HISTÓRIAS DE UMA UBERABA ANTIGA

(Artigo original feito por Gabriel Goncalves Neto no mes de agosto de 2005 as vesperas de um casamento em Uberaba, M.G.)

Ver também o artigo da Guerra do Paraguai no Wikipedia.

José Emerenciano de Andrade, meu bisavô, foi casado com Ambrosina. Teve 4 filhos; 2 antes da Guerra do Paraguai (1864-1870) o Manoel Andrade (Neca Andrade, político, delegado de policia), e a Rita. Depois da guerra nasceram mais 2: o Adolfo e a Cota. A guerra durou 6 anos e foi incentivada pela Inglaterra e pela Alemanha que queriam criar um pais grande entre o Brasil e a Argentina. José Emerenciano foi fornecedor de mercadorias para as tropas do governo imperial brasileiro. Ele tinha uma tropa de burros para levar arroz, feijão e carne seca para a guerra. Em recompensa pelos serviços prestados D.Pedro II lhe deu 6 sesmarias que iam do Prata, MG (município onde minha mãe foi registrada ao nascer) até as barrancas do Rio do Peixe (+/- 100km por 50km). A maior cidade vizinha das terras chama-se Veríssimo, no estado de Minas Gerais.

Filhos e Filhas de Jose Emerciano e Ambrosina

Emerenciano montou fazendas e a sede dele construída em 1915 chamou-se Fazenda das Primas. Quando ele morreu a sede ficou para a viúva Ambrosina. Ela separou um pedaço pequeno das suas terras e doou para a Igreja, daí surgiu a cidadezinha Patrimônio do Rio do Peixe, que existe até hoje. Quando Ambrosina faleceu a sede ficou para a filha Cota, casada com o Franklin.

Fazenda das Primas

Meu avo Adolfo Andrade nasceu na segunda leva depois da guerra do Paraguai. Era baixinho e extremamente hábil com dinheiro. Casou com a Theodora Oliveira quando ela tinha 14 anos. Tiveram 8 filhos dos quais 6 atingiram a maioridade. Adolfo Andrade tinha a Fazenda Canhambola, onde construiu uma casa sede no mesmo período, por volta de 1917. Alem do Canhambola tinha as fazendas Cabaçal, Aprazivel e Onça. Todas contíguas.

Fazenda Canhambola

Adolfo Andrade morreu com 40 anos de idade de pneumonia e deixou a viúva Theodora de 34 anos, brava como uma cascavel. O Franklin ficou viúvo da Cota (filha de Emerenciano e Ambrosina) e fez de tudo para casar com a avó Theodora, mas a velha foi irredutível; “ninguém pode substituir o Adolfo”, ela dizia.

Adolfo Andrade queria ser banqueiro. Tinha dinheiro emprestado para muita gente. Quando ficou viúva, minha avó Theodora mandou o irmão mais velho (Ardelino) cobrar. Ele ficou com metade do dinheiro. Por incrível que pareça continuaram amigos até o fim da vida. Será que ela sabia? Acredito que sabia. Comprou proteção. Apesar da fama e dos jagunços (pistoleiros) que tinha, a moral da época não favorecia uma mulher independente.

Minha mãe Carmita nasceu na Fazenda Canhambola. Os irmãos dela eram o Mauro, a Lygia, a Myra, a Malba e o Adolfo. Tia Myra contou que um dos filhos do Ardelino, irmão da avó Theodora era o Yolando, que quando adolescente estava totalmente apaixonado pela Carmita, minha mãe. Ele teve uma doença e morreu. Carmita foi ao enterro e ficou triste por muito tempo.

Quando os filhos da Theodora foram se casando, ela deu um pedaço da fazenda para cada um, com bois no pasto e bastante dinheiro no banco. O filho homem mais novo, José Adolfo de Oliveira Andrade, ficou com a sede da fazenda. Theodora ficou com a Fazenda da Onça que por muitos anos foi alugada pelo filho Adolfo. Houve algumas reclamações de que Theodora protegia o Adolfo. E na sua maneira típica ela respondia: “o dinheiro é meu; faço com ele o que eu quiser“.

Então em 1931 Theodora e filhos se mudaram para SP. Tinha 12.000 vacas e muito dinheiro no banco. Quando se mudou, Theodora comprou um terreno da Cia. City no bairro de Higienópolis para construir sua casa. Contratou um arquiteto famoso e um francês (Monsieur Ponchon) que trabalhava na Cia. City foi o decorador. Ele mandou fazer os moveis no Liceu de Artes e Ofícios, comprou tapetes persas, comprou os quadros.

