RESEARCH IN MADEIRA ISLAND

National Geographic Society

How to start your research

If you really do not have any idea where you are going to start finding information about your immigrant ancestor, the best way to begin your research is inside your own family. Yes, your closest family members. They are the descendants of that first immigrant and they will give you information if you ask for it. Most of the time, I am sure they will. They are proud of who they are and proud of their history. The reality is, when you do not know much about your ancestor's history, including stories about those who lived or are still living during your life span, you will need to rely on their information and available documentation.

You can read more on how to start your research on my post
https://myportuguesegen.blogspot.com/2019/01/researching-documenting-and-finding.html

If your ancestor was from Madeira Island, your Portuguese genealogy will expand if you research deeply the Madeira archives ecclesiastical records. Marriage records and baptisms records are filled with information about an individual, his parents, and likely information on his grandparents. Most of the records related to genealogy are online. Do not forget to search death records, they also contain key information for your investigation!

Looking for passports? For those who has ancestors who immigrated to the United States or Brazil, the Madeira archives has a database indexed with all passport request, and the images of the actual passports are online. Below you will find links to each type of record you want to obtain, including the passports. 

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lista_de_freguesias_da_Madeira

Madeira Island records are indexed for most of the parishes, and online through the Arquivo Regional da Madeira website.

Arquivo Regional da Madeira
Address: Caminho dos Álamos 35
9020-064 Funchal, Portugal

⭐  I created a small tutorial explaining how to find specific records and Parish's ecclesiastical books in the Madeira archives. Many times names are hidden in the searches we do turning research difficult. I decided then to create one more way of searching the archives. You can view it on the link below. I hope it will help your research.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AbuqgT1jZCDraaCBstDmWESyNHlyAwsX/view?usp=sharing

For a broader search: 

This link is useful if you searched for a name on the links below it and did not obtain a positive result.

https://arquivo-abm.madeira.gov.pt/ 

For marriages: 

https://abm.madeira.gov.pt/pesquisa/casamento/ 

For baptisms: 

https://abm.madeira.gov.pt/pesquisa/baptismo/ 

For passport requests: 

https://abm.madeira.gov.pt/pesquisa/passaportes/ 

Passport requests images: click on the desired year on the left.
https://arquivo-abm.madeira.gov.pt/details?id=670111

or you can click here as well:

https://arquivo-abm.madeira.gov.pt/results?r=1&p0=*&o0=1&v0=passaportes&m0=False&fd=670080&s=Rank&sd=False&fbclid=IwAR14faWzCW3duZpl9CkUNPY3c4q5nduhJ8i2w5zuLOeKa34K3ErSZJwxtx4

Madeira Genealogy manuscript by Henrique Henriques de Noronha, 1667-1730

https://purl.pt/38474

A concise web page with a list of districts, councils and parishes in Azores, Madeira and Portugal and links to their respective archives.
https://tombo.pt/ 

Family Search access to Madeira records and catalog
https://goo.gl/Jh5ZmC

The book Antroponímia primitiva da Madeira by Nunes & Kremer - is a relevant study about the names and surnames found in records from the Madeira island archives (XV and XVI). It is an incredible resource for genealogy, history and culture with several bibliographical references. Google books offer a limited view, but worth viewing.