JOSÉ VELLOZO DA CRUZ

José Vellozo da Cruz was born on May 3, 1770, in the parish of Santa Tecla de Geraz do Minho, Póvoa de Lanhoso, and died in the parish of Bonfim, Porto, on March 15, 1850
The reasons that led José Vellozo da Cruz to move from the pleasant village of Santa Tecla de Geraz do Minho, in the municipality of Póvoa de Lanhoso (formerly the municipality of S. João de Rei), near the Cávado valley, to Vila Nova de Gaia, where he settled, are unknown.

He was married in the Church of Santa Marinha, Vila Nova de Gaia, on June 13, 1797, to D. Joaquina Angélica Rosa de Oliveira, who was baptized in the parish church of Abragão, Penafiel, on April 8, 1770. He founded an olive oil trading and exporting house in Vila Nova de Gaia.

He was an Ensign in the Porto Militia Regiment and certainly suffered the consequences of the French Invasions.
He was promoted to Lieutenant of the 1st Company of the same Regiment, at the proposal of Army Marshal Guilherme Beresford and then, at the proposal of the Governors of the Kingdoms of Portugal and the Algarves, raised to Captain of the 4th Company of that Regiment (Companhia de Fuzileiros), and retired with honors and privileges on April 9, 1821, by Order of March 24.

José Vellozo da Cruz's military life would not end with the French Invasions. He would still have to go through the Siege of Oporto. A staunch liberal, his son Joaquim was one of the 7500 brave men of Mindelo, and he must have rejoiced when he heard about the landing of the troops of Pedro, Duke of Bragança, at the so-called Praia dos Ladrões and their march on Porto, where he entered on July 9, 1832.

For his liberal ideas, he suffered the most acrimonious persecution imaginable, having been summoned by edict on January 22, 1829, and his entire household was placed under strict sequestration.

He was a councillor on the Gaia City Council, having taken the oath at the session of February 13, 1834 to serve as a councillor during the illness of Dr. José Alves Pinto Vilar. He remained in office uninterruptedly until March 11, 1836.

 

In recognition of his services to the public cause, he was knighted with the Order of Christ and decorated with Medal No. 2 of the Campaigns for Freedom.

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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

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José Vellozo da Cruz, the father of our biographers, was the son of Domingos Cardoso and Helena Vellozo. He was born on May 3, 1770, in the parish of Santa Tecla de Geraz do Minho, Póvoa de Lanhoso, and was baptized in its parish church on the sixth day of the same month and year. He died in the parish of Bonfim, Porto, on March 15, 1850.
The reasons that led José Vellozo da Cruz to move from the pleasant village of Santa Tecla de Geraz do Minho, in the municipality of Póvoa de Lanhoso (formerly the municipality of S. João de Rei), near the Cávado valley, to Vila Nova de Gaia, where he settled, are unknown.

The family had been rooted in the region for generations, with connections to Casa do Assento or Casa de Santa Tecla, in that parish, and Casa da Meã, in the parish of Eira Vedra, in Vieira do Minho.
In fact, his mother Helena Vellozo was descended, through her great-grandmother Helena Vieira, from Francisco Martins Rebelo, notary and sergeant-major of Eira Vedra, and from Afonso Martins, notary and noble knight of the Royal House, who served with valor in Tangier and Ceuta, also from Eira Vedra.

The surname Vellozo was joined by that of the Cross: Helena Vellozo was in danger on that distant May 3, 1770, when she was bringing her firstborn into this world. Her husband, trusting in God's protection, promised that if his wife and child were saved, the family would add the surname of the Cross to the Vellozo surname, as this grace was granted on the day of the Holy Cross. God willed it, and for years, in recognition of this, the Vellozo da Cruz family had a sung mass celebrated on May 3rd at the Corpus Christi Convent in Vila Nova de Gaia.

