page_title: Tiradentes
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Tiradentes / Early life
caption_attribution_description: Português: A Fazenda do Pombal foi o local de nascimento de José Joaquim da Silva Xavier, o Tiradentes.
context_page_description: Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, known as Tiradentes, was a leading member of the Brazilian revolutionary movement known as Inconfidência Mineira, whose aim was full independence from Portuguese colonial power and creation of a Brazilian republic.
  When the separatists' plot was uncovered by authorities, Tiradentes was arrested, tried and publicly hanged.
  Since the advent of the Brazilian Republic, Tiradentes has been considered a national hero of Brazil and patron of the Military Police.
context_section_description: Tiradentes was born on the Fazenda do Pombal, near the village of Santa Rita do Rio Abaixo, at the time disputed territory between the towns of São João del-Rei and São José del Rey, in the Captaincy of Minas Gerais.
  Joaquim José da Silva Xavier was the fourth of seven children of Portuguese born Domingos da Silva Santos and of Brazilian born Antônia da Encarnação Xavier.
  Although by no means an aristocrat, Tiradantes did not come from a poor family as evidenced by his mother's inventory, which was opened in 1756. It states that there were 35 slaves on the large fazenda of Pombal, where they also worked as miners. A porch provided external access to an oratory, and there were slave quarters and communal kitchens. A large and valuable quantity of mining equipment was also listed in the inventory.
  In 1755 after the death of his mother, he went with his father and brothers to the town of São José. Two years later, when he was 11 years old, his father died. With the premature death of his parents, his family soon lost its property due to debt. Having received no regular education, he entered under the tutelage of his uncle and godfather Sebastião Ferreira Leitão, who was a dentist. He worked as a peddler and a miner, and he became a partner in a pharmacy in Vila Rica. He dedicated himself to pharmaceutical practices and dentistry, which earned him the nickname Tiradentes. "Tiradentes" means "tooth puller", a pejorative denomination adopted during the trial against him. According to Brother Raimundo de Penaforte, Tiradentes "adorned his mouth with new teeth which he made himself that seemed natural". He also occasionally worked as a doctor in light of knowledge about medicinal plants acquired with his cousin, Brother José Mariano da Conceição Veloso, a celebrated botanist of the time.
caption: Ruins of the Fazenda do Pobal, in the present municipality of Ritápolis.
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