Antone Braga was born in Vila Franca, Sao Miguel, Azores, October 20, 1873, the youngest of three children. Antonio disliked the stern discipline and corporeal punishment of the schools, so at the age of 12 he was apprenticed to his uncle, Joao Furtado Pacheco. For 16 hours each day, 12 apprentices worked in the shop and then had to devote their evenings to classes in reading and writing. He began as a carpenter's helper and worked up to carpenter, cabinet maker and finally to violin maker. Antone came to the U.S. in 1893 to escape military duty. His mother paid to have him sail as a stowaway. He was hidden in the hold of the vessel until it cleared land. The ship, a sailing vessel, was blown off course and made first landfall at Bermuda, then sailed on to New York. Antonio's father and brother had preceeded him to the far west. He joined up with his brother and together they searched for their father. Antonio worked at various jobs on a Spanish cattle and sheep ranch in northern Nevada near Winnemuca. This ranch employed a Japanese cook who could not speak English. Antone could not speak English either so the two conversed in Spanish. The ranch hired Mexicans and Paiute Indians. Antonio remembered the Indians gambling Indian fashion on paydays. He also worked in a gold mine in Nevada. Here he repaired cyanide tanks which were used in one stage of gold recovery. Another duty was the refitting of the wooden bearings used in the stamp mill. The bearings were made of mountain mahogany, a desert shrub growing on the hillsides. He also worked as a ranch hand in the Grande Ronde of Oregon and later in what are now the ghost towns of Silver City and De Lamar, Idaho. He and his brother Manuel trailed a band of sheep across Owyhee county south to Winnemuca. They eventually found their father in a mine in Nevada. They didn't recognize him at first - his face was dirty and his chin went into his coat. After washing up, his father pulled out a long beard from beneath his coat and the boys recognized their father.
In a local newspaper article, Antone recalled helping move the Frank R. Gooding house at Ketchum down to Gooding in 1888, the year the Goodings first settled on the Gooding townsite. The place was then known as Toponis, being not much more than a railroad flag station. The Gooding home was set up on the site on the west side of Main street and north of the Idaho hotel. Antone recalled he also moved the same house to Shoshone in 1897, the year the Goodings took up their residence at Shoshone and where they lived for a few years thereafter. What is now the Gooding townsite was used as the winter headquarters for the extensive bands of sheep owned by the Goodings. It was while F. R. Gooding was governor, from 1905 to 1908, that Governor Gooding was at the peak of his career as a sheep owner. The greatest number the governor owned at any one time was not far from 100,000. During that peak year Antone fixed 24 camp wagons for the governor's sheep.
After marriage and settling down on their Little Wood River ranch, Antone built a small room in the lower part of the tank house and there he would work at repairing or making violins during the long winter evenings after the chores were finished. Profits from the violins made in the little workshop went to buy more material with which to work and then for the little extras which made life more enjoyable for him and his family. When he moved to town he built a small building near the residence for this purpose. There was a motor-driven emery wheel which he used to sharpen his tools, and an electric hot plate on which to cook the glue in an old fashioned glue pot. Metal patterns hung on the wall. The patterns were created by Joseph Guarnerius and Antonio Stradivarius, famed violin makers of Cremona, Italy during the 17th century. He prefered the Stradivarius pattern. He could give no greater reason for preferring the Stradivarius pattern except that it had a greater appeal to his sense of the perfect instrument. An old ivory tusk, gift of a friend, hung on the wall. He used it in making inlays on many instruments. Though he made some novelty violins - cedar, black walnut and myrtlewood, he finally concentrated his working time on the very best violin wood - rock and curly maple for the sides and back - spruce for the tops. These he ordered from a specialty house in Chicago. The gouges and calipers he used were made for him while he was single, from an ice saw blade by a German machinist in Nevada, copying tools used by German violin makers. Antonio devised his own method for shaping ribs with two lengths of pipe and two six-inch strips of copper and heat. The ribs never lose their shape. He uses a varnish stain made with a secret formula. He hands did not stain but the beauty of the grain was intensified and the wood seemed to have a translucent quality. Salesmen begged him to place the varnish on the market but he always refused to divulge his formula. He did not make the instruments for money, it was for the joy of making beauty. He could have easily demanded more money for his instruments but saw no point. He asked what he thought the prospective buyer could pay. The prices ranged from $100 to $400. Antone used scraps of violin wood to build inlaid tables, smoking stands and jewel boxes. He also made a model of a whaling vessel like the ones he saw in the Azores. He was often asked to convert radio cabinets into useful furniture. Because he had no formal education, his wife put his name in the instruments before he glued on the top. He never hurried and bemoaned the rush and hurry of American people who wanted a certain kind of violin-built within a certain limit of time. His uncle would never promise delivery on a violin under a year's time. During that year, after the instrument was complete but for the varnish, it was stored in a large glass cabinet and each day was tuned to concert pitch. When there was no more "give" to the wood and it had reached a "set" then the varnish was added. For the rest of the year, every day, the violin maker kept the instruments in concert pitch.
