrived on Monhegan he did achieve a freedom, though he always harbored a degree of apprehension as to the possibility of his past somehow catching up with him.
by
Charles Francis
Emanuel Gonzalves began his life on the island of Madeira off the coast of Africa. Folks there called him Manny. That must have been inevitable; the diminutive would stick with him the rest of his life. Manny's life ended in Friendship, Maine. That's where he is buried. Manny's gravestone reads Captain Emanuel Francis and has the dates 1805 and 1883. The facts are cut in stone.
Manny Francis has good many descendants, after all he had three wives. Those descendants can be found all up and down the east coast, from Nova Scotia to the Carolinas, to the westward and, of course, in Maine. Some of those descendants bear the name Francis, others Duncan, Shoppee and Rushford to name but a few. It is relatively easy to trace Manny's descendants. As for his antecedents, that is something of a mystery, an intriguing one.
Manny Francis never said much about his parentage and where he came from. He was a secretive, not all that talkative man. The only family name that has come down from Manny's Madeira past is that of his mother. Manny said her name was Jaswin, a name which suggests India. Other than this one fact and the Indian inference, Manny's mother is a mystery.
Manny Gonzalves came to Maine as a youngster, thirteen or so. He came as a runaway. He came as a stowaway on a vessel that put in at Monhegan Island. That tale has been preserved by at least two distinct lines of Manny's descendants.
Manny was a Madeira Exile. Madeira Exiles are a recognized group of immigrants. They are recognized as a unique singularity, tagged to or identified with a particular time period and place of origin. Most Madeira Exiles fall into one of two general groups. The groupings are based on why they left their home. Many left for much the same reason that the Irish immigrated from their homeland at the time of the potato famine. For this group of Madeira Exiles it wasn't potato blight that brought about their migration but rather a blight that hit the island's all-important grape production. The other Madeira Exiles group left for reasons of religious persecution, persecution by the Catholic Church. The latter group were either Protestant or Jewish.
Today descendants of the nineteenth century Madeira Exiles can be found all over the Americas, in Brazil, Guyana, the islands of Caribbean and the US. Others can be found in Africa and India or wherever else the Portuguese established themselves. The descendants of Manny Francis are to be counted among these once displaced exiles.
Manny could have come from the town of Calheta or from Funchal, Madeira's chief port, or from any number of other coastal towns or villages. His description of his hometown could fit Calheta, at least one of his sons thought so, but it might be otherwise. Whatever the case, Manny somehow managed to hide on a sailing ship bound for America. Several days out from Madeira the vessel's second mate discovered him. The mate must have been a compassionate fellow for he didn't turn Manny over to the captain. Instead he smuggled Manny food and water for the entire Atlantic crossing. Then, when the ship dropped anchor at Monhegan, the mate spirited Manny ashore.
That Manny was an audacious youngster goes without saying. Only a youth possessed with more than a modicum of audacity would leave his home for a strange land, and Monhegan Island and Maine would certainly have been strange. To begin with Manny would have not spoken the language. In fact, language would be an issue all Manny's life. There are indications that even late in life he thought in Portuguese. His grandson Charles Murphy of Friendship thought he did. A Smithsonian researcher who came to Friendship when Manny was an old man described him as slow to answer questions and slower still to talk about himself. Reading behind the lines written by the researcher one has a sense Manny feared revealing too much of himself. So just what was it Manny feared and how did it relate to the reticence that dominated his dealings with others all his life?
A centuries old historic truism says that to be Portuguese in a foreign land was to be Jewish. Was Manny a Jew? Was he what is variously known as a crypto-Jew, a secret Jew, a Jew who hid his identity? Henry Russell Francis, a great grandson of Manny was adamant in his assertions that Manny was not Jewish. On a number of occasions he said “Don't ever let someone tell you Emanuel Francis was a Sephardic Jew.”
Henry Russell Francis and Charles Murphy represent two distinct lines descended from Emmanuel Francis that preserved stories about him. The stories support each other.
Manny Francis was not a church-goer. He did not like ministers and he especially did not like Roman Catholic priests. Manny fled Madeira to escape the Catholic Church. That seems clear. He became a Madeira Exile because Catholic priests were after his mother for money. The money was to pay for prayers to get her recently deceased husband out of Purgatory. Manny fled Madeira to get away from the priests he feared and circumstances he could not tolerate. When he came to Maine he changed his name to make it harder for Catholic authorities to find him. All his life he feared that priests would come looking for him. The two family traditions involving Manny corroborate each other on these points. They agree that Manny's fear would seem to have been something ingrained in him, a part of his basic identity.
