Re: joao arnaud 1890 portugal
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In reply to:
joao arnaud 1890 portugal
marta arnaud 10/21/07
our arnaud ancestors came from the border of france and italy, the major town being barcelonette (little barcelona), established by a catalonian "count" from barcelona. our family had ties and at times lived in turin (modern day italy), engaged in silk & textile manufacture and trade, banking and law. the name apparently was originally catalonian jewish. hence, our family has been quite scattered. our line (three brothers) left france in the early 1800's and went to mexico. my direct ancestors then went to louisiana where Heloise Arnaud, my grandmere was born. if your ancestors have been in portugal for centuries, then perhaps they were part of the general expulsion of jews from spain, then converted and stayed in portugal. Do you have any information on the surname "guilhas"? they are part of my family in louisiana from southwest france just above the spanish border. it is apparently now a rare surname in portugal. they were also involved in textile manufacturing and were obviously "portuguese merchants" (the old "codename" for for coastal jews in southwest france. anyway, I hope this helps. any information on the "guilhas" family would be helpful.