Career
He was a secretary/writer within administrative council of Velas by 1881, and for political or intellectual reasons, had a sustained disagreement with João Duarte de Sousa. Both men disagreed on the histrography of the island of São Jorge, and following Sousa"s publication of a treasties on the island, Avelar published his Jorge (Açores): Apontamentos para a sua História. His reference, published in 1902, is considered a more comprehensive and definitive interpretation of the island"s history and ethnography.
He died three years later on 3 December 1905, in Horta, on the island of Faial.