Jose Fernandes Ferreira was born in 1919 in the Gilmonde district of Barcel's in the northern province of Minho, Portugal. I wanted more information on Jose's homeland so I checked it out. Minho is situated in the northwest corner of Portugal encompassed by the northern Atlantic seaboard between the Douro and Minho rivers. Minho is right next to the Galician province of Spain and is still known for its green forests and cultivated valleys.
Jose was serving in the army during the war and in 1940 he was sent to the Island of Faial where he met his soon to be wife Elvira. Faial Island, also known in English as Fayal, is a Portuguese island and a part of the Central Group of the Azores. The Azores Islands are composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the North Atlantic Ocean located about 1,360 km west of continental Portugal and about 1,925 km southeast of Newfoundland.
Jose and Elvira got married, they worked hard together, the years went by and soon there were five children; Jose Nelson, Maria, Noemia (deceased), Horace and Fatima.
Jose worked as a blacksmith in Castelo Branco Horta, Fayal with Elvira by his side helping in the shop as much as she could. She helped hammer the hot steel and raised their family at the same time.
Jose specialized in forging the metal to produce the wheels needed on carts to pull heavy loads, garden hoes, plows, and horse shoes. Some of these items were shipped to other islands to be used for farming. He had the skill and specific knowledge of how to heat the metal in a forge to make it soft, add a special metal glue that existed at that point in time and then to hammer it on an anvil to shape it so that it did not break, but leaving it tough enough to do its intended job.
As with many other immigrants back then, Jose left his family behind as he ventured off to Canada seeking better opportunities for his family. He arrived in Toronto in 1957 and went to work for CN Rail. The layoffs came and friends suggested going to Giscome, BC, a land out west where there were promises of work and greater opportunities.
Jose arrived in Giscome by rail and went to work for Eagle Lake Sawmills. He successfully applied to bring his family from Portugal to Canada. His wife Elvira and their five children flew from Portugal to Toronto and boarded a train that took them west. It took three days and three nights but his family finally arrived by rail in Giscome on February 5th, 1960 in the middle of the night and in the middle of a hard winter. The excitement of the arrival of his family never wore off and soon there were three more children; Martha, Victor and Susan.
The sawmill shut down in 1974 so the family moved into Prince George. Jose went to work for CN Rail until his retirement in 1984. Elvira, the family matriarch, worked as a seamstress for many years and passed away in April of 2002 after suffering for years as a result of a stroke.
Jose Nelson Ferreira, the eldest son, went back to Portugal to marry Manuela, the love of his life and to bring her back to Canada. They will soon celebrate 50 years of marriage. Watch for their story next week in this column.
Jose, the father of the family clan, now lives happily at the Two Rivers Seniors Lodge on Yew Street.
A note, and congratulations, to the new Mayor of Prince George and the City Council members: This is how you grow the population of a city. In the end the young Jose Fernandes Ferreira who is now 95 years old populated the City of Prince George with eight children and their partners, who in turn produced 23 grandchildren and their partners, 34 great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild. Now that is what I call a very productive family!
November Birthdays that I know about: Shirley Bond, Noreen Rustad, Sid Doucette, Mary Kordyban, Margret Toyota, David Wlasitz, Maureen Braun, Ginny Jenkins, Diane Reynolds, Lorraine Anderson, Wilf Howlett, Christena Benwell, Donna Legault, Ann O'Shea, Ken Royston, Bev Kelly, Carron Dunn, Sharon Husberg, Shirley Ankerstein, John Lovett, Wilma Davison, Sheila Wilson, Georgina Ward, Donna Nichols, Hilda Eshlelman and Ralph Balcom.
