São Paulo, Brazil Genealogy

Guide to State of São Paulo family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

'Most of your genealogical research for São Paulo will be in two main record types: civil registration (registros civis) and church records (registros da igreja''). This article will teach you methods for locating and searching these two record groups.''' 

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History
The Portuguese village of São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga was founded by the Colégio de São Paulo de Piratininga on January 25, 1554. A Jesuit college of twelve priests built a mission on top of a steep hill between the Anhangabaú and Tamanduateí rivers. They first had a small structure built of rammed earth, made by American Indian workers in their traditional style. For the next two centuries, São Paulo developed as a poor and isolated village that survived largely through the cultivation of subsistence crops by the labor of natives. For a long time, São Paulo was the only village in Brazil's interior, as travel was too difficult for many to reach the area. Conveniently located in the country, up the steep Serra do Mar sea ridge when traveling from Santos, while also not too far from the coastline, São Paulo became a safe place to stay for tired travellers. The town became a centre for the bandeirantes. They became fully powerful as a group, and forced the expulsion ofhe Jesuits from the city of São Paulo in 1640. From 1869 onwards, São Paulo was connected to the port of Santos by the Railroad Santos-Jundiaí, nicknamed The Lady. In the late 19th century, several other railroads connected the interior to the state capital. Industrialization was the economic cycle that followed the coffee plantation model. By the hands of some industrious families, including many immigrants of São Paulo's main economic activities derive from the services industry—factories are since long gone, and in came financial services institutions, law firms, consulting firms. On July 9, 1932, the population of São Paulo town rose against a coup d'état by Getúlio Vargas to take the presidential office. The movement grew out of local resentment from the fact that Vargas ruled by decree, unbound by a constitution, in a provisional government. The uprising commenced on July 9, 1932, after four protesting students were killed by federal government troops on May 23, 1932. 

Civil Registration (Registros civis)
Civil registration records (Registros civis) are government records covering birth, marriage, and death. They are an excellent source of names, dates, places, and relationships.

In 1850, a law was passed requiring registration of births and deaths throughout the country. Until 1870, the Catholic Church was required to keep this record. After 1870, these records were to be kept by the justices of the peace. Since 1827, the government has accepted marriages performed in the Catholic Church as official marriages.

Civil registration records are kept on a municipal level by local civil registration offices. Records are subsequently sent on to a municipal, district, or delegation office. People from small villages often reported their births, marriages, and deaths to a nearby central municipality office. Many towns in Brazil are very new. If you do not find records for the city you need, you will need to determine when the city was founded and from which older city it was created (try a Google search). Origins of cities are also given in the reference book, Cidades e vilas 1998, which can be consulted online from a Family History Center computer.

1. Online Digital Records for Civil Registration
For localities several in Brazil, civil registration records have been filmed, and digitized online copies of the records are available through FamilySearch Historical Records. Filming continues and more records are added as they become available. Until records become available for São Paulo, research should rely mostly on church records and on writing for civil registration certificates. The majority of birth, marriage, and death events would be recorded both in civil and in church records.


 * 1925-1995 - at FamilySearch — index

2. Writing for Civil Registration Certificates
It is possible to obtain civil registration records by writing to the local civil registry in the municipality. Civil officials will generally answer correspondence in Portuguese. Your request may be forwarded if the records have been sent to state archives. 'This method is not always reliable. Officials might or might not respond.' Using available church records is advisable first.
 * List of municipalities in São Paulo.

Write a brief request in Portuguese to the proper office using this address as guide replacing the information in parentheses:


 * Cartório de Registro Civil
 * (postal code), (municipality), São Paulo
 * BRASIL


 * Find the Brazilian postal code here.

Send the following:


 * Money for the search fee, usually $10.00
 * Full name and the sex of the ancestor sought
 * Names of the ancestor’s parents, if known
 * Approximate date and place of the event
 * Your relationship to the ancestor
 * Reason for the request (family history, medical, and so on)
 * Request for a photocopy of the complete original record

'''Write your request in Portuguese whenever possible. For writing your letter in Portuguese, use the translated questions and phrases in this Portuguese Letter-writing Guide.'''

Church Records (registros da igreja)
The vast majority of Brazilians were Catholic and were registered in entries for baptisms, marriages, deaths, and burials in the local church records. Often two and sometimes three generations are indicated in the registers, with personal information on the family. Church records are the main source prior to 1850, when civil registration began. After this date one should search in both church and civil records, since there may be information in one record that does not appear in the other. For instance, the church records may only list the godparents, while the civil records may list the grandparents.

