Castelo de Vide, Portalegre, Portugal Genealogy

This is a historical and genealogical guide to the municipality of Castelo de Vide.

History

 * Castelo de Vide is a municipality in Portugal.
 * It is unclear when the first settlers occupied the territory of Castelo de Vide. According to archeologists, the decision to occupy the land came from the morphology of the soil and from a territorial strategy to occupy and conquer lands.
 * In 1299, Rui de Pina stated that the Castelo de Vide remained a weak stronghold, and that is the locality was more place than strong. Afonso Sanches, son of King Afonso III, began to rebuild the wals and his brother king Denis continued the task. It was completed sometime in the 14th century.
 * In 1276 Castelo de Vide became its own municipality and until this time, the territory's settlements were part of Marvão.
 * In 1512 a new foral was issued by King Manuel I.
 * There are 4 parishes in Castelo de Vide.
 * The population of Castelo de Vide is roughly 3,400 people.

Online Records
After 100 years, all civil registration records are sent to the municipality's district office.

To view online civil registration records, visit Portalegre Civil Registration.

Contact a Civil Registration Office
There are no known civil registration offices within the municipality of Castelo de Vide. Contact a civil registration office in a nearby municipality to find out if they have the records for Castelo de Vide.

Communicate your request in Portuguese whenever possible. For writing a letter or email in Portuguese, use the translated questions and phrases in this Portuguese Letter-writing Guide.

Online Records
In 1910, the Portuguese government transferred all birth, marriage, and death records from all the country's parishes to the district offices. These records are now in either District or National archives. Many of these records have been digitized and can be viewed at the District Archive's website or on FamilySearch.

To view online records, visit Portalegre Church Records.

Contact a Parish
If you are seeking church records created more recently than 1910, it is possible to obtain them by writing to the parish where the record was created. Writing to a parish is not always a reliable way to obtain information, because officials may or may not respond.

Conferência Episcopal Portuguesa lists websites for the 20 Dioceses of Portugal. Once on the Diocesan website, use the listing of parishes (paróquias) to locate contact information for the parish in question.

Communicate your request in Portuguese whenever possible. For writing a letter or email in Portuguese, use the translated questions and phrases in this Portuguese Letter-writing Guide.

Cemeteries
Cemeteries did not become popular in Portugal until the late nineteenth century. Prior to this, individuals were buried in their parish church cemetery, and their bones were later removed to an unmarked burial place.

Family History Centers
Castelo Branco Portugal Family History Center Rua Senhora da Piedade Lote 2, Res-do-Chão Esquerdo CASTELO BRANCO 6000-279 PORTUGAL Phone: +351 272 326 891 Email: [mailto:PT_CasteloBranco@familyhistorymail.org PT_CasteloBranco@familyhistorymail.org] Website: Castelo Branco Portugal Family History Center