The Pico Museum promotes the presentation of the Portuguese Joe documentary. The event will take place at the Auditorium of the Whaling Museum in Lajes do Pico next Thursday, October 29, at 9 PM; admission is free.
This is a television documentary that portrays the life and adventures of a pioneer from Pico Island, José Silva - Joe Silvey in Canada. José Silva, the Portuguese Joe, was born in Calheta do Nesquim in the early nineteenth century, in the 1830/1840s. When he was just 12 years old, "he emigrated" in a whaling boat where he worked for a while.
Later, in 1860, when he reached the coast of British Columbia, he decided to abandon whaling and try his luck in gold mining. Joe Silvey was one of the first Portuguese to arrive in Canada and the first European to marry a native woman. After the wedding, he was settled where now Stanley Park is. While living there, he opened a bar, built his own boat, the first in the area, and pioneered purse seine fishing on the West Coast. After becoming a widower, he married once again with a native woman. Eleven children were born from his two marriages, resulting in hundreds of descendants.
The story of José Silva - Joe Silvey, one of the most vivid characters on the West Coast, was also recorded in a book by historian Jean Barman, in his work "The Remarkable Adventures of Portuguese Joe Silvey."
This TV work brings together a large number of historical documents, photographs and films, as well as dramatisations and interviews conducted in Canada and the Azores.
The Regional Directorate for Culture informs that this and other events may be consulted in the Cultural Agenda of the CulturAçores Portal at the following address: www.culturacores.azores.gov.pt.