After years of searching, I finally have learned the surname of my great-grandmother: Gouveia. All I know up to this point is "hand me down" info from my father, her grandson.

In 1919 or 1920, my great grands came from Madeira to Massachusetts. Apparently they had some family there. My grandmother gave birth to a son, my grandfather Joseph Abreu (maybe de Abreu or d'Abreu) in Amherst, Mass., on June 1, 1920. She died either in childbirth or soon thereafter. My grandfather stayed in Mass. until he was two and then went back to Portugal to live with family there until he was 17. He then returned to the U.S.

Unfortunately, Joseph died in 1962, eight years before I was born. He never spoke much of his family to my father, his eldest son. It wasn't until I found a death record through the DOD (he was a veteran and is buried in a veteran's cemetery in Calif.) that I was able to find anything about his parents -- just his mother's maiden name. I still don't know her first name, his father's name or even if he had any siblings.

Any help or guidance is appreciated!