RESEARCH IN AZORES & PORTUGAL



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:

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.

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.

Translated headline from the Passport Request Book from Ponta Delgada Archives.

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. 

  

Passport indexes:


Horta, Faial: 1839 to 1950

Horta, Faial: 1850 to 1956

Ponta Delgada, São Miguel Island: 1875 to 1883


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 Heroismo administrative region.


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


- Information on how to request copy of records
- Angra do Heroismo Digital Library


Santa Maria and São Miguel Islands Ponta Delgada administrative region.


Genealogias de São Miguel e Santa Maria - Rodrigo Rodrigues:  


Book containing the genealogy of the two islands by Rodrigo Rodrigues:

https://www.scribd.com/document/535379893/Genealogias-de-Sao-Miguel-e-Santa-Maria-Rodrigo-Rodrigues


Genealogy São Miguel

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:


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

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.

Family Search

Family Search website with links to Portugal Historic Archives.

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. 

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.


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

National Library 

The digital library with thousands of digitized reference books and more.


Projeto GERMIL 

Military records

Diário do Governo and other newspapers


Emigration - Portugal to Brazil


Aquivo Histórico Ultramarino


Archives from the Ministério Ultramar



22 comments:

  1. Hello Isabella,

    I am interested in having some birth records translated. Could you please tell me your fee for this. They are images of birth records from the http://www.culturacores.azores.gov.pt website. At this time I have 4 records.

    I look forward to hearing from you!

    Sheri Fenley
    sherifenley@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sheri,

    Thank you so much for visiting and your interest in my services. Its great to know that you have ancestors in Azores too. I sent a message to your email, let me know if you received it.

    Looking forward to hearing from you.

    Isabella

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Isabella
    Great offer service - thank you. We have two entries (baptism & marriage) from the Acores website also. Please let me know how much to translate.
    Kind regards
    Murray
    wisdomandbliss@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Murray,
      Thank you for enjoying what I offer at my blog. I wrote to you email regarding the translations. Did you receive the email?
      Looking forward to hearing from you,
      Isabella

      Delete
  4. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Tina, I removed your comment because you listed your email on it. I strongly encourage everybody not to mention emails here, your email can become a target for robot spammers. I don't have any other way to remove your email from your comment other than removing the whole comment. I just sent an email to the email you provided, check your spam. Thank you very much for visiting my blog!

      Delete
  5. To all my visitors and, in special those who are willing to contact me, here is my email:
    myportuguesegen at gmail dot com
    If you want to place your email in a comment, my suggestion is to write it in the same way I wrote mine. Thank you, Isabella.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am looking for a church, Senhora da Piedade.I think its in Ponta Delgada. I can not find it. looking for church records. this church doesnot come up ? anybody know why?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. George,
      There is Nossa Senhora da Piedadde church in Ponta Garça, São Miguel.
      Check the link for more information: http://goo.gl/rZmltF
      Let me know if you need more information.
      Thank you for visiting my blog.
      Isabella

      Delete
  7. My friend and I found the exercise of trying to understand portuguese paleography to be an exhaustive and time consuming process. Once I contracted Isabella, her understanding of the historic language delivered fast and traceable results, well beyond all my expectations. She provided clear and concise documents of her findings. My journey was made all the easier by Isabella’s professionalism and easy going manner. She traced my heritage to the mid 1600’s.

    Wishing you continued success!

    With appreciation,
    Ralph

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ralph,
      Thank you for working with me. It was a pleasure to help you with your Portuguese ancestry and be able to provide new information on your family history.

      Please let me know if I can help you with anything else. All the best,

      Isabella

      Delete
  8. Hello; please contact me at retherford1670@gmail.com concerning my family of the Azores and how to find a specific date. Warm Regard Anna

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hello, I just started looking at this blog so I hope I didn't miss anything, but my question is do you know if the public can have access to Baptism and Matromonial records from Terceira that are after 1911. I need the 1930s from Raminho and Altares.

    Thank you
    Alda Goncalves

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alda, you can obtain a record from a Conservatória. This is the place where birth, marriages and deaths are recorded after 1911. If you need a record, get in touch through my email and I will let you know the steps.
      You are welcome, Isabella

      Delete
  10. Hello Isabella,

    I just came across your website and thank you for the work you are doing.
    I need assistance in finding my ancestors who lived in the Azores (Terceira Island) and eventually went from there to Brazil in the late 1600's. I would like to trace them back to the earliest time.

    Do you know of anyone, or maybe you yourself do this, who can find the actual documentation records that can show their existence and the dates?

    The family name is Toledo Machado, and there is a series of Antonio Toledo Machado, same name repeated again for my great grandfather, and his ancestor, who were already born in the Northeast pf Brazil.

    I will not need translations, as I am Brazilian and bilingual, but I do need expert help for the research.

    In the hope that you can help me, I send you much appreciation,

    Ruth Toledo Altschuler

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Olá Ruth, obrigada por visitar meu blog. Como você me disse que é brasileira e fala Português, resolvi falar com você em nossa língua natal, pois também sou brasileira. Eu posso ajudar você com sua pesquisa na Ilha Terceira, onde os arquivos são bem organizados e disponíveis online. Você não mencionou até que ponto você tem sua pesquisa organizada, por isso irei pedir a você que me envie um email para myportuguesegen at gmail dot com - me diga o que você já pesquisou até o momento. Eu lhe responderei tão logo eu tenha seu email. Warm regards,
      Isabella

      Delete
  11. Dear Isabella—I want to find the exact town or city in Portugal that my ancestors on my father’s side came from BEFORE the Inquisitions, therefore the 1400-1500 years. I know where they went after the Inquisitions but have no idea where they resided while living on the Iberian Peninsula. How can I get those long ago records?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hello Francine, if you found that your ancestor was denounced in the Santo Ofício, either in Lisbon, Coimbra, or Évora, you will probably find at least a clue from where they are from. Those records are digitized and we have genealogy colleagues in Portugal that spent a lot of time indexing them and it is all available online. If you read some Portuguese you can access the indexes through the articles contained in it. https://genealogiafb.blogspot.com/search/label/Indices-Santo%20Ofício-Inquisição - let me know if it helped you.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am looking for my husband's ancestor that was born in the Azores and I think it might be S. Miguel and was born February 29, 1916 and his name is Clarimundo Da Silva and he was married to Urselina Moniz. Any data I can get would be greatly appreciated or link that would help me immensely.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello, the best way to obtain a civil registration after 1911 is to contact a Conservatória de Registro Civil in Portugal. The email and phone number is below. You will need to provide complete name, parents' names, etc.

      Conservatória do Registo Civil
      Pç. Gonçalo Velho 12, 2º
      9500-063 Ponta Delgada
      Telefone: 296302170
      Ponta Delgada – Reg. Aut. Açores – Portugal
      e-mail: crc.pd@dgrn.mj.pt

      Delete
  14. Hello Isabella, I just discovered your website and it is a treasure! Would you happen to know if there are any passport records from Sao Miguel that are pre-1875? I am trying to find information from 1873 or 1874. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jesse, unfortunately, Ponta Delgada archives do not have any passport requests prior to the year of 1875. I am sorry :(

      Delete

Thanks for visiting my My Portuguese Gen website. I wish you an exciting experience finding out more about your Portuguese ancestors in United States, Azores, Madeira, Portugal, Brazil through the resources I provide. They are so many and I try always to keep them updated.

If you want to share your thoughts about your experience here, or want to learn more about how to expand your Portuguese ancestry, you can leave me a message.

If you left a message and it does not show yet, be sure, it was received and soon will appear on the comments.

Again, thank you.

Isabella Baltar