Na Revolução Constitucionalista de 1932 minha avó ficou sem dinheiro, pois os bancos estavam fechados. Tio Mauro contatou um amigo aventureiro que atravessou o Rio Grande a nado e trouxe dinheiro para sua mãe.

Dna. Theodora, como era chamada por todos, tinha 12 irmãos. Todos atingiram 80 anos ou mais, sem nenhum ter morrido. E então, num breve período de tempo, todos morreram. Ela era a irmã rica. E como naqueles tempos escola boa era difícil fora de SP, uma infinidade de sobrinhos morou na casa dela da Rua Avaré, 244 em Higienópolis (ainda existe), enquanto estudavam em SP. Os netos em sua maioria foram para colégios internos. Mas um neto, Paulo, filho da Lygia, morou muitos anos na casa dela até terminar a faculdade. E como naqueles tempos era preciso alguém acompanhar os namoros, eu fui muitas vezes “vela” (chaperone) do Paulo.

Dna Theodora era vizinha de parede de Dna Sebastiana Cunha Bueno, mãe da Renata Mellão, casada com o Sergio Mellão. Um pouco acima, do outro lado da rua morava o João Veríssimo que ainda não tinha ficado rico e vendia goiabada que a mulher fazia em casa. Muitos anos depois, e sem saber desta historia fui companheiro do João Verissimo no Rotary Clube de SP. Ele era então muito rico, atacadista de alimentos, e estava começando a abrir a rede Eldorado de supermercados.

Os pais da noiva, Reginaldo e Ana Maria são ambos bisnetos do Emerenciano. Faz poucos anos o Reginaldo e Ana Maria adquiriram a velha sede da Fazenda das Primas, que tinha sido dos avós dele; estava totalmente abandonada; refizeram tudo; decoraram tudo.

Visitei a casa da Theodora de Uberaba (ainda existe) na Rua São Sebastião, 13. Apesar da mudança para SP ela sempre teve casa em Uberaba. É incrível a força de vontade, a garra dessa mulher; se mudando do meio do mato para uma SP que iria explodir em tamanho se tornando uma das maiores cidades do mundo.

PS. Fazia 15 anos que eu não ia a Uberaba. Com o casamento da Paula, filha dos primos Reginaldo e Ana Maria Andrade Cunha estive lá e resolvi colocar estas memórias no papel.

Gabriel Gonçalves N agosto de 2005

July 16, 2009 | Gabriel Gonçalves N

Gustavo, e' muito bom saber um pouco da historia da familia. Tanta coisa aconteceu, coisas boas e aquelas que se gostaria de esconder sob o tapete. Mas a historia e' assim mesmo. E a D. Theodora era uma senhora admiravel. Fico feliz de te-la conhecido.
Ana Maria Goncalves

July 16, 2009 | Ana Maria Goncalves

Stories of Old Uberaba

(Original article by Gabriel Goncalves Neto made in August of 2005, the eve of a wedding in Uberaba, MG. This translation is courtesy of Google Online Translation.)

(NOTE: The terms "farm" and "ranch" are used interchangeably in this article. They mean the same exact thing.)

See also the related article of the War of the Triple Alliance (refered here as the "War of Paraguay") on Wikipedia.

Emerenciano José de Andrade, my great-grandfather, was married to Ambrosina. He had 4 children, 2 before the War of Paraguay (1864-1870) the Manoel Andrade (Andrade Neca, politician, police chief), and Rita. After the war the other 2 were born: Adolfo and Cota. The war lasted 6 years and was encouraged by England and Germany who wanted to create a great country between Brazil and Argentina. José Emerenciano was a supplier of goods to the troops of the Brazilian imperial government. He had a troop of donkeys to carry rice, beans and dried meat for the war. In reward for services rendered Pedro II (Brazilian Emperor) gave 6 Sesmarias (Brazilian "Land Grants") which included land all the way from Prata, MG (city where my mother was registered at birth) until the Barrancas do Rio do Peixe (+ / - 100km by 50km). The largest nearby city is called Veríssimo, state of Minas Gerais (view online map.).

Children of Jose Emerciano and Ambrosina

Emerenciano had several farms to his name, the main one was built in 1915 - Fazenda das Primas ("The Cousin's Ranch"). This became the headquarters for his widow Ambrosina when he died. She broke a little piece of their land and donated to the church, which became the town of Patrimônio do Rio do Peixe, which exists today (online map). When Ambrosina died the "The Cousin's Ranch" was given to her daughter Cota, married with Franklin.

“The Cousin’s Ranch” (a.k.a. Fazenda das Primas)

My grandfather Adolfo Andrade was born in the second round after the war of Paraguay. He was short and extremely clever with money. He was married to Theodora Oliveira when she was 14. They had 8 children of which 6 reached maturity. Adolfo Andrade had the "Canhambola Ranch", where he built his main residence (circa 1917). In addition to the Canhambola Ranch, he had several other ranches, called "Cabaçal", "Aprazivel", and "Onça". All contiguous.

Cahambola Ranch

Adolfo Andrade died at 40 years of age of pneumonia and left Theodora a widow at the age of 34, "mean as a rattlesnake". Franklin, Cota's widow (daughter of Emerenciano Ambrosina), did everything to marry grandmother Theodora, but the old lady was unshakable, "Nobody can replace Adolfo," she said.

Adolfo Andrade wanted to be a banker. Had loaned money to many people. When she was widowed, my grandmother Theodora told her eldest brother (Ardelino) to go ask for all money that was due. He did just that, and kept half the money he collected. It seems incredible that they remained friends until the end of life. Did she know? I believe so. She bought protection. Despite her fame and despite the "jagunços" (gunmen/robbers), tradition did not favor independent women.

My mother, Carmita, was born in Fazenda Canhambola ("Canhambola Ranch"). Her siblings were Mauro, Lygia, Myra, Malba, and Adolfo. My aunt Myra told me that one of Ardelino's (Theodora's brother) children - Yolando - was totally in love with my mother Carmita as a teenager. He had an illness and died. Carmita went to the funeral and was sad for a very long time.

Whenever on of Theodora's children got married, she would give them a piece of the farm, with cows on pasture, and enough money in the bank. The youngest son, Jose Adolfo de Oliveira Andrade, kept the headquarters of the farm. Theodora kept the "Fazenda da Onça" for herself, which in turn was rented by her son Jose Adolfo for many years. There were some complaints that Theodora protected Jose Adolfo. In her typical manner she would reply: "the money is mine, I do with it what I want."

Then in 1931 Theodora and children moved to Sao Paulo. At that time Theodora had 12,000 cows and a lot of money in the bank. When they moved to Sao Paulo, Theodora bought a plot of land in the neighborhood of Higienópolis to build her home. she hired a famous architect and a French decorator (called Monsieur Ponchon). She had all the furniture hand made at the School of Arts and Crafts (very prestigious builder's school at the time); she bought Persian rugs; and she bought several paintings.

During the Constitutional Revolution of 1932 my grandmother had no money because the banks were closed. Her son Mauro got a friend of his - an "adventurer" - to swim across the Rio Grande river and bring money to his mother.

"Dna. Theodora", as she was called by all, had 12 siblings. All of them reached 80 years of age or more, without dying. And then, in a short time, all died. She was the "rich" sister. Since good schools in those days were difficult to find outside the city of Sao Paulo, a multitude of nephews lived in her house - Avaré Street, 244 - in Higienópolis (the house still exists to this day), while studying in Sao Paulo. The majority of them would only stay through the high school years, attending private schools. But one of her grandsons, Paulo, (Lygia's son), lived in her house for many years until he finished college. And during those days it was a tradition to have someone "monitor" young couples during dates, and I was often called to be "the third wheel" (chaperone).

Dna Theodora was next door neighbors to Dna Sebastiana Cunha Bueno, mother of Renata Mellão, married with Sergio Mellão. A little up and across the street lived João Veríssimo - still not rich at that time - and selling guavas condiments made by his wife at home. Many years later, without remembering this story, John Verissimo and I were both members of the Rotary Club of Sao Paulo. He was very rich, involved in wholesale food distribution, and was starting to open the network of supermarkets called "Eldorado".

Reginaldo and Ana Maria (the bride's parents) are both great-grandchildren of Emerenciano. A few years ago Reginaldo and Ana Maria bought the old headquarters of the "Cousin's Ranch ("Fazenda das Primas"), which had belonged to his grandparents. They found it totally abandoned. They rebuilt everything, paying attention to every single detail.

I visited Theodora's old house in Uberaba - located at rua São Sebastião, 13 (the house is still there). Despite moving to Sao Paulo she always kept a home in Uberaba. It is amazing to think of the strength of will and the wits of this woman. She left the woods - the middle of nowhere - for a city like Sao Paulo that would become one of the largest cities in the world.

PS. It had been 15 years since I last came to Uberaba. With the marriage of Paula, my cousins' Reginaldo Andrade and Ana Maria Cunha daughter, I decided to put these memories onto paper.

Gabriel Gonçalves N 
August 2005

July 16, 2009 | Gabriel Gonçalves N

A correction.

The cousins' names are Reginaldo e Ana Maria Andrade Cunha (refering to the last paragraph of the story).

