Portugal, Aveiro, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Image Visibility
Whenever possible, FamilySearch makes images available for all users. However, ultimate rights to view images on our website are granted by the record custodians. The Portugal, Aveiro, Catholic Church collection is available to the Family History Library, FamilySearch Centers, and to members of the supporting organization, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The images can be viewed at a FamilySearch Center near you.

Title in the Language of the Record
Registros Paroquiais da Igreja Católica na Diocese de Aveiro, Portugal.

Record Description
This collection of Catholic Church parish records from Aveiro covers the years 1550 to 1911.

This is a collection of digital copies of baptism, marriage, and burial records from the Aveiro District Archives in Portugal. Most of the records are handwritten in narrative style; only in later years do the records appear handwritten in formatted registers. The text of the records is in Portuguese.

Parish priests performed the ordinances for baptisms, marriages, deaths, and burials, and other holy sacraments in the jurisdiction of their assigned parish or parishes. All the original parish records were kept in the parish archive under the custody of the priest. However, a duplicate of these registers was regularly sent to the diocesan archive, where the records were centralized and kept at a higher state of preservation.

These Catholic Church parish registers were created to record the church sacraments of baptism, marriage, death, and burial, and other ordinances that were performed by the authorized priest in his area of jurisdiction.

Catholic Church parish records are a reliable source for doing genealogical research in Aveiro, Portugal, before 1911 when the civil registration was implemented. For records after 1911, it is suggested that you research both the civil registry and the church records to verify information.

Record Content
Baptism records usually contain the following information:


 * Date and place of the baptism
 * Name of the person baptized
 * Gender and date of birth or age
 * If legitimate or illegitimate
 * Parents’ names and residence or places of origin
 * Names of the paternal and maternal grandparents
 * Names of the godparents

Marriage records usually contain the following information:


 * Date and place of the marriage
 * Names of the bride and groom
 * Names of the groom's parents
 * Names of the bride's parents
 * Names of the witnesses

Death records usually contain the following information:


 * Date and place of death
 * Name, age and gender of deceased
 * Marital status and occupation of deceased
 * Name of the spouse, if married
 * Parents' names and their place of origin
 * Burial information

How to Use the Record
This section provides information on how to search the collection, what to do with information once found, some tips on how to find records, and what to do if no record is found.

Search the Collection
To browse the collection by image: ⇒ Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒ Select the "District" category ⇒ Select the "Municipality" category ⇒ Select the "Civil Parish category ⇒ Select the "Parish" category ⇒ Select the "Record Type and Years" category which takes you to the images.

Search the collection by image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine which one is your ancestor. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to make this determination.

When searching: As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’s given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.

For Help Reading These Records
These records are in Portuguese. For help reading the records, see the following resources:


 * Portuguese Genealogical Word List
 * Portuguese Letter-writing Guide
 * Learning Center Resources:
 * Portuguese Handwriting Lesson 1
 * Portuguese Handwriting Lesson 2
 * Portuguese Handwriting Lesson 3

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.
 * Titles may be clues to property ownership, occupations, rank, or status within the community.
 * Use the estimated age to calculate a birth date.

Unable to Find your Ancestor?

 * Check for variant spellings of the names.
 * Look for an index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. In addition local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records.
 * Search the records of nearby localities (or military unties, counties, parishes, etc.).

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached Wiki article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Related Websites

 * Aveiro Maps
 * Aveiro History

Related Wiki Articles

 * Portugal
 * Aveiro
 * Portugal Catholic Church Records

Citations for This Collection
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information; that is, cite your sources. This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually.

Collection citation:

Image citation: