The Story of Francisca
Translation from Francisca’s poem entitled: “Tempo Passado.”
‘Goodbye my dearest parents. I shall never forget you, and never shall I forget, the land
where I was born.”
Frances was born, Francisca Da Rosa Goularte, April 15, 1880, in the village of
Castello Branca, on the Island of Faial, Azores. No one seems to know what her family
did for a living but it probably included fishing. In her poetry and notes, she stated that
her love of writing was inherited from her father and as a result, she often wrote about her
life in small journals, and in poetry form.
Francisca was very close to her mother and father; ”that they loved her and that
she loved them very much.” She had four sisters; Morris, Cunha, Mary, and Teresa and
two brothers; Joe and Manuel.
At 16 Francisca decided to go to America to live with her sister who lived in
Providence, Rhode Island. Her parents pleaded with her not to go, but she was
determined to leave the Azores. In a poem she described the sadness of watching her
parents on the pier, crying and waving their handkerchiefs as the ship left the port. She
wondered if she would ever see them again.
Francis arrived in Rhode Island in July of 1896. At first she lived with her sister
Teresa, but soon decided to get her own place to earn her own money. As time passed,
she married Antone Macial who had come from the Island of Flores. When he entered the
United States, his Portuguese name Marciel was changed to Marshall, probably through
not being able to speak English. While they lived in Rhode Island, two sons, Arthur and
Alfred, and one daughter, Amelia were born. However, by 1910, they decided to move to
Hanford, California where they worked for a farmer. Within a few years, they purchased
some land of their own. In one of her diaries, she described the purchase of this land as
follows:
"We purchased a 100-acre farm from Clyde Brewer on October 31, 1909, near
Traver, for a price of $7,500.00. The farm included thirty milk cows, one Jersey
bull, two mares, a milk separator, a plow, a mowing machine, a hay rake, one
farm wagon, and nine chickens."
The Story of Francisca
Soon after,two more children Jim and Frank, were born.
Everything seemed to be going well until Frances’ husband Antone took ill with a
disease called Erysipelas and died within a couple of days, and two months after the birth
of her baby son, Frank. Frances, now 32 was left with five children, a mortgage, and an
asthmatic condition that would haunt her for the rest of her life. Many people told her to
file bankruptcy, but she could not do that. Instead she went to each of her creditors and
asked if they would let her pay them a smaller amount each month until the ranch was
paid. The creditors agreed to help her. With her husband gone, everything that needed to
be done was now solely up to her. Plus she also started working at packing sheds to earn
more money. Her children ranged from fourteen to two months old.
Francisca arose every morning at 4:00 a.m. to milk the cows. She would wait until
7:00 a.m. to wake the boys so that they could get some extra sleep.
Their old house had no running water, no indoor toilet, so all water had to be
carried in large buckets into the house from an outside hand pump. Clothes were washed
by hand on a washboard. Baths were taken in an old metal round tub filled with water and
warmed on her wooden stove
For food, Frances baked bread, raised chickens, and grew vegetables and fruits to
can. She could bake anything without recipes. She ironed clothes by heating the iron on
an old wood burning stove. By mid morning, she would always find time to bake cake or
doughnuts to take to her sons out in the fields.
After the cows were milked and the chores were done, Frances would often work
in fruit packing sheds to earn extra money for the family and to pay her mortgage.
The children attended Grammar School some four miles away. Many days of
school were missed due to the work that had to be done on the farm. The two younger
brothers, Frank and Jim, were the only ones who attended high school. On very cold
mornings, Frances would put warm bricks under the feet of the children so they could
keep warm as they drove a horse-drawn buggy four miles to school.
By 1923 Francisca’s life slowly began to improve. The ranch was finally paid off
and she decided to build a new home. Unlike the old house, the new house had an indoor
bath, three bedrooms, and a dining room, kitchen, and hardwood floors. They were also
able to buy their first car..
Their social life began to improve also. Francis would occasionally hold a
Chamarita in her home. Friends and neighbors would bring their violas and guitars to
provide music for their Portuguese folk dancing. Once a year they would hold a
Montunsa. On this day, a pig would be killed. As they worked together and shared the
food, the ritual and celebration was a way that they could thank God for a good year.
Francisca, her family, and her neighbors would all help one another. Also, if one
of her Portuguese friends needed a letter translated from the Acores, she would translate
and write letters back to their families. Francisca had also learned to speak and write
English fluently.
By 1929, most of Francisca’s children were grown. Each one of them married and
left home except Jim. He and his wife Rose cared for his mother and the farm. Frances
continued to live on the ranch with her son until the day she fell down a
basement stairway and broke her ankle. She managed to get around with a cane, but
eventually went to live in town in a small house near her daughter, Amelia.
The Story of Francisca
In her last years, the brace on her leg and her emphysema kept her from walking
and doing anything physical. She always looked forward to receiving visits from her own
grown children and grandchildren. Her last days were spent doing embroidery and
crochet. Watching soap operas each day kept her entertained.
Finally in 1963, Frances died from the effects of emphysema which in the last
years had all but consumed her energies. For her family, a very wonderful, wise, and
courageous woman was gone.
Now, all of Francisca’s sons and daughter are gone. But in the minds and hearts
of their grandchildren and all that knew them, they will never be forgotten. Francisca
instilled within each one of her children a strong sense of individualism, the virtue of
hard work, and pride in a job well done. And though they all worked very hard with
undaunted determination and perseverance, in the final analysis, it was in truly loving
what they did, that helped them realize their goals and to earn the respect they all have so
dearly deserved.
Maxine Olson, Grandaughter. 2009
A Return to the Sea. The picture of the sea was taken on the Island of Faial. The
tombstone shows the name of the Marcial Family (my family's original name) with the
spirits of the ancestors returning to their original birthplace.