Vasco Gil Sodré


Vasco Gil Sodré was a Portuguese navigator and one of the first settlers of the island of Graciosa. Although he attempted to obtain the Donatary captaincy of the island, he and his progenitors were the origin of many of the families of the island.

Early life

Born in Montemor-o-Novo, the son of Gil Sodré and nephew of the English nobleman John de Sudley and Sodré families.

Marriage

Vasco Gil Sodré was married twice: first to Iria Vaz do Couto, daughter of Duarte Barreto do Couto, the first Donatary captain of Graciosa; and the second to Beatriz Gonçalves da Silva, who accompanied him to the island. He had one daughter named Isabel.
Beatriz Gonçalves da Silva was referred to, by Gaspar Frutuoso, as Beatriz Gonçalves de Bectaforte, native of the castle of Bectaforte in England, which is a confusion arising from later descendants of Vasco Gil Sodré. From this marriage, he had Diogo Vaz Sodré, Fernão Vaz Sodré, Mécia Vaz, Leonor Vaz and Inês Vaz, as well as others, comprising ten children, that were the progenitors of the island of Graciosa.
Duarte Barreto do Couto, brother of his first wife, was married to Antónia Sodré, making them double in-laws. Although there are few record, Duarte Barreto do Couto, more commonly known as Duarte Barreto, noble of the Algarve, was Donatary captain of the southern part of the island, which was later incorporated into the territory of the captaincy of Graciosa.

Graciosa

Vasco Gil Sodré came to Graciosa following the mysterious disappearance of Duarte Barreto do Couto, who died during a Castilian incursion into Graciosa. Becoming a widow, and alone on the island, Antónia Sodré wrote to her brother, so that he could come to stay with her.
Responding to her invitation, Vasco Gil Sodré came to Graciosa, after a stopping at several north African settlements, arriving at a time in which Portugal was at war with the Crown of Castile, owing to the pretensions Joanna la Beltraneja, between 1475 and 1479.
Gil Sodré was accompanied by Beatriz Gonçalves da Silva, and a group of servants, arriving in Graciosa after staying in Terceira. The family erected a house in Carapacho, a place near to their lands in the southwest of the island, in what is today Praia.
Vasco Gil Sodré attempted to obtain the Donatary captaincy of the island, including the construction of a customs-house on his part, the captaincy of the north was given to Pedro Correia da Cunha, later unified in 186]. Vasco died at Santa Cruz da Graciosa.