As with any historical account, this could be a lengthy read ...

In our search for information about our roots, we determined that the name Cordeiro was a name taken on by the Sephardi Jews.

The term Sephardi Jews is used to describe descendants of Jews living in the Iberian Peninsula. Sephardi comes from the Hebrew word sephard whch means far away. The Jews in the Iberian Peninsula were far away from their homeland, living in exile, the reason for which is beyond the scope here.

Like Jews in other parts of Europe, the Jews in the Iberian Peninsula were also tormented ^[1]. Under the Alhambra decree of 1492, Jews were banished from Spain. If they chose to remain, they had to adopt the christian faith. This conversion meant taking on a new name. Some converted fully while others took on a Christian name but continued practising Judaism in secret. Several years later, Portugal also expelled Jews during the reign of King Manuel in 1497. ^[1,2]

The names Cordero (Spanish) and Cordeiro (Portuguese), which mean lamb, appear in many resources ^[3,4] listing names adopted by the sephardi jews to protect themselves. The Sephardi changed their original Jewish names to those of animals and plants in the language of the country they lived in to avoid detection. Having the same meaning help them easily find and identify related family members.

From the above research on the origin and meaning of the Cordeiro name and the fact our earliest known recorded ancestors (as listed on this web site) were from the Portuguese ruled Azores, we surmise that the first Cordeiros were sephardi jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula and later fled Spain to Portugal to avoid persecution. From there, they eventually made their way to the Azores.

During the Age of Discoveries, many Portuguese moved from their homeland to the colonies because of their jobs or in search of a better future. When Macau officially became a Portuguese settlement in 1557, Portuguese merchants flocked there. This continued over the next two centuries as trade with Asia flourished.

Meanwhile in Europe, because of its strategic location in the Atlantic, the Azores was used as a resupply depot and trading station for ships engaged in the discovery of the new world. Terceira, the island on which our known ancestor was born, began to play an important role in the history of navigation during the 15th and 16th centuries, as a port of call for the caravels and galleons engaged in the Portuguese East Indies trade and for those bringing back the wealth from the Americas. During this period Terceira was an emporium for the gold, silver, diamonds and spices brought from these continents.

Somewhere during the 18th century, our ancestor Manuel Gonçalves Cordeiro came into play.

We believe that either Manuel Gonçalves or his son António Gonçalves, like many of their countrymen who landed in Macau, were traders. What they traded in is not certain, however, family legend makes mention of an ancestor trading in wine, a product produced locally on the islands and exported. António Cordeiro's sons, Luís Manuel and Caetano, are registered as being born in 1782 and 1784 respectively, in Macau. It is unclear if António Cordeiro and his wife Eulália had other children either born in the Azores or in Macau as no further names were available from the data we have uncovered. During this time, birth and death records of the Portuguese were held in the Church of Santo Antonio in Macau. This church was extensively damaged by fire in 1809 as were the records kept there and we surmise that not all data was recovered or reconstructed therefore leading to the lack of complete data on the Cordeiro family's offspring.

Our roots however, go back through Luís Manuel for whom we have found records unlike his brother Caetano. Luís Manuel married twice - first, Francisca Antonia and later, Ana Agostinha. One of his children with Ana Agostinha was Miguel Francisco (20 December 1822 - 01 May 1905). [View Descendant Chart of the Cordeiros]

Miguel Francisco married three times. His first wife, Eugénia Maria Francisca Simões bore him 3 daughters and 2 sons, the eldest of whom was Ludovico Miguel. Ludovico Miguel is the direct ancestor of the Cordeiros in Singapore for whom this site has been created. Miguel Francisco had no children with his second wife, Joana Francisca Vieira Ribeiro. His third wife Roberta Vicência dos Remédios is the mother of Miguel Clemente Cordeiro and Eugénio José Cordeiro, whose descendants we now have contact with.

Cordeiros in Singapore

It appears that Miguel Francisco left Macau with his first wife Eugénia for work in Thailand. His three eldest children from his marriage to Eugénia were born in Bangkok. Miguel Francisco and Eugénia later returned to Macau with their young family between 1858 and 1860.  Ludovico Miguel, their eldest son, was educated in Macau and Hong Kong. At the age of 21, Ludovico left on a steamer from Hong Kong and arrived in Singapore on 21 April 1876 in search of work. As he was a Portuguese national, he had to take on British citizenship in order to gain employment.  He worked as a clerk at the law firm, Rodyk & Davidson, working his way up to become chief accountant until he retired when he was in his 70’s. Sometime during his working career (and likely prior to his joining Rodyk & Davidson), records show that he worked as an assistant in Windsor, Redlich & Co. (estb. 1871), agents for the Chinese Insurance Company in Thailand.

Ludovico married Julia Cecelia Xavier and had 9 children - 7 sons (Henry, Lionel, Michael, Joseph, Robert, Cecil, Frederik) and 2 daughters (Maria, Eugenie). The family lived above a bakery run by Punjabis in Owen Road. Some of his children eventually left Singapore for Australia and other destinations.

Today, Manuel Gonçalves Cordeiro's descendants have spread across the globe! The map below shows the dispersion of the Cordeiros. The yellow symbols indicate where living relatives are found today.

Resources:

References

1. History of the Jews in Spain
2. Sephardi Jews
3. Pere Bonnin. Sangre Judia ("Jewish Blood") : A list of 3,500 names used by Jews, or assigned to Jews by the Holy Office (la Santo Oficio) of Spain. The list is a result of a census of Jewish communities of Spain by the Catholic Church and as found in inquisition records.
4. Sephardim.com

Acknowledgements

• Merle Cordeiro for providing substantial information on the many descendants of Ludovico Cordeiro; the website address of 'Macanese Families' and for continuing research
• Jorge Forgaz for his monumental and comprehensive work on Macanese families from which we have profited
• Henry d'Assumpção for translating the works of Forjaz into English and allowing us access to the online information