 

At the end of the 18th century, the Cávado valley, where the parish of Santa Tecla de Geraz do Minho is located, was supposed to be paradisiacal; the peace and quiet of the countryside was only interrupted by the ringing of the bells of the small churches, the singing of the birds, the screeching of the ox carts and the singing of the people at plowing and harvest time.

So it's not surprising that Soult, at the head of the Napoleonic troops entering Portugal from the north, on his march towards Braga, after crossing the parish of Geraz do Minho, when he reached the top of the Carvalho mountain range, looking back at such harmonious and vast scenery, uttered the well-known exclamation:
How lavish the Creator was to these barbarians.

Even today, the Guide to Portugal writes: The picture is unveiled in all its grandeur. We are at the first viewpoint of the Carvalho mountain range. From the front, on the north side, you can see the undulating lines of the Terras de Bouro and the Gerês mountains on the horizon. In the background, for leagues, here and there, some crystalline meanders of the Cávado River, meandering between veins and green meadows [...] The road is an incessant panoramic balcony [...] The vast picture that unfolds takes on new features [....] Below, relatively close by, you can glimpse, in a rustic nook, the Casa da Torre (the old Torre dos Machados), still crowned by the old medieval cubicle.

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As we know, the Napoleonic troops, in their iron-fisted advance to Lisbon, sowed a wave of destruction and plunder wherever they went. Geraz do Minho was not unscathed by this devastation. Curiously, the death certificate of Domingos Cardoso, José Vellozo's father, reads as follows: [...] found dead in the eido with stab wounds to the face, on the way out of this valley by the French, on March 22nd, one thousand eight hundred and nine. [...]

José Vellozo da Cruz's move to Vila Nova de Gaia must have meant a radical change in his life.
In fact, if we take into account the information provided by João António Monteiro d'Azevedo and Manuel Rodrigues dos Santos, by that time Vila Nova de Gaia already had the most just reasons to aspire to the honours and category of city, and could even compete with many in the Kingdom: it was the solidity of the buildings; the leisure of its residents; the active and industrious character that characterized them; the commerce they carried out; industry on a very large scale; a very large population, which gave the Treasury ample resources. In addition, the town was the capital of the rich and populous municipality of Gaia and from here came the very rich deposit of generous Douro wines, the value of which amounted to many millions of cruzados.

José Vellozo da Cruz founded an olive oil trading and exporting house in Vila Nova de Gaia.
His business must have been huge, what was known at the time as "grosso trato", judging by the information given to us by the author of one of the most renowned monographs on Vila Nova de Gaia, who refers to it as the most important in 1832.
The wholesale trade, because of the capital it usually involved, because of the commercial relations it established, both with foreign countries and with the overseas domains, because of the organization it required in terms of human resources, because of the trips abroad it sometimes required, because of the diversification of the trade centers, because of the state in which many of these traders lived, because of all this, the wholesale traders had a different status from the small, shopkeeper or chaplaincy trade. [...] Good men, squires, knights, licentiates, bachelors, graduates and doctors were considered noble by law, and since the 18th century, by extension, wholesale traders.
The olive oil trade and its export, often associated with the Port wine trade, was an important branch of activity in Vila Nova de Gaia. All the olive oil produced in the southern provinces of the Kingdom was transported to Gaia in carts and loads and bought by the Vila's olive oil merchants. It was then shipped to the city of Porto and all the provinces of Minho, for export to Brazil and also to England. Contributing to the decline in the olive oil trade in Vila Nova de Gaia was the fact that producers began to ship their oil by sea, selling it directly in the city of Porto, which allowed for cheaper transportation, and also because they no longer had to pay the so-called canage duty, a charge levied on olive oil sold in Vila Nova de Gaia.

José Vellozo da Cruz was an Ensign in the Porto Militia Regiment and certainly suffered the consequences of the French Invasions. His father, as has been said, had been shot by the French when the Napoleonic troops in the second invasion crossed the valley of Geraz do Minho, towards the Carvalho d'Este mountain range, for the assault on the city of Braga. Hence their hatred of the invader is not surprising. After the first invasion, Junot had left us with no officers, no weapons, no ammunition; no uniforms, no horses, no money.