There are a variety of terms used to identify or designate crypto-Jews with connections to the Iberian peninsula. They include converso, marrano and anusim. A converso was a Jew who converted to Catholicism. The term is often taken to mean New Christian. Marrano has a number of meanings, it was often used to indicate that conversos were regarded as swine by those born Catholic. Anusim were Jews who had been forced to convert. While forced to convert, anusim were usually thought to continue practising Judaism. Conversos and anusim were not regarded as true Catholics. The general understanding was that all New Christians practiced some form of Judaism to a greater or lesser extent.
Lest one think the above brief discussion of Portuguese crypto-Jews relates only to the period of the infamous Inquisition, Roman Catholic records for Madeira of the 1840s show the island's Bishop ordering all young people be confirmed according to Church rites. The Bishop also ordered that all island inhabitants attend Confession and Mass. Those that did not do so “were to be proceeded against for heresy and apostacy [sic]”. To be convicted of either crime meant imprisonment. These points are found in Record of facts concerning the persecutions at Madeira in 1843 and 1846 by Herman Norton.
The Church and born Catholics in general made things difficult for New Christians and Catholics suspected of being secret Jews. That priests demanded exorbitant amounts of money of New Christians to get the souls of deceased loved ones free of Purgatory was a commonplace. The Exiles of Madeira written by W. M. Blackburn in 1860 describes the latter practice. The book was put out by the Presbyterian Board of Publication. Many Portuguese converts to Presbyterianism fled Madeira to settle in Illinois and elsewhere in the US. They fled to escape the persecution of the Church on Madeira.
By 1800 the forced conversion of Jews was a centuries old practice in Portugal. Practically this meant that crypto-Jews had a long period in which to evolve methods for perpetuating their sense of who they were. What evolved was a strange mix of Judaism and Christianity, a mix created by intensive Catholic instruction and a lack of Jewish instruction. Crypto-Jews might elevate Old Testament figures to sainthood. Thus we have St. Esther. Studies of Portuguese crypto-Jews have revealed an elaborate culture of fraught subterfuge with highly developed congeries of masked identities and hidden phrases. One such phrase, once thought to be meaningless, linguists have determined to be a garbled Hebrew disavowing the rituals in which the worshipper is about to participate. Was this the sort of culture Manny Francis experienced in his formative years? If so it would help explain his conduct as an adult as well as the family stories that have come down about him.
There are a number of excellent resources on the nature of and character of the secret Jew that offer suggestions to determine whether or not one has Jewish ancestry of the cryptic kind. Eduardo Dias of UCLA is an expert on secret Jews and has written a number of books on the subject including Rituals and Secret Practices of the Crypto Jews of Portugal. Practices extend to but are not limited to avoiding a variety of dairy products, meats and shellfish, clipping the nails of the deceased and use of names predominately associated with New Christians. Dias points to the name Emanuel as one of the more common if not the most common masculine first name. He goes on to list family names like Duran, Lopez and Gonzales with all the latter's alternative spellings as Jewish. (A Polish Jew named Emanuel Gonzales is on record as coming to Calheta in the 1500s. He may have been the first of the Gonzales name in the community. The first explorer of Madeira was Joao Goncalves Zarco. It is generally accepted by historians of the great Age of Exploration that he was converso.)
Except for the fact Manny Francis had an aversion for Catholic priests, most of the above is circumstantial evidence as to whether or not Manny was a crypto-Jew. Manny is, however, known to have avoided eating lobster and clams. But then, both were regarded as beneath the dignity of any self-respecting coastal Mainer of the nineteenth century. So are there any provable facts as to Manny's origins?
There are no pictures of Manny Francis. There are pictures of his son Fernando. The old photographs show a small man of an exceptionally swarthy complexion. His dark eyes are piercing, suggesting competence to a rare degree. Fernando was a deep-water sailor. He was the captain of his own ship. He once held off a mutinous crew bent on eating his infant son Manville. This occurred when Fernando's ship was wrecked on the coast of Patagonia.
Fernando Francis once sailed to Madeira. He went specifically to find his grandmother Jaswin. He went looking for a Madeira seaport where there were a lot of boys swimming. The reason for this was that Manny, unlike most Maine fishermen of the nineteenth century, knew how to swim. Manny once offered to bet money that he could swim from Pemaquid Point to Monhegan. He couldn't get any takers. He was that good a swimmer.
