Meneses

This family surname derives from Vasco Martins Moniz de Meneses, nobleman of the Royal Household (fidalgo da Casa Real), who held a sesmaria (royal land grant to settlers on condition of cultivation) in Caniço (‘reed’) and a large house in the town (vila) of Machico, and who founded an entail (morgado) from his disposable third (terça) of the estate by a will approved in 1498; and from António Telo de Meneses, or António Teles, founder of the chapel of St Anthony of Padua (Santo António) in the parish (freguesia) of Santa Maria Maior (‘St Mary Major’). The Teles de Meneses descend through illegitimacy from the Counts of Vila Pouca, according to the late Madeiran genealogist José Bettencourt da Câmara.