Abreu (family)
Original title: Abreu
The Abreu family in Madeira, descended from Brites de Abreu and João Fernandes do Arco.
The first person on this island who appears to have used this surname was Brites or Beatriz de Abreu, daughter of Rui de Abreu, alcaide-mor (royal governor of a castle and town) of Elvas. She married João Fernandes do Arco, so called because he held extensive sesmaria (royal land grant to settlers on condition of cultivation) lands in Arco da Calheta (‘arc of Calheta’), and of whom we shall speak in a separate article. Their sons took their mother’s surname, and some of them distinguished themselves in Africa and India. Among the daughters were the celebrated Isabel de Abreu (see that entry) and Águeda de Abreu, wife of João Esmeraldo, the owner of the Lombada da Ponta do Sol (‘ridge of Ponta do Sol’). To this family belonged António de Abreu, the discoverer of the Moluccas (see that entry).
In this article
Place
Places mentioned · 04
Abroad
- Arco da Calheta
Calheta. Where João Fernandes held sesmaria lands.
Arco da Calheta is a parish in the municipality of Calheta, created in 1572 around the chapel of São Brás, whose church holds sixteenth-century paintings. The Elucidário covers its early settlers such as the Andrades, sugar estates, chapels, entails, unrest in 1834 and 1887, and irrigation by the Rabaçal and Pico da Urze levadas.
- Elvas
Portugal. Town of which Rui de Abreu was alcaide-mor.
Elvas is a fortress town and diocese in mainland Portugal. Several bishops of Funchal were transferred to its see, among them D. Lourenço de Távora in 1617 and D. José da Costa Torres in 1796, and Dr Joaquim de Menezes e Ataíde was named its bishop in 1821. It was the birthplace of the musician Duarte Joaquim dos Santos, José Gerardo Ferreira Passos and António Rogério Gromicho Couceiro, and Francisco João Róscio served there as a military engineer.
- Lombada da Ponta do Sol
Ponta do Sol. Estate of João Esmeraldo.
Lombada da Ponta do Sol is a locality in the parish and municipality of Ponta do Sol. It was the great estate of Rui Gonçalves da Câmara, leased to João Esmeraldo in 1473 and worked by eighty slaves. It became the seat of the Santo Espírito entail, with the Esmeraldo chapel, and was where D. Isabel de Abreu was besieged; the notes also record land from it sliding seawards in 1804 and a legal question over the estate studied in 1927.
- Moluccas
Indonesia. Islands discovered by António de Abreu.
The Molucas are the Spice Islands, discovered and explored by António de Abreu. Jordão de Freitas served there as captain.
People
People mentioned · 07-
Daughter of the founding couple, wife of João Esmeraldo.
-
Discoverer of the Moluccas, member of this family.
-
First to bear the Abreu surname in Madeira; wife of João Fernandes do Arco.
-
Celebrated daughter of the founding couple.
-
Owner of the Lombada da Ponta do Sol, husband of Águeda de Abreu.
-
Holder of sesmaria lands in Arco da Calheta; husband of Brites de Abreu.
-
Father of Brites de Abreu.