There is one real sand beach on Madeira, at Calheta. Fernando found no evidence of Jaswin Gonzales there. Nor did he find any elsewhere on Madeira. Jaswin had disappeared. Where could she have gone?
As mentioned above Jaswin suggests India. In the West the name is a rarity, not European. Though not as common in India as it once was, it can still be found on the Asiatic subcontinent. Could Jaswin Gonzales have fled to India? Perhaps she did. Perhaps Jaswin explains why Fernando Francis had a swarthy complexion. Portugal had colonies in India. Portuguese and Indians intermarried.
It has long been established that there were enclaves of Portuguese Jews in India, The enclaves were in Madras and Goa. Perhaps there is where Jaswin Gonzales fled to escape the persecution of the Church on Madeira. Or, perhaps she fled to another area where there were Jewish enclaves, South America or the Caribbean. (Dr. Ralph Gonsalves is Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the Lesser Antilles. His Gonsalves ancestors came to the Caribbean from Madeira. The maiden name of the Prime Minister's mother is Francis. The Prime Minister is Catholic. Some members of this particular Gonsalves clan recognize the possibility of Jewish ancestry.)
Manny Francis lived on Monhegan Island, Muscungus Island and in Friendship. He made his living as a fisherman. Although his gravestone identifies him as “Captain” it is doubtful he was a deep-water sailor as at least two of his sons, Fernando and Henry, were. Manny chose to live much of his life on isolated islands well away from mainland society, not moving to the mainland until late in life.
Before closing it is necessary to deal with the statement of Henry Russell Francis that Emanuel Francis was not a Sephardic Jew. Henry Russell Francis was my father. He was born in 1900. His father Ronello Laurance Francis, a son of Captain Henry Francis, was orphaned as a youngster.
Ronello Francis had a fair degree of financial success. He owned a box factory in Everett, Massachusetts. He retired to own a Red & White store in North Whitefield, Maine. Henry Russell Francis was brought up appreciating the nuances of social mobility. His mother, the former Miranda Mary Russell, was Episcopalian. Henry graduated from the University of Maine with a degree in engineering. He once said he was the first Francis that did not look Portuguese. I would describe my father as possessing a retentive personality. He disliked his father and adored his mother. Henry's gratuitous disclaimer regarding his great grandfather Emanuel's possible Jewish heritage is telling, especially in so retentive a personality, of at least a retrospective resentment. Bearing this out is the fact that in choosing my middle names he opted for Laurance rather than the Portuguese Ronello of his father and Humphrey the family name of my great grandmother Esther, Ronello's mother.
The story of Emanuel Francis is significant for a number of reasons. It has meaning within the context of being one of his descendants. It has meaning within the context of being a descendant of a Madeira Exile. And it has meaning if one knows, suspects or is unknowingly a descendant of a crypto-Jew.
What does identity consist in? Is it biological, cultural, ethical, theological? Are there traits of outlook that define or explain identity?
The name Gonzales is a variant of Gonsalvo. It is as much Portuguese as Spanish. Its origin is Latin and means battle. It is a very common name: it ranks #94 in the US. Francis is a common name too. It is Latin in origin and ranks #112 in the US. It has two meanings, Frenchman and free man. That the youngster who was known as Manny Gonzales changed his name to Manny Francis seems somehow more than fitting. Manny, whether or not he was a crypto-Jew, was born in contentious times and in a contentious place, a time when and a place where survival was a struggle, a battle. It is something of a step to suggest that Manny chose Francis, meaning free man, deliberately when he came to Maine and America. Yet, when he arrived on Monhegan he did achieve a freedom, though he always harbored a degree of apprehension as to the possibility of his past somehow catching up with him.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Joe Howe's American Cousins
Joe Howe's American Cousins
by
Charles Francis
FYI
Not long ago a silver serving platter appeared on the Canadian version of the Antiques Road Show. The platter had been presented to Joseph Howe by the residents of Musquodoboit, Nova Scotia. The current owner was a great-great grand daughter of the venerable tribune of Nova Scotia. The platter, because of its provenance, was declared a national treasure.
Joe Howe is one of the greatest figures of Canadian history. Though he did not take part in the Charlottetown Conference that led to confederation, he is today regarded as a Father of Confederation. This, even though he led a fight for Nova Scotia to withdraw from the foundling nation.