It is not known how many violins Antone constructed although in an interview when he was 74 years old he was completing his 125th instrument. He also made guitars, ukeleles, plactrum banjoes and a mandolin. His instruments received high praise from musicians, teacher and experts. The guitar was his natural instrument. (It is also the national instrument of Portugal.) One of his violins found its way into the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra. Another was carried into South Africa by a woman missionary. On her return to the U.S. several years later Antone took the violin apart to remove the mold that had grown inside during its time in the very humid African climate. He was able to restore its tone to its original quality. Antone gave freely of his talents by instructing other violin makers, but few people saw him actually at work. He would show the results of his work - but he was a lone worker. His oldest son, Jesse, would sometimes hold parts of the instruments near the stove to warm the wood for better penetration of the glue. This glue was Norwegian fish glue - it came in sticks and was melted in a brass pot like a double broiler. His best violins were the Betts models of the Stradivarius. His violins were carved from solid blocks of wood, carefully calipered at all times in all places. A violin is really a sound box to project the artestry of the musician.
Many of Antone's violins are owned and played by members of the Idaho Oldtimer Fiddlers Association and he was given honorable mention in the Association's publication, written to celebrate Idaho's Territorial Centennial year - 1963. Albert Foote of Pocatello stated that he was the owner of Braga's "signature violin", made in 1932, It was one of the best he made and had the names of all eleven surviving Braga children burned in rich script on the outside of the back. In 1980, Fred Braga puchased this violin to keep it in the family. Each of his 11 children was given a violin. Foote composed sacred music and collaborated with Ted Silva in writing sacred songs, including "Wonderful Love." Accompanying the article about Antone in the Fiddlers book is a picture of him, holding one of his violins, standing in his workshop. Each violin he made bears his name and the date, burned inside, visible through the F-holes. He also placed his name and date inside all instruments he repaired, "Repaired by Antonio Braga" and the date.
Antone's declining years brought various satisfactions. He had achieved some fame for his handicraft and he had visited his mother, brother and father-in-law in his native island in 1922-1923. He had two sons serve their country in the Second World War and he had a host of friends. At one time he was a member of the Knights of Pythias and I.O.O.F. order. His home was comfortable and he drove a car until late in life. He had seen changing times - from the telephone to television and from sailing vessels to the airplane. In the September 1946 copy of 'Profitable Hobbies', a magazine published in Kansas City, Missouri, there appeared a lengthy article, authored by Letha Webb Tester of Gooding, concerning Antone and his violins - also pictures by Kelker, Twin Falls photographer. In the Salt Lake Tribune for Sunday, April 3, 1951 another article by Letha Tester was printed regarding Antone's violin with pictures by Kelker. About the time he retired to town, more articles about his handicraft appeared in local papers. Antone passed away on 9 February 1953 in Shoshone.
Mariana immigrated with her family in 1892 from the Azores to San Franciso, California. The family then moved in 1893 to Bliss, Idaho. They took up ranching on Clover Creek. Mariana remembered when they arrived in Bliss by train the entire hill was covered with Indian tepees. (from newspaper article dated 9-29-49) Crickets wiped out their crops in the spring of 1893. After that her parents purchased cattle at $12.00 for both cows and calves. In 1894 the family came to Toponis and settled along the Little Wood river where they farmed for three years. It was here that she met her husband at a dance hall. From a June 1909 newspaper article: "Mrs. A. C. Braga went to Pocatello, Saturday to visit her son, Jesse, who is assistant manager of the Bannock Hotel. Mrs. Braga who came to Gooding County in 1894, had previously not left the county in all of her 19 years here". Mariana is well remembered by her children, grand-children and many great-grandchildren. Many remember that she always had coffee and cookies or a cake made for visitors who dropped by to visit, which they always did. Mariana passed away on May 23, 1962. Her funeral was the largest attended in the area since the funeral of Senator Frank Gooding.
After 5 days of sickness from influenza and pneumonia, August passed away at his home at 538 5th Street. He was a young man of strong moral character, high ideals, and a keen sense of duty, which made him generally popular and respected over the entire community in which he has made many friends in the last two and a half years during which time he has officiated as Deputy Sheriff under John T. Jefferis; his official duties being performed in a most satisfactory manner to all concerned. He was 29 years old when he passed away. He was born in York County, Nebraska, where he received grammar and High School education. The family then moved to Gooding, Idaho where they lived for nine years, coming to Payette in about 1919.
August served in the 116th Infantry of the 29th Division in WWI and spent a year overseas. He was taken down with influenza at Winchester, England, and after his recovery joined his forces in France. At the close of the war he returned to Payette and soon after was appointed Deputy Sheriff.
August was a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge.
Freda became a lawyer in 1935 through a correspondence course. She never married but traveled around the world. She moved to Japan and worked for General Motors for 3 years then returned to a law firm in Los Angeles, CA. She became very successful while her partners were away fighting in the war. She had a cat named "6 toes". Later she took in stray cats and dogs. Her secretary, Mary Wood, was her secretary and good friend for many years.