Portuguese family history runs on two great bodies of records—the civil registration that began in 1911 and the far older Catholic parish registers before it—and, happily for the researcher, an enormous share of both is digitised and free. This hub explains what exists, where it lives, and how to start, built around the records that make Portuguese genealogy so rewarding.
Civil registration (from 1911)
With the founding of the Portuguese Republic, Portugal introduced compulsory civil registration (registo civil) of births, marriages and deaths in 1911. These records are detailed and are the backbone of research from 1911 onward; some areas kept civil records slightly earlier. See our guide to Portuguese civil registration.
Parish records (before 1911)
Before 1911, the Catholic Church kept the vital records of Portugal, and its parish registers (registos paroquiais)—of baptisms, marriages and burials—are the main source for earlier research, many reaching back to the 1500s and 1600s. Their coverage and detail vary by parish, but they carry most families back well before civil registration; see Portuguese parish records.
FamilySearch: free, and vast
Here is the good news that shapes all Portuguese research: a huge proportion of Portugal’s civil and parish records has been digitised and made available free on FamilySearch, the non-profit genealogy service. For many families, the records you need can be viewed online at no cost, from anywhere in the world. Our guide to FamilySearch Portuguese records shows how to use this remarkable free resource.
Because so much is free on FamilySearch, Portuguese genealogy can often be done at little or no cost—a real advantage. Where a record is not on FamilySearch, the district archives and other services fill the gap, as we explain below.
The district archives and Torre do Tombo
Portugal’s records are held by a network of district archives (Arquivos Distritais), which hold the parish and civil registers for their areas, and by the national archive, the Torre do Tombo (ANTT) in Lisbon. Many district archives have their own digitisation, complementing FamilySearch. See the Portuguese district archives—and note that the Azores and Madeira have their own regional archives, important for the many families with island roots.
Finding the parish first
As in most genealogies, you need to know where in Portugal your family came from—the parish (freguesia) and municipality (concelho)—to make the most of these records. Finding that place is the essential first step, and the records your emigrant ancestor left behind are usually the key to it.