Joe Howe was a brilliant man. Largely self-cultured, he was the first person to point out the great failing of the British North America Act, the act which created Canada. The failing was a lack of formula for amending. Though Howe opposed John A. Macdonald's plans for a union of northern provinces, Macdonald respected Howe. Howe, Macdonald said, possessed “the only seminal mind” he ever encountered.
Joe Howe was a lover of democracy. For him the continent of North America was united by one thing: “the democratic system, which prevails all over this continent....” Barely a year before he died Howe spoke to this subject at a Howe family reunion in Framingham, Massachusetts. What follows is an account of that reunion.
* * * *
On every side was heard the repeated query “To which Howe family do you belong? Was your ancestor John or James, Edward or Abraham?” Given that there were an estimated 3000 in attendance that now long past, beautiful summer family reunion day the question was not that all unusual.
Edward Howe of Portland, Maine was the oldest male attendee of the Howe family gathering held at Harmony Grove in Framingham, Massachusetts on August 31, 1871. Edward was eighty-nine. The Reverend Elias Nason, author of the work chronicling the gathering, noted that “He still writes a steady clear, round hand, as his autograph in the Register of the day attests.”
Edward Howe was not the only member of the Howe family from Portland- or points even further down east- to attend the family gathering. Caroline Dana Howe was there too.
Caroline Dana Howe was something of a poet. She contributed a song for the occasion of the Howe gathering. So did her much better known cousin by marriage Julia Ward Howe. The latter is, of course, famous for the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”. The work Cousin Caroline contributed to the Howe family gathering was “The Name We Bear”. It was set to the tune of “Bonnie Doon”.
Edward Howe was one of the organizers of the Howe family gathering. With two of his cousins, Samuel Gridley Howe and Elias Howe, he helped send out some 5000 invitations to the great gathering.
Samuel Gridley Howe is probably best known as the husband of Julia Ward Howe. He was a major nineteenth century figure in his own right though. An active abolitionist, he is a major figure in developing methodologies for working with the blind. He headed the Perkins Institute where Annie Sullivan trained. Sullivan was Helen Keller's teacher. The play The Miracle Worker tells the story of Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller. Samuel Gridley Howe is featured briefly at the beginning of the play. After a successful Broadway run, the play was made into a movie starring Anne Bancroft as Annie Sullivan and Patty Duke as Helen Keller.
Elias Howe is one of America's great inventors. He developed the sewing machine and the truss bridge. He was a Boston printer. In 1872 he published the record of the great Howe conclave written by Elias Nason, The Howe Family Gathering.
Edward, Samuel and Elias Howe were all descended from Abraham Howe or How of Hatfield, Broadoak, Essex, England. Abraham was one of the first proprietors of Roxbury, Massachusetts. Abraham was born in England in 1598 and died in Boston in 1676. Another branch of the Howe family, that descended from John Howe of England's Warickshire, settled in Sudbury. One of them, David Howe, established a tavern there. It was known as the Red Horse Tavern and made famous by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his Tales of the Wayside Inn.
Because of Longfellow's connection to the Howe family, the poet was tendered a special invitation to attend the Howe family gathering. Elias Howe extended the invitation. The poet, however, declined saying “I am sorry... it will not be in my power to accept. My engagements here render it impossible. I can only send you my thanks and regrets, and my best wishes for a pleasant day in the groves of Framingham.” It would be Samuel Gridley Howe who secured what was perhaps the coupe of the gathering. The coupe was in getting Joseph Howe as the gathering's principal speaker.
Joseph Howe was another of the direct descendants of Abraham Howe. In 1871 he was Secretary of State of the Dominion of Canada.
If someone were so inclined they might draw something in the nature of a poetic parallel to the fact that both Joseph Howe and Julia Ward Howe were in Framingham for the Howe family gathering. Joseph Howe is sometimes referred to as Canada's “Father of Responsible Government”. In a somewhat similar manner Julia Ward Howe has been called “America's Mother”.
At one time Julia Ward Howe's name was synonymous with Mother's Day. Just one year before the great Howe family gathering Julia Ward Howe issued a call for a “Mother's Peace March”. This has been called the beginnings of Mother's Day. For whatever reason or reasons, Julia Ward Howe's connection to this all important day has been largely forgotten. The same is not they case for Joseph Howe accomplishments in Canada, most notably in his home province of Nova Scotia, where he is regarded as the most loved Nova Scotian of all time.
