Have you reached a “brick wall” in your genealogy research? Onsite genealogy research in Portugal may just be the key to extending your Portuguese ancestry. We have genealogists in Portugal that can help!
Challenges in Portuguese Genealogy Research
Family history research in Portugal relies primarily on civil registration and Catholic parish records. While an increasing number of these records have been digitized, many are still only held onsite. In most cases, successful Portuguese genealogy research will require a Legacy Tree researcher to visit an archive or government office in person. If your ancestors migrated to Brazil or elsewhere from Portugal, it will usually be necessary to complete research in the destination country first to learn the name of their original hometown. Depending how early your ancestors arrived, this can take some time.
Currently Portugal also offers the potential for citizenship to individuals proving descent from Sephardic Jews who were expelled during the Inquisition in the 1500s. This process from a genealogical perspective is typically difficult and expensive; however, Legacy Tree can help determining if a client might qualify and doing the necessary research to establish proof required by the Portuguese government. We also recommend clients interested in this path retain the services of an attorney.
Our Team of Professional Genealogists Can Help
If you have Portuguese ancestry, our professionals can help track down the town of origin of your ancestors, determine where that location is today, and identify where the records for that place are currently kept. We can also do the preliminary research in immigrant destination countries to learn the original Portuguese hometown, if necessary. For those areas that don’t have records available online or on microfilm, our onsite agents can visit that location to obtain any documents that are available
Onsite Archive Access in Portugal
Our onsite genealogy researchers have access to the following archives, repositories, and libraries in Portugal to help track down the records you need to extend your Portuguese family history:
- Arquivo Nacional Torre do Tombo
- Direção-Geral de Arquivos
- Arquivo Distrital de Aveiro
- Arquivo Distrital de Beja
- Arquivo Distrital de Braga
- Arquivo Distrital de Bragança
- Arquivo Distrital de Castelo Branco
- Arquivo Distrital de Coimbra
- Arquivo Distrital de Évora
- Arquivo Distrital de Faro
- Arquivo Distrital de Guarda
- Arquivo Distrital de Leiria
- Arquivo Distrital de Lisboa
- Arquivo Distrital de Portalegre
- Arquivo Distrital do Porto
- Arquivo Distrital de Santarém
- Arquivo Distrital de Setúbal
- Arquivo Distrital de Viana do Castelo
- Arquivo Distrital de Vila Real
- Arquivo Distrital de Viseu
- Conservatória do Registo Civil de Açores
- Arquivo Regional e Biblioteca Pública da Madeira
- Arquivo Histórico Militar (Military History Archive)
- Arquivo Geral do Exército (General Archive of the Army)
- Biblioteca e Arquivo Central de Marinha (General Archive of the Navy)
- Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino (Historical Oversea Archive)
- Biblioteca Nacional (National Library)
- Biblioteca da Ajuda (Library of Assistance)