Month: April 2024

This happy spring birth announcement was featured in the Boston Globe in 1925 (see below). The Silva family lived in this house where 3 roads come together (Sadler St., Mt. Vernon St., and Elwell St.). Triplets on the triple :)! Back then the address was “#8 Sadler Street”.

Mary Elizabeth Silva, nee Rose and Manuel B. Silva welcomed Arthur, Beatrice and Robert.

Boston Globe (March 1925)

“Gloucester, March 19. The triplets born to Mr. and Mrs. Manuel B. Silva are 11 days old today, are thriving and bid fair to have the same chance of reaching maturity as the general run of infants that age.

The father was absent on a fishing voyage when the interesting event happened. He is one of the crew of the schooner Mary D. Silveria, which arrived here Wednesday, and when he learned the news was surprised. Friday night the little ones were taken to the residence of Rev Fancisco (sic?) Viera De Bem, pastor of the church of Our Lady of the Good Voyage, and formally christened Robert, Beatrice and Arthur, there being two boys and a girl.

The mother is doing well, and in a short time will be about the house attending to her duties.

The father is 29, weights about 150 and is a native of the Western or Azores islands. He came to this country when 13 and has since followed fishing. He is a clean built and good looking man and a t (illegible) type of his race. The mother, whose maiden name was Mary Elizabeth Rose, is a slightly built woman, a native of this city of Portuguese descent. She is 28, one year younger than her husband. They were married nine years ago and have a girl of 8 and a boy of 6. The triplets are the only children since the birth of the boy 6 years ago.

The little ones are, of course, objects of much interest and when the Globe correspondent called at the Silva residence, 8 Sadler st., yesterday, were receiving in state on soft pillows surrounded by a number of the children of the locality who viewed the tiny mites with the greatest interest.

Little Robert, Beatrice and Arthur bid fair, if they grow and thrive, to be personages of interest in the section of the city where they live.”

Boston Globe, March 20 1925, p.9

*Where the author takes pains to describe the father’s physical attributes (virility?), I’m not sure what the illegible word describing the father is, “tan”, “tall”? I’ve interviewed parents of twins born in the 1960s when it was still common that parents had no idea they were expecting multiples.

Local surnames, places mentioned:

• Silva
• Rose
• Our Lady of Good Voyage
• Schooner Mary D. Silveria