 | | | | |
|
FINDING YOUR PORTUGUESE ROOTS | ||||
Introduction Now you have your town (or you've always had your town). Two choices now exist, depending on the year you are looking for. But to make the correct choice, you need to know how it works overseas. Overseas Structure
What you have been in search of is your town or freguesia (frehg-Z-ah). The freguesia belongs to the council (like our counties), and councils belong to a district (a way of dividing the councils for efficient handling of records). The Azores have 3 districts (Ponta Delgada, Angra, and Horta), Madeira has 1 (Funchal), and Portugal has too many to list. You will write (if necessary) to the Civil Registry or Biblioteca of a
particular district, as described below. Records are housed 2 main ways. The last 100 years or so are housed in the various Civil Registries. Records older than that are housed in the Bibliotecas e Arquivos. The Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU), who does the filming for the LDS and their FHCs, did filming of the Azorean records around 1986. You can therefore expect that the film should include up to approximately 1886, but I have seen films that end anywhere from
1869-1883. (The Madeiran records were filmed up to approximately 1910). If you are looking for a birth in 1915, you will need to write to the Civil Registry. If you are looking for a birth in 1888, you will need to write to the Biblioteca (unless it is a Madeiran record). And if you are looking for a birth in 1860, you can order the film from your FHC and start reading. 1. Civil Registries
- Civil registry began in 1832, although it wasn't mandatory. It began officially in 1878, but mainly used by non-Catholics. In 1911, Civil Registration became mandatory. You must know the municipality/council (like the county) your ancestor came from to use the Civil Registries. Here you will find births, marriages, and deaths. The records vary somewhat from registry to registry; some records have cross-references to other events. The Azores have 19 Civil Registries; Madeira has 10; and in Portugal there are many (Lisbon has 11 all by itself!) (See handouts: Geographical Resources for Researching in _______ for the appropriate address). In order for you to identify which Registry to write to, you will need to consult a map or the Guill book (for Azoreans). Currently (1999), I would send $8 or $9 (check or money order from your bank; they take U.S. dollars). This covers the cost of the certificate, the conversion to escudos and money for postage. A form letter is found elsewhere in the handouts.
2. Biblioteca e Arquivo - If you are caught between where the film cuts off and the last 100 years, you will have to send the form letter here instead. The Azores have 3 Bibliotecas, Madeira has 1 and Portugal has 18. Again, refer to the appropriate handout for the address. I would send $8 or $9. 3. The Film
- Once you have your records from the appropriate agency, or were lucky enough to start here, you will find most of your documents on film and available for order from your local FHC. Although the GSU tried to film everything that was available, things were missed. Some of the oldest books may not have been filmed due to their deteriorating conditions, or they may not be at the Bibliotecas. It appears that for the Azores, mainly baptisms, marriages and deaths were filmed. In Madeira, "passaporte" (emigration records) were filmed. To find the complete listing of what is available in your area of research, you will have to look at the "Topic List" from the FHL Catalog for your locality (Azores, Madeira, Portugal). Once you get into these records, you will find some of the handwritten entries easy to read, some hard to read, others faded, some full of worm holes, etc. If you are having a difficult time reading the film, you may want to note the name and the date and write to the Biblioteca (enclosing the $8 or $9) for a clearer copy until you are comfortable reading them. Many of these records were written on a bluish linen-type paper with a brownish, iron-based ink, which either faded or bled through the paper.
Portuguese Vital Records 1. Batismos - Since the Civil Registries are a rather "new" idea, most of your birth information will come from the church baptism (batismo) records. These for the most part, do follow a format, although you may find slight variations from priest to priest and parish to parish. However, most
of these records (especially the ones from the late 1800's) contain a wealth of information that you would not find in American records. Records in the late 1800's have the child's name in the margin and usually
begin with the baptism date spelled out in words, followed by the name of the church; the council; the island (if applicable); the diocese; the name of the priest who is performing the baptism; the sex of the child; the name of the child and how many of that same name; time and date born; child legitimate or illegitimate (yes, they baptized those, too); father's name, occupation and native birthplace; mother's name, occupation and native birthplace; where parents married; where the parents are parishioners; what street they reside on; paternal grandparents; maternal grandparents; and godparents, with occupation and relationship to the child. Not all of these items will appear in your baptisms, nor will the order necessarily be the same. Many of these records seem to be clearer and stick to the format that they are to follow at that particular church parish.
