Family branches
The lines of the family
A large family is really a set of branches — lines that share a common root but grow their own way. Here are the branches we are tracing, the key ancestors who anchor each one, and the paths that carried some of them far from the Serra da Estrela.
From Freixo da Serra to America — the Ludlow, Massachusetts Branch
The family's great journey across the Atlantic led to Ludlow, Hampden County, Massachusetts — a major destination for Portuguese immigrants, many from the Serra da Estrela, who came to work at the Ludlow Manufacturing Associates jute mills. This is now the most extensively documented emigration line from the family, and it is featured here more prominently than the still-unverified Brazil line.
Founding immigrants
- Father
- Antonio J. Guerra — b. 12 Oct 1893, Freixo da Serra, Gouveia, Guarda; d. 7 Dec 1950, Ludlow, MA
- Mother
- Angela Rebello Guerra — b. abt 1901, Guarda; d. 1997 (also recorded “Rebelo” / “Rubello”)
- Settled
- Ludlow, Hampden County, Massachusetts
- Worked
- Ludlow Manufacturing Associates jute mills
- Evidence
- Confirmed via the family's Ancestry.com records & published obituaries
The Ludlow-born children
- Grace Guerra (later Fitzsimmons) — 8 May 1920 – 26 Apr 2020. Eldest; lived to nearly 100. Confirmed
- Mary L. Guerra — abt 1921, Massachusetts. Likely
- Lourdes Guerra (later Lourenço) — abt 1922 – 25 Nov 2018. Confirmed
- John Guerra — 30 Aug 1922 – 19 Dec 2006, Ludlow. Confirmed
- Serafin “Serf” Lawrence Guerra — 22 Oct 1926 – 3 Oct 2019; Maryland, then Virginia. Confirmed · read his story →
- Charles Guerra — 18 Apr 1933 – 17 Sep 2019, Ludlow. Confirmed
- James Guerra — Ludlow, MA. Likely
Full dates, spouses, and later generations are in the family tree, imported from the Ancestry.com records.
From Ludlow, the family spread onward: Massachusetts → Maryland → Virginia. Read the featured story, “From Ludlow to the Capital and the Valley.” →
All the branches we are tracing
data/family.js and are illustrative examples.
As the family is documented, branches can be added, split, or renamed there.
Maternal & paternal lines
How we record both sides
A family history that follows only the surname misses half the story. Where the records allow, we trace maternal lines — the mothers, grandmothers, and the families they came from — alongside the paternal Guerra line. Married-in families such as the Nunes, Figueiredo, Lopes, and Ramos names appear in the tree for exactly this reason.
On the family tree, you can filter by branch to follow a single line, and each person's card links to their parents, spouse, and children so you can move between the branches freely.
Migration paths
From Freixo da Serra outward
From a single mountain parish, the family spread in stages — but the journey that shaped us most was the crossing to America. These are the paths we trace, with the United States as the family's principal emigration story.
- Overseas — U.S. Serra da Estrela → Ellis Island / New York → New England textile cities & New Jersey Primary migration — the family's main path across the Atlantic.
- Regional Freixo da Serra → Gouveia town → Lisbon (work in the wool and textile trades, then the capital).
- Local Freixo da Serra → Figueiró da Serra & neighbouring parishes (marriage and land ties).
Other destinations
Not everyone who left went to America. One documented line went to Brazil, and it remains part of the family record.
- Brazil Serra da Estrela → Porto → São Paulo Under review — the Joaquim Guerra line (emigrated c. 1901); still being traced, and its descendants actively sought.
Are you a descendant of an emigrant branch?
If your family left Portugal generations ago — for America especially, or for Brazil — and you suspect a connection to Freixo da Serra, you may be the missing link for one of these branches. Tell us what you know.