Cemetery of Vila de São Sebastião, Terceira Island, Azores

The original burial ground of Vila de São Sebastião is located in the atrium and the grounds of the church Matriz of the same name. Many of the original villagers that first settled in the Vila in the early XVI century are mentioned in the well-documented death record books housed at the Angra do Heroísmo archives.  These books comprehend a period of almost three hundred years of death records. Several generations of the Drummond family are buried in the original burial grounds inside the church Matriz. If you visit Vila de São Sebastião, in Terceira island - Azores, and its church Matriz, you are not going to find any marked graves. The atrium is partially paved with cement and grass.

The church Matriz of Vila de São Sebastião

Photo by Isabella Baltar - march 2013.

Here an example of an early death record for Bartolomeu Luis Gato, who was buried on the 16 Dec 1673, inside the church and close to the baptismal font. The record says he was a native of Topo, São Jorge island - Azores, and living in the Vila as he was recently married at the same church Matriz. The record also mention he was found dead at the sea.

The record

http://culturacores.azores.gov.pt/biblioteca_digital/TER-AH-SAOSEBASTIAO-O-1642-1696/TER-AH-SAOSEBASTIAO-O-1642-1696_item1/P44.html - accessed on 01 Jan 2019

At some point after 1859, the burials for the Vila of São Sebastião stopped using the atrium of the church Matriz, and a new cemetery was designated for the Parish on the outskirts of the Vila - Cemitério Público. My 2nd great grandmother and 2nd great grandfather, Adriana Emília Ferreira Drummond and João Machado Valadão, were buried in the Cemitério Público.

When I met the Provedor of Santa Casa de Misericórida of Vila de São Sebastião, Paulo Gonçalves de Melo, I showed him my interest in visiting the old cemetery. He told me the old Cemitério Público did not exist anymore. A new one was built for the parish in 1949. The remains of those buried there were transferred to the new one which now stands for Cemitério do Bonfim.

Photo by Isabella Baltar - march 2013.

Photo by Isabella Baltar - march 2013.

Visiting the island, one can see the Cemitério do Bonfim from far, on the slopes of a small hill, on the outskirts of Vila de São Sebastião. From the top of the hill, we have a beautiful bird’s eye view from Vila de São Sebastião, one of the oldest towns in Terceira and Azores (1480), and its church Matriz.

Photo by Isabella Baltar - march 2013.