The Regional Director of the Presidency for External Relations, Rodrigo Oliveira, considered the anthology " The Dabneys: a Bostonian Family in the Azores (1806/1871)" as a "celebration of friendship between the United States and Portugal, between New England and the Azores," through the presence of this family in the archipelago.

"There is no denying the importance of the Dabney family for the city of Horta and the Azores, whose legacy still endures in memory as well as in architecture, botany and other areas, particularly on the island of Faial," stated Rodrigo Oliveira during his speech delivered at the launching ceremony of the anthology at the New Bedford Whaling Museum on Saturday.

During his visit to the Azorean communities residing on the East Coast of the United States, Rodrigo Oliveira also stressed the "geostrategic importance and the leading role played by Horta bay in transatlantic relations, which welcomed the Dabney family in the 19th century."

"The Azores, Faial and Horta have played a decisive role as a link between Europe and America for their relation with the Sea and their Atlantic position since the age of Discoveries and also in the "century of the Dabney family."

This importance is evidenced in several areas from steam navigation to telegraphic communications, without forgetting the first aerial crossing of the Atlantic on seaplane." The Regional Under Secretary added that "the city of Horta and the Azores as well as New Bedford, Boston and New England will always remain a safe haven for sailors, bringing both sides of the Atlantic closer."

In the speech delivered at the ceremony, Rodrigo Oliveira also stressed the "undeniable importance of the Dabney family in the Azores for nearly a century and its innovative actions in the development of transatlantic relations at an institutional, commercial and economic level as well as in the social interaction between both sides of the Atlantic."

In this regard, the government official highlighted the "unique episodes and the particular vision of exceptional decades in our common History" presented in this work "from the perspective of an American family in the Azores that will leave no one indifferent."