All posts in Portuguese Genealogy Research

How to use Portuguese civil registration: the detailed civil records of births, marriages and deaths from 1911, what they contain, how they are organised, and how to work back through them.

How to use Portuguese parish records: the Catholic Church’s baptism, marriage and burial registers before 1911, why 19th-century records are so rich, and how to trace a family through them.

How to use FamilySearch, the free service holding vast collections of digitised Portuguese civil and parish records: what it has, how to search and browse, and tips to find your family.

A guide to Portugal’s archives for genealogy: the district archives (Arquivos Distritais) holding parish and civil records, their online portals, and the national Torre do Tombo.

Can’t find your Portuguese records? You need the parish first. The best sources for finding your ancestral freguesia and concelho: emigration records, documents abroad and naturalidade clues.

Understanding Portuguese naming conventions for genealogy: the two-surname system, why surnames were so variable, how siblings could differ, and how to trace families by parents and place.

How to research ancestry in the Azores and Madeira: the islands’ own regional archives, their digitised parish and civil records, emigration records, and why so many diaspora roots are here.

A practical guide to reading old Portuguese genealogy records: the older handwriting, pre-reform spelling like Manoel, key Portuguese and Latin terms, and how to build the skill.

Stuck on your Portuguese family tree? Solutions for the most common brick walls: unknown parish, variable surnames, lost records, foundling ancestors, and same-named villages.