Monday, April 16, 2012

Military Monday - A Brazilian Officer

Mathias Rodrigues Vasques
This is my 2nd great-grandfather, Mathias Rodrigues Vasques. He was born about 1834 at Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and passed away there in 1890.

I find it interesting that the hat sitting on the chair resembles a U.S. Civil War era hat. It must have been the style of the day globally? I don't know. Any military buffs out there want to comment on this photo? I assume he is an officer because of this picture from the Wikimedia Commons website below.


The description that accompanies this picture is in Portuguese as follows:

"Oficial e soldado do Imperio do Brasil, uniformes da Guerra do Paraguai. Desenhos de Hendrik Jacobus Vinkhuijzen publicados pela primeira vez em 1867."

I used Google Translate to find out what this says. Here's the translation:

"Officer and soldier of the Empire of Brazil, Paraguay War uniforms. Hendrik Jacobus Vinkhuijzen drawings first published in 1867."

Now I need to find out if there are any military records from Brazil that I can research to add to what I already know about Mathias.

Thanks for reading!


Copyright © Jana Last 2012

2 comments:

  1. What a dashing man! It would be interesting to know what the medal hanging on his left breast was for. Can you imagine how hot that uniform must have been during the summers in Brazil?

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    1. Hello Sarah! Thanks so much for your comments. Yes, it must have been just unbearably hot to wear that uniform during the summers in Brazil.

      I did a quick search about Brazilian medals, but couldn't find anything. That is an interesting question though.

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