Manoel Antonio Pereira Borba was born on the Paquivira Plantation, near the municipality of Tiambaúba, Pernambuco, on 19 March 1864.

He was born on 14 July 1920 in the city of Bom Jardim, Pernambuco, to colonel of the National Guard, merchant and farmer Manuel Gonçalves Souto Maior and Maria da Mota Souto Maior.

Paulo Cavalcanti was born in the city of Olinda, in Pernambuco, on 25 May 1915, but at the age of five he moved to Recife: his family lived in Rua dos Prazeres Street, in the Boa Vista neighbourhood.