Joseph Gomez was born on 13 October 1863 in Port of Spain, Trinidad. So far we haven't been able to confirm Joseph's parentage.  His wife Christina Pereira was born in Trinidad on 8 April 1866, the eldest daughter of Presbyterian Portuguese immigrants.  Her father was João (anglicized John) Pereira from Portugal, and her mother was Antonia Alexandre, born in the  island of Madeira. Joseph and Christina were my father's maternal grandparents, my great-grandparents.  We are unsure of  the date of their marriage.  We keep searching and are hoping that we're getting closer!

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About Christina, we know that she  was the eldest girl in a family of six children.  Her siblings were (in chronological order) John, Mary, Andrew, George, and Joseph.  Of these, only Andrew and her sister Mary remained in Trinidad, while the others emigrated.  Mary Antoinette was also known as Marykin, and she married Albert Mendes.  This was the start of a family relationship and close friendship with the Mendes family that developed even deeper throughout the years.

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A land deed of 1887 in Joseph's name describes him as a Shopkeeper, Port of Spain; other documents throughout his life describe him as Clerk, Merchant, Manager and Draper.  The Miller's Public Supply Stores was one of the largest emporiums in Port of Spain established around 1835, when Irishman John Miller left his employment at Wilsons (a large cocoa and sugar agent) and started a business of his own.  The firm had a main building on Frederick Street, with branches in Princess Town and Arima.  Our Joseph Gomez became the Manager of their Arima branch.

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In 1888, we find Joseph and Christina living in Port of Spain, Trinidad where their first child was born on 26 May of that year.  This baby girl was Elsie Mabel, who was to become my paternal grandmother and matriarch of the large Sheppard family.  Between 1888 and 1905 Joseph and Christina had four sons and five daughters, the youngest of whom died when she was a baby.   It appears that Joseph and Christina were living at 12 Sorzanoville, Belmont, Laventille where their next three children - Audrey, Joseph and Edith were born. The family then lived in Arima around 1893 and where their home was on Guanapo Street. In July 1900 they lived in Queen Street, Arima. We know this from information on the birth certificates of their last four children.   Though we have no photographs, their daughter Ivy wrote a nostalgic poem called "To Arima" that paints a vivid picture of her  childhood home.  This is in a book of poems called Roses in the Rain, published by Ivy in 1976 when she was seventy-nine years old.