We have Google's Translation service to thank for the mixup.

July 18, 2009 | Gus Goncalves

Life....explained

On the first day, God created the dog and said:

'Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.'

The dog said: 'That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?'
So God agreed..
On the second day, God created the monkey and said:

'Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span.'

The monkey said: 'Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?'

And God agreed.
On the third day, God created the cow and said:

'You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.'

The cow said: 'That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years.. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?'

And God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created humans and said:

'Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years.'

But the human said: 'Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?'

'Okay,' said God, 'You asked for it.'

So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you.

July 27, 2009 | Ted Renz

Learn to Ask for What You Need

(Original article created by Margie Warrell)

Requests are powerful.
Truly. While no one request is guaranteed to change the course of your career, business, relationships or life, any single request can. Requests have the potential to make a profound difference to the quality of your life and your ability to achieve the success you want. Sure, just because you ask for something doesn’t guarantee that you will get it. But not asking for it does guarantee you won’t! Would you really prefer the certainty of having your needs unmet over the possibility of having them met? Surely not?!

As someone dedicated to helping people fulfill their full spectrum of needs, I often find myself surprised at how few people actually ask for what they really want and how even fewer ask for it in ways that maximize the chances of getting it. So I’m curious: Right now, as you read this article, what needs do you have that are going unmet and are causing you to feel resentful, frustrated and unappreciated because, whether you are conscious of it or not, you have not asked for what you really want?

Two Ingredients of a Powerful Request
For a request to hold any water it needs to specify not just a “what” (what you would like to have occur that presently isn’t), but also a “when” (by when it needs to happen). These are the “conditions of satisfaction” by which you and others can assess whether a commitment has been properly fulfilled. Asking for something to be done “soon” or “when you have time” leaves the door wide open for unmet expectations, frustration and disappointment. It also doesn’t allow you to hold people accountable when they fail to do what you wanted.

You Get What You Tolerate! 
It’s a rule of life that you get what you tolerate – whether in your relationships, your career or your life. Making more and better requests will go a long way toward eliminating the "tolerations" in your life. It may be making a request of your husband or children to take on an extra responsibility on the home front; your boss, partner or colleague to change the way they are communicating with you on projects; your employee to honor an existing commitment or even of your cleaning lady to stop hiding the remote control in obscure places!
Complaining about your problems never solves them; whining about unmet needs never fulfills them. People aren’t mind readers and assuming others should automatically know what you want or need is a surefire recipe for resentment.

Harness the Law of Attraction. 
The Law of Attraction states that what we focus on expands. When you focus on what you want (fulfilled needs and a rich joy-filled life) as distinct from what you don’t want (unfulfilled needs and a life filled with "tolerations") and then take the actions to get it (e.g., make requests) your life can only change for the better. So as you get on with the rest of your day, I invite you to think about what requests you could be making that you aren’t and then, start making them. Don’t water down what you really want in order to minimize the possibility of being turned down. Rather be bold and ask for what you would ideally absolutely really and truly looooooove to have happen. If, in the end, you have to negotiate and you end up with not quite what you wanted, you’re still better off than before. At a minimum, you create a new context in the ensuing conversation, and even if it’s an outright “no” that comes back your way, at least now you know where things stand and can move on, plan and make changes accordingly.

Don’t Sell Out on Yourself: Ask for What You Really Want! 
If you have big dreams that are inspiring you and big goals that are stretching you (which I sure hope you do!), then you need to get into the practice of making more, bigger, better and bolder requests! Asking less from yourself, from others and from life than you really want doesn’t serve anyone. Take responsibility for your experience of life and make the decision, starting right now, not to let another hour pass you by settling for your needs going unmet, your frustrations running unfettered and your life passing uncherished.

Life’s too short! 
You are capable of more than you think – including making bolder requests than you’ve made up ‘til now. Don’t believe me? Then allow me to request you that you try … starting today!

Margie Warrell, is an executive and life coach, Speaker and Best Selling Author of Find Your Courage! A mother of four young children, Margie is passionate about helping women pursue the goals that inspire them with greater clarity, confidence and courage. A dynamic keynote speaker her clients include NASA, ExxonMobil, Verizon and Accenture.

July 31, 2009 | Ana Maria Pagliari Goncalves

Feira de Vinhos Mistral - Jose Luiz Pagliari

Veja a entrevista que tio Zeca deu para uma revista de vinhos. Ele estava entrando na feira de vinhos Tour Mistral .

August 26, 2009 | Gus Goncalves

Adoramos a entervista do enologue/somelierZeca ! 
abs

August 29, 2009 | thomas & deca