Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Ship Manifests: Passenger lists of arrivals and departures from Portugal

Hundreds of passenger lists of ships passing by, leaving or arriving in Portugal between the years of 1875 - 1918. Lists are part of the holdings of Torre do Tombo National Archives, Lisbon, Portugal. They are not indexed. The list comprehends departures and arrivals from different ports, including in Brazil, a few areas in Africa, Italy, Germany, England, etc.

https://digitarq.arquivos.pt/viewer?id=5783377 - Accessed 19 Nov 2019.

"Passenger lists includes the following information: passenger number, name, place of birth or nation to which they belong, occupation, age, marital status, qualifying titles, place of embarkation, place of landing, passport or visa number , deported, deported passengers, and arrested squares subject to military degradation to West Africa and observations.

The comments include information on the number of passports, police visas (Lisbon and Porto), transfer of passengers, deceased passengers on board, persons not boarding, etc.

The list of passengers highlights the emigration to Europe, Africa, Brazil and America. There are several shipping companies, ranging from Portuguese, National Shipping Company (mainly to Africa), Red Cross Line that served Belém do Pará, Royal Mail, among others. The documents highlight the companies and vapors that covered the distance from Brazilian ports to Lisbon. They list boat entrances and exits by adding useful details such as nationality, type, tonnage, port of origin or destination and travel time. They highlight the stops at the various ports. Many of them connected from Liverpool to Pacific Steam's Valparaíso and Callao line with direct connection from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Manaus and Pernambuco. The documents highlight the amount of domestic and foreign vapors and packages coming from African, Brazilian, English, French, Spanish and German ports. These are the major passenger carriers traveling between Portugal, Europe, West Africa, America and Brazil."

Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo - Accessed on 19 Nov 2019.


Click on any link period below to access records.

Relação de passageiros 1875/1918

Saturday, January 12, 2019

RESEARCHING, DOCUMENTING AND FINDING YOUR ANCESTORS



Take a look on my new post where I explain how you can research and find your Portuguese ancestor in United States. I will post other resources in the following weeks.

https://myportuguesegen.blogspot.com/p/research-in-united-states-find-your.html

I often receive emails from people in search of their ancestors and asking how they can locate records for them. I know that uncovering a family ancestry is not an easy task, I have been through it different times, either researching for my own family, or one of my client's families.

1 - Start with your own family

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.

My mother and father - 1956 - Teresópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Talking to your mother and father is almost obvious, but we often take this for granted. For example, I never asked my parents how they met, when and where; now I cannot ask as they passed away a few years ago. Do not skip your parents much less your grandparents, aunts, and uncles if they are still alive. In doing this your perception about their lives will broaden and the research paths will certainly start to open. This will also bring more awareness to aspects of their lives which you never understood before. 

2 - Write down their thoughts

On a sketchbook
Writing down their thoughts means you are documenting them. In genealogy we call it evidence[1].If you like to write, draw, doodle, like me, a sketchbook is a great idea to informally take notes. Think about the fact you can carry a sketchbook in a family visit, sit down and quickly take notes of what people will tell you. At the same time, you can draw a family tree and establish relationships between individuals. The list of questions and things you can ask and do are endless. The information gathered will probably surprise you in many aspects you never thought of before. Sketching and writing combined are great tools and were used throughout history to document all kinds of events.

Wikimedia Commons - James Abbott McNeill Whistler [CC0]
On a tablet

If you are more towards a tech approach, take your tablet and do the same as I mentioned above, plus take photos! You can also document your new investigation by recording the conversation and later transcribing it to your computer. It could be either just a voice record or a film from your phone. Most phones and tablets have a voice recorder. Any choice is great, as long as you record it and later use it in your family tree!

Family Group Templates

3 - Scan or photograph

Last but not least, scan or photograph is considered one of the aspects of preservation. Ask your family for any possible documents they have, photos, letters, any heirlooms they have available. Kindly ask if you can scan or photograph them. You never know if you will see that letter or photo again. Check for resources that can help this part of your project, such as an app, a scanner bin[2], a scanner, etc. Do not know how to start? Check for a free poster and other preservation resources I have created while working for the library and archives at the Preservation Services UNC-Greensboro. One of the posters shows how you can set up a small digitization project with your phone, tablet or camera[3].



Thursday, January 10, 2019

RESEARCHING IN AZORES AND PORTUGAL - USEFUL LINKS


AZORES ISLANDS



THE DIGITAL COLLECTIONS

The CCA or Centro de Conhecimento dos Açores http://www.culturacores.azores.gov.pt

is the digital repository for most of the civil and ecclesiastical records from the nine islands that are part of the Azores archipelago.


If you need help translating or transcribing Portuguese records visit my Paleography page where I talk about Portuguese records and how translating and transcribing affects your research.

https://myportuguesegen.blogspot.com/p/books-and-documents-are-important.html


Azores Parish Records (Pesquisa de Registros Paroquiais)

For birth, marriage and death records from the Catholic Church, from 1541 until 1911, click here:

http://www.culturacores.azores.gov.pt/ig/registos/Default.aspx


Indexes for parish records

Indexes for different parishes in Pico, Corvo, Faial, São Jorge, and other regions in Portugal can be found in the link below from Citcem (Centro de Investigação Disciplinar), from Minho University.

http://www.ghp.ics.uminho.pt/genealogias.html


Passports (Pesquisa de Passaportes)

For passports from Terceira, Graciosa and São Jorge (since 1770) click on Angra do Heroismo;

For passports from Corvo, Pico, Faial and Flores (since 1836) click on Horta, and

For passports from São Miguel and Santa Maria click on Ponta Delgada.

http://www.culturacores.azores.gov.pt/ig/passaportes/Default.aspx


Indexes for a few Passport Registers in Azores  

To facilitate finding your ancestor in the Passport Register, I have been organizing different Google searchable spreadsheets for each book, and based on the information provided by the two of the three main libraries, the one in Horta and the other in Ponta Delgada. Right now I was able to organize a few books that are listed below. If you do not see the book and the date you are looking for, you can always go to the Archeevo website, which hosts a partial Azores database and check their list. The two links will take you to the Archeevo database. 