Joseph Howe's father John Howe was an Anglophile. He loved Britain. He loved it so much that when he witnessed the attack on Bunker Hill he left his birthplace, Boston, for Nova Scotia. John Howe was a Loyalist. That is how this particular branch of the Howe family came to claim the future nation of Canada their homeland. And because of this move Nova Scotia came to be the first of Britain's northern provinces to become a true parliamentary democracy with an elected house of representatives directly responsible to the people as its chief governing body.
In his oration at the Howe family gathering Joseph Howe spoke to the subject of democracy and democratic ideals and their importance in both Canada and the United States. He also told of a trip he made to England in search of Howe family history. Howe's speech was a fascinating and thoroughly personable narrative.
The beginning of The Howe Family Gathering describes a Howe coat of arms. It serves as the signature of today's Wayside Inn. Many Howes back in the nineteenth century- as well as some today- considered that coat of arms a valid one for those bearing their name. One his trip to England Joseph Howe tried to substantiate the belief. He was unable to do so. He also tried to find a family connection to a John Howe who served as personal chaplain to Oliver Cromwell. He failed in this attempt also. In his oration Howe alluded to both failings. Much later Howe's son Sydenham would prove to his satisfaction that the Howe coat of arms in no way related to any of the descendants of his ancestor Abraham Howe or to those who established the inn made famous by Longfellow.
There was never another Howe family gathering to equal the one held in Framingham in 1871. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that family members like Elias, Samuel Gridley, Julia Ward and, of course, Joe were one of a kind.
This writer wishes to note that he is a direct descendant of Abraham Howe. His great grandfather George Howe was a first cousin, once removed, to Joseph Howe, the tribune of Nova Scotia. George Howe was grandson to Joseph Howe. This Joseph was the brother to John, the father of the venerable Joe Howe. Intriguingly, John Howe's brother was also something of a Loyalist. He refused to take part in Patriot inspired musters on Boston Common. He was fined for his predilection.
by
Charles Francis
FYI
Not long ago a silver serving platter appeared on the Canadian version of the Antiques Road Show. The platter had been presented to Joseph Howe by the residents of Musquodoboit, Nova Scotia. The current owner was a great-great grand daughter of the venerable tribune of Nova Scotia. The platter, because of its provenance, was declared a national treasure.
Joe Howe is one of the greatest figures of Canadian history. Though he did not take part in the Charlottetown Conference that led to confederation, he is today regarded as a Father of Confederation. This, even though he led a fight for Nova Scotia to withdraw from the foundling nation.
Joe Howe was a brilliant man. Largely self-cultured, he was the first person to point out the great failing of the British North America Act, the act which created Canada. The failing was a lack of formula for amending. Though Howe opposed John A. Macdonald's plans for a union of northern provinces, Macdonald respected Howe. Howe, Macdonald said, possessed “the only seminal mind” he ever encountered.
Joe Howe was a lover of democracy. For him the continent of North America was united by one thing: “the democratic system, which prevails all over this continent....” Barely a year before he died Howe spoke to this subject at a Howe family reunion in Framingham, Massachusetts. What follows is an account of that reunion.
* * * *
On every side was heard the repeated query “To which Howe family do you belong? Was your ancestor John or James, Edward or Abraham?” Given that there were an estimated 3000 in attendance that now long past, beautiful summer family reunion day the question was not that all unusual.
Edward Howe of Portland, Maine was the oldest male attendee of the Howe family gathering held at Harmony Grove in Framingham, Massachusetts on August 31, 1871. Edward was eighty-nine. The Reverend Elias Nason, author of the work chronicling the gathering, noted that “He still writes a steady clear, round hand, as his autograph in the Register of the day attests.”
Edward Howe was not the only member of the Howe family from Portland- or points even further down east- to attend the family gathering. Caroline Dana Howe was there too.
Caroline Dana Howe was something of a poet. She contributed a song for the occasion of the Howe gathering. So did her much better known cousin by marriage Julia Ward Howe. The latter is, of course, famous for the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”. The work Cousin Caroline contributed to the Howe family gathering was “The Name We Bear”. It was set to the tune of “Bonnie Doon”.
Edward Howe was one of the organizers of the Howe family gathering. With two of his cousins, Samuel Gridley Howe and Elias Howe, he helped send out some 5000 invitations to the great gathering.