As you trace back in time, you will notice that the format changes in the mid-1800's. These records may not be as clear and neat. However, there are a few "nice" changes. Once again, the child's name usually appears in the margin. Then the records will usually
begin with the child's name; father and mother; where natives of (church & town); birthdate; baptized in this church and date; name of priest; names of godparents and where they live (and relationship to the child, if applicable). Once again, not all of these items may appear in your baptisms, nor will the order necessarily be the same. This format, for the most part, continues back to the late 1600's. In the 1600's, then child's name usually appears in the margin.
Then the records usually will begin with the baptism date (no more birthdate); father; mother; godparents; and the name of the priest. These records are more bare bones. Some useful batismo strategies: Sometimes, it may say "defunto" (male) or "defunta" (female) after the name of one of the parents. This means that the parent has died. You now have between that date and about 9 months before to look for that death record. Death of the grandparents
are seldom noted. As you go back in time and records get to be more sketchy or parts are missing, noting the godparents and their relationship to the child may get you back another generation or two. For example, if the baptism records begin in 1700 and the marriages begin in 1750, there is a problem. You can read baptisms for the godparents between 1700 and 1750, looking for your ancestor (for example, José de Pimentel) as a godparent. It may read something like
this: José de Pementel (sic), paternal uncle, son of the family of Manoel de Pementel (sic) and his wife, Jozefa dos Santos. You now know your José's parents and the name of one of his brothers! 2. Casamentos
- Casamentos (marriage) records, along with the baptism records make up the bulk of your research, and are the easiest to use. Baptisms note only the first name in the margin, marriages note the full name of both the bride and groom. So this makes researching these records a bit easier. These for the most part, do follow a format, although you may find slight variations from priest to priest and parish to parish. And once again, they contain quite a bit of information.
A marriage record from the 1800's will follow a format similar to the following: name of groom and bride in the margin; date of marriage; church; town; council; island (if applicable); diocese; priest; name of groom and bride; impediments (if they were cousins); witnesses; groom's age, status, occupation and parents (where they are natives of, if different town); bride's age, status, occupation and parents (where they are natives of, if different town); and a bunch of church
talk. Some casamentos may give the grandparents as well. As you go back in time, the ages, status and occupation of the newlyweds drop off of the records. The next thing to disappear is the council, island (if applicable) and diocese. Much of the church talk at the bottom (or what is interspersed throughout the document) drops off too. Some useful casamento strategies: It is helpful to note whether or not the parents are deceased (if it is just the father,
it will say "defunto" after his name; if it is just the mother, it will say "defunta" after her name; if it is both, it will say "defuntos" after her
name.) If you get the marriages of your ancestor's siblings, you may see when the parent is allegedly alive. Using those marriages and your ancestor's marriage, you can narrow down the death date for the parents. For example, it says that the father of the groom is "defunto" at the time your ancestor married in 1850. But you have his brother's marriage in 1848, where no notation is made about the father being deceased. You now have a starting point to begin looking for deaths.
Widow (viúva) and widowers (viúvo): Sooner or later, you will hit a marriage where it says your ancestor, Manoel da Ponte, was a widower of Rosa de Jesus, and now he is marrying Francisca de Conceição, daughter of...... In order to find Manoel's parents, you will need to find Manoel's first marriage. Rarely will it note the parents in a second marriage. 3. Obitos
- Death (obitos) records are the hardest of all the Portuguese records to research. Many times you don't have any indication when an ancestor has died (unless you are collecting all of the children and their marriages). And once you find your ancestor's obito, it will most likely be inaccurate (age 70, more or less). However, it will mention your ancestor's spouse, and many times, if you ancestor was a widow(er), it will mention who they are a widow(er) of. If you are getting all the deaths of a particular family, be sure to check the FHLC for a separate listing of babies and children (sometimes their obitos are listed separate). Always with children, and usually with single adults, it mentions their parents. In addition to the above information, the obitos give the death date and sometimes the cause of death (if you notice many deaths at once, slowly work backward. The priest may note that the following entries were all due to the earthquake (terremoto) that happened on such-and-such a date.) It will say if your ancestor was buried in the church or chapel (ermida) if he or she was in good standing with the church.
