He accompanied his sister Dona Brites de Albuquerque and her husband Duarte Coelho, donatário (Lord Proprietor) of Pernambuco and with them settled in the New World in 1535.
[1] Jerónimo de Albuquerque was a leading and colorful personage in the early years of the Captaincy of Pernambuco.
He married this woman among the Tabajara peoples and she was baptized as Maria do Espírito Santo Arco Verde.
[3] (It is reported that during a portion of his official tenure the government was directed by his father-in-law Cristóvão de Melo,[2] perhaps due to failing health).
Jerónimo de Albuquerque built the first sugar mill in Pernambuco, the engenho Nossa Senhora da Ajuda.