Porto, Porto, Portugal Genealogy

This is a historical and genealogical guide to the municipality of Porto.

History

 * Porto is also known as Oporto in English and is the second-largest city in Portugal after Lisbon.
 * It is the only city besides Lisbon to be recognized as a global city.
 * Porto history dates back to around 300 BC with Proto-Celtic and Celtic people known as the first inhabitants.
 * During the invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in 711 it fell under the control of the Moors.
 * In 868, a vassal of the King of Asturias, Léon and Galicia, Alfonso III, and Vimara Peres, a warlord from Gallaecia were sent to reconquer and secure the lands from the Moors.
 * In the 19th century, the invasion of the Napoleonic troops in Portugal brought war to the city of Porto, on 29 March 1809.
 * 24 August 1820, a liberal revolution occurred. In 1822, a liberal constitution was accepted.
 * Miguel I of Portugal took the Portuguese throne in 1828 and he rejected this constitution and reigned as an absolutist monarch.
 * A civil war was fought from 1828 to 1834 which led to a seige of eighteen months. By 1833 the liberal constitution was re-established.
 * In the 20th century on 19 January 1919, the restoration of the monarchy launched in Porto a counter-revolution known as Monarchy of the North. Porto during this time was the capital of the restored kingdom. In less than a month the Monarchy was deposed and no other monachist revolution happened again.
 * Porto is divided into 7 civil parishes.
 * The population of Porto is roughly 297,600 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 Porto Civil Registration.

Contact a Civil Registration Office
The following is a list of civil registration offices within the municipality.

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 Porto 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 near their parish church, and their bones were later removed to an unmarked burial place. The following list may be helpful in twentieth-century research.

Family History Centers
Porto Portugal Family History Center Rua Agostinho de Campos 166 PORTO 4200-016 PORTUGAL Phone: +351 351-2520748 Email: [mailto:PT_Porto@familyhistorymail.org PT_Porto@familyhistorymail.org] Website: Porto Portugal Family History Center

Foz Portugal Family History Center Av Marechal Gomes da Costa 774 FOZ DO DOURO 4150-355 PORTUGAL Phone: +351 122-617-2850 Email: [mailto:PT_Foz@familyhistorymail.org PT_Foz@familyhistorymail.org] Website: Foz Portugal Family History Center