Sylvia and Luis Cotta family papers

The Sylvia (or Silva) and Luis Cotta family of Little Compton, Rhode Island originated from Ponta Delgada, Flores, Azores, and Santa Barbara, Terceira, Azores. Joao Silva (John Sylvia) was born in Ponta Delgada in 1874 and in 1892 immigrated to Little Compton, Rhode Island where he worked on the Arthur MacComber farm. Emilia Serafina Luis Cotta was born in 1880 in Santa Barbara, Terceira, Azores. She immigrated to Little Compton about 1895 with her sister. Her brother Jose, the oldest of 14 children, had gone to Little Compton in 1888 to work on the Levi Sisson farm. Emilia also worked for the Levi Sisson family. Seven other brothers and sisters, some of whom first went to Little Compton, went to California where they acquired property and dairy ranches in and around Los Banos in the San Joaquin Valley. Joao Silva and Emilia Luis Cotta married in 1898 in New Bedford and settled in Little Compton. They purchased a large dairy farm there and eventually had 15 children all together: John, William, Lawrence, Mary, Frank, Amelia, Anna, Alice, George, Antone, Philip, Pauline, Frederick, and Elton.