Some useful obito strategies: In addition to what has been mention above, later records (and those in the Civil Registry) may be cross-referenced with death & marriage dates in the margin of the ancestor's baptism. All of the above religious records will note "scandals" such as divorces, not receiving communion, adultery, illegitimacy, and burial somewhere else (not in good standing with the church). They will note people not of the Catholic faith.
Other Useful Portuguese Records To find out what has been filmed for your locality (Azores, Madeira, Portugal), you will want to look in your FHL Catalog's topics. To do this, chose Family Search, then Family History Library Catalog, then Locality, then Town or Parish. Press enter and then type in your area (Azores, Madeira,
etc.). It will give you a list of topics, such as biographies, emigration & immigration, genealogies, histories, maps, notarial records, and orphanages. This list is what was filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU). There may be other records, indices, and books that were not filmed that may be of use if you are able to travel there and use the records on site. A few of these other records are discussed below. Keep in mind that they may not be filmed
for your locality. 1. Passaportes - "Passaporte" records are the emigration records leaving the country (immigration is coming
into a country). These were filmed for Madeira, but not the Azores (I have no knowledge of Portugal's passaportes). They pretty much correspond to the American arrival records, getting more and more detailed about the passengers as time goes on. The following information came from the 1898-1911 Azorean passaporte records: date, passport number, passenger number, name, parents names, age, marital status, council, freguesia (native town), occupation, whether able to read or write, destination, and observations (usually left blank). By 1915 the format has changed. The ask for: date, passport number, passenger number, name, age, marital status, profession, filiation (where emigrant is a legitimate or illegitimate child), native of which council & freguesia, resident of which council & freguesia, instruction (can read or illiterate), military info, whether emigration (as opposed to??), class of passenger, whether your 1st time emigrating, why emigrating, relationship to "head" passenger (here you find it says mulher for the wives), and destination (country and city), and observations. The different Azorean archives keep different information on their passengers. Some may be indexed, some may have individual files on the passenger! If you cannot find the arrival of your ancestor in America (or cannot ascertain which Manuel or Maria is yours), it may be worth it to search these records yourself since they contain your ancestor's parents on their records! (Ponta Delgada archive will not research for you.)
2. Land/Property Records - If your family had money, these records exist (although not filmed for the Azores). As relayed to me, Portuguese law states that a widow inherits half of her husband's estate. The other half is divided equally between the siblings. This may give a clue as to the number of living adult children. 3. Wills
- Once again, if your family had money or property, then you may be interested in wills. The Azorean wills (not filmed) are filed alphabetically by the name of the family's notary (not the name of the deceased). Madeiran wills are contained within the obitos. They are easily recognizable. Obitos are usually short, and the will entries are longer. Brazilian wills are the next entry after a deceased person's obito. 4. Books
- Some books were filmed by the GSU and others were not. Some of these books contain histories and genealogies of families (for the Azores: Fr. Gaspar Frutuoso's Saudades da Terra in 1596, Fr. Cordeiro's Historia Insulana
in 1717, and many others). However, you will have to research quite a ways back to connect into the families mentioned in these books (note the publication dates). If your research does lead you back that far, researching the books (even though they are in Portuguese) is quite easy, compared to reading the handwriting of the priest's records!
Part 3: Reading Portuguese Documents The following are some samples of Portuguese records. It is not important to be able to read each and every word. Your goal is to be able to recognize key words and to be able to extract genealogical information from the records. The FHL has published a series of Word Lists, including one in Portuguese. It is available (if not, ask them to order it for you) from your local FHC for about 50-75 cents (depending on local taxes). If you want to do more than extract genealogical information, go to your local bookstore and browse the foreign language section. In the Los Angeles area, Borders seems to have quite a selection of Portuguese language tapes. You will find discrepancies between the word lists and language tapes and what you are encountering in the handwriting. Part of this may be due to the Brazilian vs. Continental Portuguese, or modern vs. old Portuguese. Keep this in mind as you "read" the records. | ||||
| Copyright 1998 by Cheri Mello. All rights reserved | ||||