1. Online Digital Records for Church Records
For some localities, digital copies of Catholic church records can be searched online: Batismos are infant baptisms, which are used for birth information. Matrimônios' are marriages.  "Óbitos" are deaths. "Índice" is the index.
 * 1640-2012 - at FamilySearch Historical Records - index & images

2. Microfilm Copies of Church Records in the FamilySearch Catalog
If the locality and time period you need are not included in the online records, the next step is to find them in the microfilm collection of the Family History Library. Currently, they are being digitized, and plans are to complete that project by 2020. Check back occasionally to see if your records have become available. In the meantime, some of them might be available at a Family History Center near you. To find a microfilm:


 * a. Click on this link to see a list of records for Brazil, São Paulo.
 * b. Click on "Places within Brazil, São Paulo" and a list of towns and cities will open.
 * c. Click on the town or city you wish to search.
 * d. Click on "Church Records" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * e. Choose the correct event and time period for your ancestor.
 * f. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the microfilm listed for the record. FHL icons.png. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the microfilm.

3. Writing to a Catholic Priest for Church Records
Baptism, marriage, and death records may be searched by contacting or visiting local parish or diocese archives in Brazil. Brazil has no single repository of church records. Write your request in Portuguese whenever possible. 'This method is not always reliable. Officials might or might not respond.'


 * Find the address for the parish church your ancestors used: '''The Catholic Directory, Brazil.

Write a brief request in Portuguese to the proper church using this address as guide replacing the information in parentheses:


 * Reverendo Pároco
 * Paróquia de (name of parish) 
 * (postal code), (municipality), São Paulo
 * BRASIL


 * Find the Brazilian postal code here.

When requesting information, send the following:

'''Write your request in Portuguese whenever possible. For writing your letter in Portuguese, use the translated questions and phrases in this Portuguese Letter-writing Guide.'''
 * Money for the search fee, usually $10.00
 * Full name and the sex of the ancestor sought
 * Names of the ancestor’s parents, if known
 * Approximate date and place of the event
 * Your relationship to the ancestor
 * Reason for the request (family history, medical, and so on)
 * Request for a photocopy of the complete original record

Reading the Records

 * You do not have to be fluent in Portuguese to read your documents. Genealogical records usually contain a limited vocabulary. Use this Portuguese Genealogical Word List to translate the important points in the document.


 * To learn how to read Portuguese records, study the The Portuguese Script Tutorial.


 * Reading aids are samples of typical records with translations of key words provided.
 * Reading Aid for Brazilian Birth Certificates
 * Reading Aid for Brazilian Marriage Certificates
 * Reading Aid for Brazilian Death Certificates

Tips for finding your ancestor in the records

 * Births were usually reported within a few days of the birth by the father of the child, a neighbor, or the midwife. A search for a birth record should begin with the known date of birth and then searching forward in time, day by day, until the record is found. It might be found within a few days of the actual birth date, but in some instances, it might be weeks or months later.
 * In the larger cities of Brazil such as Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, or others, there are several registration offices located throughout the city. If you know in which part of the city your ancestor lived, you should begin your search in the records of the office nearest their home. If you do not know, you will need to search office by office.
 * Some civil registration books have indexes in the front or back of them. These indexes are often by the given name of the child. You may have to check every entry in the index if your ancestor had more than one given name.
 * Marriages typically took place in the hometown of the bride.
 * Death records can be particularly helpful for people who may not have had a civil birth or marriage record but died during the period when civil registration had begun.

Search Strategy

 * Search for the relative or ancestor you selected. When you find his birth record, search for the births of his brothers and sisters.
 * Next, search for the marriage of his parents. The marriage record will have information that will often help you find the birth records of the parents.
 * You can estimate the ages of the parents and determine a birth year to search for their birth records.
 * Search the death registers for all known family members.
 * Repeat this process for both the father and the mother, starting with their birth records, then their siblings' births, then their parents' marriages, and so on.
 * If earlier generations (parents, grandparents, etc.) do not appear in the records, search neighboring parishes.

Cemeteries

 * Sao Paulo State and city both have large numbers of cemeteries given the significant population of both. Most have never been transcribed yet although some are listed at major cemetery transcription database sites such as Findagrave or Interment.net. Interment.net has a page for Brazil and some subpages for some of the states. It is also possible some data exists on Findagrave.com and also some on some Brazil-based genealogy sites, most of which may be written only in Portuguese.


 * Some have been identified and had pages posted at BillionGraves as well, each one has a Google map showing location, and once those who may use the BillionGraves site take photos of any headstones and upload them, others will transcribe them and the data will be available from those headstones.


 * 1858-1977 - . Burial records, including indexes, from various cemeteries in the city of São Paulo. These documents are currently housed at the Arquivo Histórico Municipal de São Paulo. Additional images will be published as they become available.

Immigration

 * 1882-1925 - at FamilySearch — images
 * 1902-1980 -  at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1960-1982 -  at FamilySearch — images

Museums
The Museo Republicano, Itu has archived an inventory of wills, testaments,the equivalent of probate records, and criminal proceedings. A list is provided here.

São Paulo, Brasil - Genealogia