Immigration in Brazil I

Also check  Immigration in Brazil II.

I have been researching my own family genealogy for just a few years but not in a daily basis as I work with Book Conservation during the week, so only the weekends are left for doing that and it’s not so much when you have so many other things to accomplish in just two days.

The FamilySearch website (www.familysearch.org) is the first place I go for searching original records and they have a large database for Brazil. The newest one, updated September 2011, is the Immigration Cards 1900 – 1965:

https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1932363

I found many documents from my family at FamilySearch web site. They are an inestimable source of evidence! 

Regarding immigration in Brazil ports, the best place for you to visit is the Arquivo Nacional – www.arquivonacional.gov.br - where you can obtain all the information about the ships and a database of immigrant arrivals. The search for names of those that arrived in Rio de Janeiro Port between 1880 -1930 is manual.  Although the ship manifests are on line, there are no indexes up to this moment. You will need to create a username and login to access their database - http://www.an.gov.br/rvbndes/menu/menu.php

You will also find a great resource on newspaper from Brazil at Biblioteca Nacional, they are fully searchable by keywords. Newspaper Online.

A place of new discoveries...

and new friends!

So many new finding I have done this year in my family tree that I decided that this was the moment to start thinking seriously about sharing my experiences on the web. Finding my ancestors abroad, specifically in Brazil and Portugal – Azores was very rewarding. At some point I will share their stories and path, some of them endured not an easy path, as for many other immigrants.

Researching has its ups and downs, so like us! We just need to be gentle with our ancestors and patient in our search, and above all, reinforce our connection with them. Many times I felt like they helped me in my research, guiding me in finding a new clue. And you know what? They were always there! More than one time I found what I was looking. Talk deeply with them, you will be surprised while investigating their family history.

There were moments when I was very confused by surnames that my family provided. Surnames in earlier periods were not ruled. Until I realized that it was hard. Everything started becoming clear after I found a birth certificate about my ancestor at FamilySearch.org - that record showed me the complete surname, and since them all other ancestors in this line of the family were found. New discoveries are always amazing for me.

You are probably curious about the surnames I research in my family. On my mother’s side, I had Portuguese immigration to Brazil in the late XIX century and beginning of XX century. My great-grandfather, Francisco Machado Drumond immigrated from São Sebastião, Terceira Island - Azores to Brazil. He arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1887 and his family belongs to the Ferreira Drumond and Machado Valadão. The Ferreira de Almeida is my other Portuguese side from Portugal mainland, in the region of Castro Daire, Viseu. I will talk all about them and their family later. On my father’s side I’m still researching how they arrived in Recife, Pernambuco, the northeast of Brazil, but it’s all converging to Portugal domains, with the immigration much probably occurring by the end of the XVIII century. They settled in Pernambuco and Paraíba, Brazil. My 2nd great grandfather, Antonio Ferreira Balthar, is the earliest ancestor that I found with this specific last name. I need further investigation on this. The other surnames of my father's family: Balthar/Baltar, Rego Barros, Teixeira de Vasconcelos, Ximenes de Aragão, Vasconcelos, and many others.