Thanks to the Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo Regional João José da Graça
14 views
Skip to first unread message
Jay Martin
1:19 AM (10 hours ago) 1:19 AM
to Azores Genealogy
I visited the Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo Regional João José da Graça (Rua Walter Bensaúde, 14) in Horta. It's a public library in a modern building with an art gallery and auditorium on the first floor. The genealogy books are the first books you see on the second floor. (Attached is a photo of a few of them.)
A reference librarian gave me a slip of paper to help English speakers. It said:
GENEALOGICAL RECORDS
Parish records (available to 31 March 1911) and passport records of the Azores:
https://culturacores.azores.gov.pt/ig/
Other useful links:
http://www.ghp.ics.uminho.pt/genealogias.html
https://porgener.csarmento.uminho.pt
If you have any questions, please direct your inquiries to:
geral-bpar...@azores.gov.pt
My cousin and I already knew where our grandfather's baptism record was. Wonderfully, the reference librarian did an on-the-spot translation. We didn't even ask. She just read the baptism record to us, translating as she went. Then she answered a few questions we had.
The baptism record said my great-grandmother was "empregada no serviço doméstico." We asked about that phrase, and the librarian said it meant my great-grandmother was doing housework in her own home. I guess the equivalent on a US document might be "keeping house." (Some of my cousins had wondered whether it meant she was a domestic servant in someone else's home, but it wasn't that.)
The reference librarian also said some women had businesses in their homes, such as making and selling dresses, but were still described in baptism records as "empregada no serviço doméstico."
When we said there was a family story that our great-grandmother was a midwife, the reference librarian said there were a couple ways we could investigate. The midwife's name was written in some baptism records, when the midwife had performed an emergency baptism of a child who was dying. Also, there was a register of midwives, the librarian said.
She confirmed something Cheri Mello had told me, that a godparent could be a saint. See Meaning of “madrinha a invocação de Nossa Senhora” from a few years ago. The librarian also said a saint was sometimes invoked to be a godparent for some children, like my grandfather. She didn't know why or when it was done, but maybe it was thought to give the child extra protection, she said.
My cousin and I were in the Horta library for only few minutes, and we were helped by someone completely familiar with Portuguese records. I definitely recommend visiting. My cousin, who can speak and read some Portuguese, looked for family names in some of the books and will probably visit the library again next year.
A reference librarian gave me a slip of paper to help English speakers. It said:
GENEALOGICAL RECORDS
Parish records (available to 31 March 1911) and passport records of the Azores:
https://culturacores.azores.gov.pt/ig/
Other useful links:
http://www.ghp.ics.uminho.pt/genealogias.html
https://porgener.csarmento.uminho.pt
If you have any questions, please direct your inquiries to:
geral-bpar...@azores.gov.pt
My cousin and I already knew where our grandfather's baptism record was. Wonderfully, the reference librarian did an on-the-spot translation. We didn't even ask. She just read the baptism record to us, translating as she went. Then she answered a few questions we had.
The baptism record said my great-grandmother was "empregada no serviço doméstico." We asked about that phrase, and the librarian said it meant my great-grandmother was doing housework in her own home. I guess the equivalent on a US document might be "keeping house." (Some of my cousins had wondered whether it meant she was a domestic servant in someone else's home, but it wasn't that.)
The reference librarian also said some women had businesses in their homes, such as making and selling dresses, but were still described in baptism records as "empregada no serviço doméstico."
When we said there was a family story that our great-grandmother was a midwife, the reference librarian said there were a couple ways we could investigate. The midwife's name was written in some baptism records, when the midwife had performed an emergency baptism of a child who was dying. Also, there was a register of midwives, the librarian said.
She confirmed something Cheri Mello had told me, that a godparent could be a saint. See Meaning of “madrinha a invocação de Nossa Senhora” from a few years ago. The librarian also said a saint was sometimes invoked to be a godparent for some children, like my grandfather. She didn't know why or when it was done, but maybe it was thought to give the child extra protection, she said.
My cousin and I were in the Horta library for only few minutes, and we were helped by someone completely familiar with Portuguese records. I definitely recommend visiting. My cousin, who can speak and read some Portuguese, looked for family names in some of the books and will probably visit the library again next year.
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages