By the end of 1693, Friar Agostinho de Mont'Alverne, referred to 9000 inhabitants, living in 180 homes, primarily in the village of Santa Cruz. These original settlers were Portuguese, primarily from the area of the Alentejo and Minho. It was about this time that the third oldest of the parishes was created by the Diocese in Angra, on 9 July 1693: Nossa Senhora do Pilar, delimited by the ravines of Barrosas (in the north) and Alagoa (in the south). The two localities that formed the parish, Cedros and Ponta Ruiva, de-annexed from the parishes of São Pedro de Ponta Delgada and the Matriz de Nossa Senhora da Conceição, in Santa Cruz, included 50 homes and 176 people. With its presbytery and image of it patron saint provided by the Count of Santa Cruz, its primitive parochial church was later expanded in 1719 and reconstructed in 1822.