In the state of poverty in which the country found itself, the only way to resist the invader was for each citizen to make a soldier.
In the disorientation of trying to gather soldiers, the Regency ordered the organization of the Academic Military Corps, remembering the brilliant role played by the students of Coimbra in the struggles of the previous year. But in the rest of the country, it was the Militia and the Ordinances that would, more often than not, provide the support for the soldiers in the absence of officers.

The lines of defense of the city of Porto stretched from Castelo do Queijo to Freixo, passing through Bonfim. To the south of the Douro, for about half a league, from the Serra do Pilar to the Amores valley.
But the inability to defend was clear. The city was lost. Like a scourge, the French pounced on their prey.
Throughout the afternoon of that memorable dark Wednesday in 1809, Porto and its suburbs were subjected to the pillage that followed the assault, like the law of war.

It was a tremendous rosary of robberies, sacrileges, rapes, murders and even arson:
The old manor house of Ramalde came to be known by the name of Casa da Queimada, according to tradition, because Soult's soldiers set it on fire.

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Desolation and death reigned supreme. On that dark day of tragedy, night fell early. Nature, pitying and horrified, interceded for the people of Porto. For the space of one night, the sacking suffered its first forced interruption: the next day, the new barbarians' password was reborn. 

 

A flood of people headed for the Ponte das Barcas, with the intention of crossing to Vila Nova de Gaia. The planks had been removed from the central pontoon in order to cut off the French. The fleeing population was unaware of the gaping hole in front of them, and thousands of fugitives were swallowed up by the tumultuous waters of the river.
The 47th line battalion of Mermet's division, led by an officer who knew Porto well, quickly reached the Ribeira, occupied the bridge and, having repaired the sidewalk, quickly moved on to Vila Nova de Gaia 
José Vellozo da Cruz, as an Ensign in the Militia Regiment, must have been involved in the opposition to the French.
So it's not surprising that, while remaining part of his Militia Regiment, he was promoted to Lieutenant of the 1st Company of the same Regiment, at the proposal of Army Marshal Guilherme Beresford and then, at the proposal of the Governors of the Kingdoms of Portugal and the Algarves, raised to Captain of the 4th Company of that Regiment (Companhia de Fuzileiros), and retired with honors and privileges on April 9, 1821, by Order of March 24.
José Vellozo da Cruz's military life would not end with the French Invasions. He would still have to go through the Siege of Oporto.

A staunch liberal, his son Joaquim was one of the 7500 brave men of Mindelo, and he must have rejoiced when he heard about the landing of the troops of Pedro, Duke of Bragança, at the so-called Praia dos Ladrões and their march on Porto, where he entered on July 9, 1832.

The history of the Siege of Oporto is well known, so we'll just mention that the besieged, from July 1832 to August 1833, showed great heroism and determination during about a year of bloody fighting, despite the shortages of all kinds they faced, to the point where, during the winter of 1832-1833, the best families in the city, unable to get food, had to accept the distribution of soup that some organizations provided to the people.

Given the disproportion between the two armies - the Liberal forces initially numbered no more than 7500 men, while King Miguel's army had 80,000 - it is to be believed that the Militias and Ordinances of Porto and Gaia played an important role during the siege.

 

Although no documentary evidence has been found, everything leads us to believe that José Vellozo da Cruz was on the side of the besieged, not least because his son Joaquim, as we have said, was one of the 7500 brave men from Mindelo.

Because of his liberal ideas, he suffered the most acrimonious persecution imaginable, having been summoned by edict on January 22, 1829, and his entire house was placed under strict sequestration.

The losses suffered by José Vellozo da Cruz as a result of the usurpation amounted to a whopping €30,0235.60,
He was an Alderman of Gaia Municipal Council, having taken the oath at the session of February 13, 1834 to serve as Alderman during the illness of Dr. José Alves Pinto Vilar. He remained in office uninterruptedly until March 11, 1836.

