African American Lives
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Analyzing the Evidence
The Science and the Investigators
Who am I? A Genealogy Guide
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Sharing Stories
One Families Story: Read a story matching the term you chose:
STORYTELLER: Aunt LOCATION: Bridgeport, Connecticut YEAR TOOK PLACE: 1912
TELLER'S PLACE OF ORIGIN: Bridgeport, Connecticut HOW HEARD: Oral History Interview

My Aunt Eunice told me that her parents were Portugese - Cape Verdean. I finally found the family in the 1920 Census. According to this document the father arrived in 1912 and the mother arrived in 1913. Though there were mispellings of the names, I was able to find out that Lawrence Roch (Lourenco Rocha) was a Black man about 34 years old and his wife Mary (Maria Mendes Almeida) was a Black woman about 35 years old. Their daughter Alice was born in Massachusettes in 1915; their daughter Eveline 1918; and Florence 1919 in Connecticut. According to the father's obituary, there were also daughters Vera and Sallie, a son named Frank and a cousin Inez Morris.





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