Leonard C. Rivero

4205 Auburn Way S. #44, Auburn WA 98092    Phone (206)235=4636   lenrivero@msn.com

 

HISTORIC NOTES:  The Marqueses of Macau

 

    King Dom Jose I of Portugal, who in 1750 succeeded his father Dom Joao V, granted full powers to Sebastiao Jose de Carvalho e Melo, a former diplomat in the service of his father, Dom Joao.  Along the years of his administration, Caravalho e Melo was elevated in rank and received the titles of Conde de Oeiras in 1758 and Marques de Pombal in 1770.  As Prime Minister he controlled not only the government but also the entire country, including the king himself – who showed scant ability to govern.

 

    On November 1st, 1755, an earthquake destroyed half of Lisbon and a good part of the South of Portugal.  Some 5000 people perished in the ruins of the capital from the fires that followed the quake, and as many again the ensuing month from injuries and other causes.  The catastrophe enhanced the prestige of Carvalho e Melo for the strong and efficient measures he immediately took to restore order, dispose of the dead, cared for the injured and reconstructed the city.

 

    After eight years of reviling and humiliating the nobility in various ways, the Pombal regime gave rise to a conspiracy by the nobles to get rid of the king and have him replaced by his daughter Dona Maria, later to become Rainha Dona Maria I.  

 

    Headed by the Duque de Aveiro, an attempt was made on the life of the King on September 3rd, 1758 which failed.  This attempted regicide gave Pombal the pretense he had long been waiting for the act against his enemies were made.  All were accused of plotting against the monarch.  Three months after these imprisonments an infamously set up tribunal tried and condemned to death a duke, 2 marquises and a marchioness, a count, as well as servants and members of their households.  The majority of the Jesuits were expelled from the country in 1759 while many were jailed and one died on the scaffold, accused of heresy.  Subjected to the tortures of the Inquisition, the condemned were executed on January 13th, 1759 at early dawn.

 

    Among the imprisoned members of the House of the Duke of Aveiro was one DOMINGOS MARQUES, son of Manoel Francisco Marques, born in Bidoens, District of Guarda, Keeper of the Duke’s horses, and only 26 years of age.  He was questioned, tortured on the rack and then released.  Fearing arrest by implication with the plotters against the monarch, he fled the country to escape political persecution seeking refuge first in India, and then in Macau.  He was known to be traveling by boat with a great amount of gold that his family and friends wanted to get out of the country because they feared confiscation by Carvalho e Melo as reason for of their sons’ involvement in the plot.  Fearing losing that large amount of wealth to pirates in the South China Seas, Domingos deposited the bulk of the family wealth estimated at 60 pounds of gold in a Calcutta Bank at 5% interest compounded annually. 

 

    When Domingo settled down in Macau, he sent the documents to the Bank of Calcutta by boat to transfer the gold to Macau.  Unfortunately, the boat got caught in a storm and sank with all the documents.  After corresponding back and forth, the bank took the position that without the proper documents, they would not release the gold.  However, recent laws have favored the depositor if no other claims come forth after a specific time period.  The descendants of Domingo Marques may file a class action suit to claim the estimated $1,200,000,000.00 with compounded interest over 245 years.  That’s one billion two hundred million dollars.

 

    Domingos Marques married Maria Francisca Dos Anjos de Noronha and had one son by the name of Domingos Pio Marques de Noronna became Governor of Macau (born and died in Macau 1783-1849) and who married Inacia Maria Cortela and who had one son by the name of Antonio Germano Marques who had a daughter by the name of Maria Francisca de Almeida Marques 1851-1927 who married Manuel Jose Maria Gonsalves da Silva and had a daughter (my grandmother) named Maria Augusta Marques da Silva and who married my grandfather Joaquim Antonio Ferras 1874-1916.  The had 8 children including my mother Maria Alicia Ferras who married my father Jose Antonio Rivero and they had two sons, my brother Renald Rivero and myself Leonard Carlos Rivero.  Now anyone with these sir names may be eligible to claim this inheritance.  If you can document your ancestry to any of these names and lived in Macau, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Brazil please contact me and request that your name be added to the pending class action suit.

 

     MORE INTERESTING HISTORY

Domingos Marques:

    The history of Domingos Marques began some time in the 1750’s in the reign of Dom Jose I.  The family of the Marques were “Fidalgos” (Knights) of long standing in the service of the Portugues Kings, and Domingos Marques was a blood relative of the Marques de Tavora, the family which made history in the reign of Dom Jose I (1750-1777) in Portugal, and whose two sons, Luis and Sabastiao de Carvalho, the Marquis de Pombal, who, as the King’s Prime Minister, wielded arbitrary powers which he directed towards the nobility and the clergy, principally the Jesuits whom he caused to be expelled from Portugal and Portuguese possessions.  The plot by the Tavoras to overthrow him miscarried and the ringleaders, the brothers Jose and Luis Marquis de Tavora, their brother-in-law, the Count of Atouguia, the Duke of Aveiro, and four other commeners, were imprisoned and condemned to death, but many of the implicated ones, Domingos Marques among them, managed to escape.  Domingos Marques was accused of being one of the leaders of a conspiracy by the “fidalgos” to overthrow the King, Dom Jose I.

    Domingos Marques married Maria Francisca dos Anjos Ribeiro Guimaraes de Noronha e Castel Branco.  Of their union was born Domingos Pio Marques, in Macao 1783 and who sedded Ignacia Francisca Faria Baptista Cortela.  This marriage produced eleven children, the most illustrious of whom was Commendador Laurenco Caetano Marques, whose biography lists the names of his other brothers and sisters, of whom Antonio Germano Cortela Marques was the eight in the family.

    From the history and genealogy given, it can be seen that the ancestors of the families of the Marqueses of Macao originated from Portugal and that from political persecutions sought refuge first in India and then in Macao.  The Portuguese families from Portugal of the Castros, the Bastos, the Cortelas, the Albuquerques, the Marqueses, were all related to each other through degrees of parentage, having married and constituted amongst their families in Macao.  The decendants today are dispersed throught Macao, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Portugal, Brazil, Canada and the United States.