A Spanish family mixed with Portuguese

In the past, whenever I heard the term 'extended family' I did not realize how my thinking was 'inside the box' when my mind created my family-member list. In the past few days, I have extended my thinking a long way 'outside the box' as the family-history research has led me inside the lives of Abuelita Manuela's cousin, Theodora Silvan Souza, nicknamed DORA.

In my quest, I have joined Vicki, my new-found cousin from the Souza line. Theodora/Dora is her Abuelita and we have had some exciting breakthroughs as she and I have played sleuths regarding the Souza line of the family......just since yesterday with the help of a stranger!!!

Since we are both connected to the genealogy site, www.ancestry.com , it has been a huge benefit when we put a family name into the site and we receive feedback from other ancestry.com members or in this case --- another Souza even though he is not related to our line. He chose to help us and found our relatives along with census lists, ship's manifests and the WWI Draft Registration document for Dora's husband, John Souza.

The head-chatter began when the Latin name craziness raised its ever-so difficult head again. It appears that the Souza men used their father's maternal name, BENTO. So, there are many Bento-Souza family members. More lines to resurrect for our family files! With my family SILVAN HERNANDEZ changing to SILVAN, her family was BENTO PERREIRA and then some men kept SOUZA and others used BENTO. One ship's manifest even listed Theodora as Bento. She must have gone nuts in America when her paperwork was changed again = to Souza. We have sent letters to many John Souza siblings and I sent email to the Diocese of Hawaii because they have archives for five Catholic parishes and four mission churches in Lihue, HI.

I feel like I've just been put on a bucking bronco, ready to dash out of the holding pen as we re-define the term, extended family, and add more cousins who may be waiting to be found!
AND I AM STILL PLANNING MY TRIP TO SPAIN IN SEPTEMBER. I am on a roll and I do NOT want to get off that horse before I get my answers!!