Ponta Delgada: https://arquivos.azores.gov.pt/details?id=1076970

Horta: https://arquivos.azores.gov.pt/details?id=1220924

  

Passport indexes:

Horta, Faial: 1839 to 1950: 

Passport Register Index - 1839-1850 - Horta

Horta, Faial: 1850 to 1956: 

Passaport Register Index - 1950 - 1956 - Horta

Ponta Delgada, São Miguel Island: 10 May 1875 to 16 Nov 1883: 

Passport Register Index - 1875-1883 - PD


Finding a passport request date is key in your research as it provides a close time frame to the departure of your ancestor from the Azores, and his arrival in the destination country.  After August 1927 passports were required by law to contain a photo identification. 



If you have ancestors from São Miguel, or Santa Maria islands, it is most certain that your ancestor requested the passport in Ponta Delgada. 


THE PHYSICAL COLLECTIONS


“Each Azorean Island is organized into one or more administrative districts, each being divided into parishes, known by their administrative name or by their patron saint….The original documents lie in the Public Libraries and Regional Archives of the Azores, in Ponta Delgada (S. Miguel), Angra do Heroísmo (Terceira) and Horta (Faial).” 



Terceira, Graciosa and São Jorge Islands - Angra do Heroísmo administrative region.


Genealogy São Jorge Island 

http://www.culturacores.azores.gov.pt/biblioteca_digital/GENEALOGIAS-SAOJORGE-MATEUSAZEVEDO/GENEALOGIAS-SAOJORGE-MATEUSAZEVEDO_item1/P2.html


Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo Regional Luis da Silva Ribeiro

Rua do Morrão, 42 - 9700-054 Angra do Heroísmo

Telefone: (+351) 295 401 000Fax: (+351) 295 401 009

email: bparah.arquivo@azores.gov.pt

https://bparlsr.azores.gov.pt


- Angra Archive

https://bparlsr.azores.gov.pt/arquivo_regional/

- Genealogical resources:

https://bparlsr.azores.gov.pt/categorias_ar/colecoes/fontes-genealogicas/



- Information on how to request copy of records

https://bparlsr.azores.gov.pt/1583-2/

- Angra do Heroismo Digital Library

https://bparlsr.azores.gov.pt/arquivo_regional/



Santa Maria and São Miguel Islands - Ponta Delgada administrative region.


Genealogy São Miguel

http://www.culturacores.azores.gov.pt/biblioteca_digital/GENEALOGIAS-CARLOSMACHADO/GENEALOGIAS-CARLOSMACHADO_item1/P1.html


Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo Regional de Ponta Delgada

São Miguel and Santa Maria Islands

Largo do Colégio s/n - 9500-054 Ponta Delgada

Phone: (+351) 296 305 040 Fax (+351) 296 281 216

email: bpar.pdelgada.info@azores.gov.pt


Information on how to request a copy of records:

https://bparpd.azores.gov.pt/a_biblioteca/pedido-de-certidao/



Faial, Pico, Flores and Corvo Islands - Horta administrative region 


Biblioteca Pública Arquivo Regional João José da Graça - Horta

Faial, Pico, Flores and Corvo Islands

Rua Walter Bensaúde, 14 - 9900-142 Horta

Phone: (+351) 292 208190 Fax: (+351) 292 208199

email: bpar.horta.info@azores.gov.pt

website: http://bibliotecajoaojosegraca.pai.pt/


Núcleo Cultural da Horta, Faial

Rua Eduardo Bulcão, s/n, 9900-116 HORTA

http://www.nch.pt/


Other digital resources for researching Azores and Portugal records: 


Genealogia FB

This is one of the best resources you will find about Portugal genealogy and history. It is not in English, but offers tons of indexes for both Portugal and Azores. It grows every day and it does not require any registration to access the indexes. All the work is developed by historians and family researchers volunteers, including myself, and is available for FREE.

http://genealogiafb.blogspot.pt/


Family Search

Family Search website with links to Portugal Historic Archives.

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Azores,_Portugal_Genealogy


Repositório Histórico

Portuguese Archives available online

http://www.repositoriohistorico.pt/


Tombo.pt

Portugal and Azores districts and parishes archives in a easy way to access the historical records. 

http://e.tombo.pt/


Historical Atlas and Parishes

Website where you can re-create the parishes and historical territorial division in Portugal and Azores. If you want to locate the parish or religious division in Portugal and Azores, give a try on this tool, it is very useful. Maximize parts of the map to have smaller divisions and more detail.

http://atlas.fcsh.unl.pt/cartoweb35/atlas.php?lang=pt



PORTUGAL MAINLAND


Online archives from Torre do Tombo, Lisbon, Portugal

Torre do Tombo is the Portuguese National Archives. 

Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo

Alameda da Universidade

1649-010 Lisbon, Portugal

http://digitarq.dgarq.gov.pt/


Projeto GERMIL 

Military records

https://ahm-germil.exercito.pt/



Diário do Governo and other newspapers

https://digigov.cepese.pt/en/homepage


Emigration - Portugal to Brazil

http://www.remessas.cepese.pt/remessas/


Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino

http://ahu.dglab.gov.pt/



Archives from the Ministério Ultramar

http://arquivos.ministerioultramar.holos.pt/source/presentation/pag.php?pag=0