[1760-1769]. Carta de Manuel Soares de Oliveira, escrevente, para a sua cunhada, Maria Rita da Conceição.

Family letter from Manuel Soares de Oliveira, scribe, to his sister-in-law, Maria Rita da Conceição.

The author asks his sister-in-law to take a word to all her brothers and that, together, they state his first wife was dead, since he fears being shot or stabbed in prison.

The defendant in this process is Manuel Soares de Oliveira, old-Christian, 42, scribbe, born and resident in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, who was accused of bigamy. His parents are Manuel Soares de Oliveira (tanner) and Brízida Ferreira. The defendant married a first time with Ana Maria Rodrigues, wwith whom he lived only a year and had no children, and married a second time, in August 27, 1757, with Joana Maria da Conceição, daughter of captain João da Rocha Freire, with whom he had a son. The defendant used false justification and license to marry the second time, since his first wife was still alive. According to the records, his first wife had run away with a man who had a boat business with the excuse that she would get some belongings at some relatives' house because she suffered mistreatment at the hands of the defendant, who already had stripped her of all her gold. In turn, in his testimony the defendant claims to have been forced to marry for the second time because the brothers of his second wife caught him with her and threatened to kill him if he did not marry her. However, the various documents submitted to the table of the Inquisition prove that José Rodrigues Ferreira had already warned the defendant he could not marry and had made efforts to prevent this. The defendant was arrested on May 20, 1761, and, in a private auto-da-fe on February 16, 1765, was sentenced to be publicly whipped and to row in the galleys for three years, among other punishments.