Samuel Gridley Howe is probably best known as the husband of Julia Ward Howe. He was a major nineteenth century figure in his own right though. An active abolitionist, he is a major figure in developing methodologies for working with the blind. He headed the Perkins Institute where Annie Sullivan trained. Sullivan was Helen Keller's teacher. The play The Miracle Worker tells the story of Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller. Samuel Gridley Howe is featured briefly at the beginning of the play. After a successful Broadway run, the play was made into a movie starring Anne Bancroft as Annie Sullivan and Patty Duke as Helen Keller.
Elias Howe is one of America's great inventors. He developed the sewing machine and the truss bridge. He was a Boston printer. In 1872 he published the record of the great Howe conclave written by Elias Nason, The Howe Family Gathering.
Edward, Samuel and Elias Howe were all descended from Abraham Howe or How of Hatfield, Broadoak, Essex, England. Abraham was one of the first proprietors of Roxbury, Massachusetts. Abraham was born in England in 1598 and died in Boston in 1676. Another branch of the Howe family, that descended from John Howe of England's Warickshire, settled in Sudbury. One of them, David Howe, established a tavern there. It was known as the Red Horse Tavern and made famous by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his Tales of the Wayside Inn.
Because of Longfellow's connection to the Howe family, the poet was tendered a special invitation to attend the Howe family gathering. Elias Howe extended the invitation. The poet, however, declined saying “I am sorry... it will not be in my power to accept. My engagements here render it impossible. I can only send you my thanks and regrets, and my best wishes for a pleasant day in the groves of Framingham.” It would be Samuel Gridley Howe who secured what was perhaps the coupe of the gathering. The coupe was in getting Joseph Howe as the gathering's principal speaker.
Joseph Howe was another of the direct descendants of Abraham Howe. In 1871 he was Secretary of State of the Dominion of Canada.
If someone were so inclined they might draw something in the nature of a poetic parallel to the fact that both Joseph Howe and Julia Ward Howe were in Framingham for the Howe family gathering. Joseph Howe is sometimes referred to as Canada's “Father of Responsible Government”. In a somewhat similar manner Julia Ward Howe has been called “America's Mother”.
At one time Julia Ward Howe's name was synonymous with Mother's Day. Just one year before the great Howe family gathering Julia Ward Howe issued a call for a “Mother's Peace March”. This has been called the beginnings of Mother's Day. For whatever reason or reasons, Julia Ward Howe's connection to this all important day has been largely forgotten. The same is not they case for Joseph Howe accomplishments in Canada, most notably in his home province of Nova Scotia, where he is regarded as the most loved Nova Scotian of all time.
Joseph Howe's father John Howe was an Anglophile. He loved Britain. He loved it so much that when he witnessed the attack on Bunker Hill he left his birthplace, Boston, for Nova Scotia. John Howe was a Loyalist. That is how this particular branch of the Howe family came to claim the future nation of Canada their homeland. And because of this move Nova Scotia came to be the first of Britain's northern provinces to become a true parliamentary democracy with an elected house of representatives directly responsible to the people as its chief governing body.
In his oration at the Howe family gathering Joseph Howe spoke to the subject of democracy and democratic ideals and their importance in both Canada and the United States. He also told of a trip he made to England in search of Howe family history. Howe's speech was a fascinating and thoroughly personable narrative.
The beginning of The Howe Family Gathering describes a Howe coat of arms. It serves as the signature of today's Wayside Inn. Many Howes back in the nineteenth century- as well as some today- considered that coat of arms a valid one for those bearing their name. One his trip to England Joseph Howe tried to substantiate the belief. He was unable to do so. He also tried to find a family connection to a John Howe who served as personal chaplain to Oliver Cromwell. He failed in this attempt also. In his oration Howe alluded to both failings. Much later Howe's son Sydenham would prove to his satisfaction that the Howe coat of arms in no way related to any of the descendants of his ancestor Abraham Howe or to those who established the inn made famous by Longfellow.
There was never another Howe family gathering to equal the one held in Framingham in 1871. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that family members like Elias, Samuel Gridley, Julia Ward and, of course, Joe were one of a kind.
This writer wishes to note that he is a direct descendant of Abraham Howe. His great grandfather George Howe was a first cousin, once removed, to Joseph Howe, the tribune of Nova Scotia. George Howe was grandson to Joseph Howe. This Joseph was the brother to John, the father of the venerable Joe Howe. Intriguingly, John Howe's brother was also something of a Loyalist. He refused to take part in Patriot inspired musters on Boston Common. He was fined for his predilection.
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