Born on 27 April and baptised on 18 May 1851 at the Church of Nossa Senhora de Natividade do Faial, on the island of Madeira in Portugal. Legitimate son of Manoel Gomes Garanito, born in Monte, and Luisa Rosa de Freitas, born in Santana, Madeira. His godfather was Francisco Teixeira. He married Maria de Jesus on 10 May 1877 at the Sant'Anna Parish Church. He was twenty-six, single, a labourer (illiterate), resident in the Bairro das Covas in the parish of Faial.