Ornelas

The first of this surname in the island of Madeira, according to the distinguished annotator of the 'Saudades', was Álvaro de Ornelas, the only son of Lopo Esteves de Ornelas, head of this ancient and noble family, which is one of the principal families of this island: he was of the household of Infante D. Henrique, by whose order he participated in the explorations promoted by the same Infante: he was one of the first settlers of the island, and had the lands from Ponta do Garajau upwards to the Caniço river, from the sea to the mountains, as a sesmaria in Caniço, where later his son Álvaro de Ornellas Saavedra established the entailed estate called Caniço. – Constança de Mendonça de Vasconcellos, the first wife of this Álvaro de Ornellas Saavedra, or, according to others, Ayres de Ornellas and Vasconcellos, created the entailed estate of Nossa Senhora da Consolação, also in Caniço, in 1591.

(See 'Works of D. Aires de Ornelas', 1881).