Picuí, Paraíba, Brazil Genealogy

Guide to Municipality of Picuí ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, church records, parish registers, and civil registration.

History
In 1704, Dona Câmara, Captain Antônio Mendonça Machado, Ensign Pedro de Mendonça Isabel Vasconcelos and Antônio de Carvalho, received, by allotment, 3 leagues of land near the creek, which was called by the natives, Pucuí (Picuí), which occurs from south to north and pours into the Acauã, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, and a tributary of the Piranhas River. Hence it is believed that the first penetrations for its colonization began at the end of the 18th century. The resulting penetrations, it seems, only resulted in the establishment of cattle ranches. Between 1750 and 1760 new settlements were registered, including the acquisition of all facilities as properties. The initial settlement of the region took place today in the municipality of Pedra Lavrada, with the construction, in 1760, of its first. With the Picuí stream, there was plenty of water and along a road, where there was already a certain grouping of villas, chosen here for the site, where the city is now built, for the seat of a justice of the peace created by Law nº 3, of October 11, 1841. In 1856, a terrible epidemic of cholera-morbus devastated the State of Paraíba and the inhabitants of the village decided, in promise, to build a chapel in honor of São Sebastião, in the hope and faith of the intervention of the glorious martyr, to decimate that evil. In the same year the chapel was built and around it a new village was born and flourished. District created with the name Picuí, on December 18, 1871. Elevated to the category of village with the name of Picuí, on November 27, 1888. Elevated to the condition of city and municipal seat with the name of Picuí, on 18 December March 1924.

Local Offices
Cartório do Registro Civil Rua Vicente Ferreira de Macedo, 18 Centro Picuí PB 58187-000 Telephone: (83) 3371-2193 E-mail: ricardowmacedo@hotmail.com

Online Resources

 * Brazil, Paraíba, Catholic Church Records, 1731-2013 no Registros Históricos do FamilySearch

Local Churches
PARÓQUIA DE SÃO SEBASTIÃO – 1864 Rua São Sebastião, 01 Centro 58187-000 Picuí PB Telephone: (83) 3371-2410 E-mail: paroquiapicui@hotmail.com

Localities
Districts: Pedra Lavrada, Barra de Santa Rosa, Cuité, Cubati (Canoas), Baraúnas