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During this period, the Vila Nova de Gaia City Council, in addition to the day-to-day orders, made some important decisions on matters such as the cart tax, the real-d'água for meat, paving streets, questions about tenths, the census for the National Guard, questions about the leasing of council properties, the sharing of wasteland, the division of the proceeds of the cart tax between the Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia City Councils, the distribution of the bells of the Convent of Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Oliveira do Douro to the neighboring parishes, organization and discipline of the National Guard, surveys of council land, location of the cemetery in the parish of Vila Nova de Gaia, installation of a beggars' asylum or teaching and educational college in the Convent and Cerca de Santo António de Vale de Piedade, laying out Calçada das Freiras and Rua Direita, elections of Justices of the Peace and Pedestrian Judges, alignment of buildings along public roads, inventory and valuation of the county's defunct convents, etc. In recognition of his services to the public cause, he was knighted by the Order of Christ and awarded the No. 2 Medal of the Campaigns for Freedom.

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He was married in the Church of Santa Marinha, Vila Nova de Gaia, on June 13, 1797, to D. Joaquina Angélica Rosa de Oliveira, who was baptized in the parish church of Abragão, Penafiel, on April 8, 1770, and who died in Quinta das Laranjeiras, parish of Santa Marinha, Vila Nova de Gaia, on August 28, 1862.

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As fate would have it, we inherited a significant collection of documents, souvenir books and correspondence, which allowed us to reconstruct in detail the remarkable life paths of the couple's three sons (José, Joaquim and Francisco) at the dawn of the liberal period in Porto, since the first-born - Manuel - saw his illnesses worsen during his emigration to England and died in Montpellier, France, where he had moved with his brothers in search of a healthier climate.

 

However, the facts that the documents relate, on their own, disconnected from the historical circumstances and the place in which they occurred, can hardly convey an image that gives life to the character being analyzed. That's why it's important to try to reconstruct the background against which they moved and lived.

 

Their youth, spent, it seems, in Vila Nova de Gaia, against the backdrop of the river Douro and the city of Oporto, was crossed by tremendous political upheavals, resulting from the establishment and evolution of the constitutional regime.

Under Junot's occupation, some Portuguese liberals went to the Emperor asking him to give Portugal a constitution and a constitutional king who would be from your royal family, a request that was not followed up by subsequent events.

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With the expulsion of the French, liberal ideas continued to spread, and the real despotism exercised by the English general Beresford through the subservient Regency, which ruled Portugal in the name of King João VI, contributed greatly to this. It was in this instability and discontent that the conspiracy of 1817 took place, culminating in the hanging of the glorious General Gomes Freire in Lisbon, following a humiliating trial that also cost the lives of some of his companions in misfortune.

With the barbaric repression of the revolutionary attempt of 1817, Beresford left for Brazil, with the aim of obtaining greater authority from King João VI to govern Portugal. During his absence, on August 24, 1820, a group of liberals, made up of Fernandes Tomás, Ferreira Borges, Silva Carvalho and other patriots, proclaimed the abolition of the Absolute Monarchy in Porto and set up a Junta to govern Portugal until João VI returned and called elections, which took place in December 1820. The instability that arose in the country after the approval of the 1822 Constitution is well known.

The Vila-Francada, which took place on the night of May 26-27, 1823, was the first reaction to the excessive liberalism of the 1822 Constitution, followed by the restoration of the constitutional regime, with a moderate character (Constitutional Charter of 1826), which was soon overtaken by the re-establishment of the Absolute Regime in 1828, leading to the Liberal Revolution in Porto, where a Government Junta was installed, around which the most important figures of liberalism gathered.

The abdication of Pedro to the Crown of Brazil and the subsequent landing of the 7500 braves of Mindelo led to civil war, which only ended with the Convention of Évora Monte, re-establishing the constitutional regime.

It was in this cultural environment that the Vellozo da Cruz brothers largely grew up.