Pitimbu, Paraíba, Brazil Genealogy

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

History
In Colonial Brazil, Pitimbu received many visits from foreigners interested in exchanging pau-brasil with the Indians. At that time the place became known as Porto dos Franceses, as the French moored their boats at the place and carried out the exchanges with local Indians. The first visitors before the Portuguese were the French, who were admired by the natural beauty of the Indians. Pitimbu resulted from an indigenous settlement. But that also had a great contribution from the captaincy of Itamaracá Pero Lopes de Sousa placed Francisco de Braga at the head of the captaincy, which occupied the island of Conceição and founded the village Marial or Nossa Senhora da Conceição in 1534. However, on the continent lived the Potiguara Indians who imposed a lot of resistance to the colonizers and also to the French traffickers of brazilwood. The Indians and the French were allies, as they maintained a mercantile relationship, while the Portuguese represented the threat of slavery. There were frequent attacks on the Portuguese inhabitants of the region and on the captaincy of Olinda, by Duarte Coelho. Pitimbu Cove was formerly known as Porto dos Franceses for having moorings for more than 12 ships and which respectively anchored around 1480, has a depth of 6 or 10 fathoms, where the ships of the brazilwood merchants, in the past, mainly the French and the other vessels, in a true natural harbor, far from the wild waves of the open sea. Our history is only the result of a very important call, when the captaincy of Itamaracá appeared and that before it was only the French who explored these lands. On the reefs, which separated the beach from the sea outside, there were two entry and exit bars for the vessels. The southern barreta was known by the name of "big barreta" and the northern barreta, by the name of "the picão". The area where the city of Pitimbu is built resulted from some land registered in Taquara. According to the General Land Registry and in accordance with the regulation of January 30, 1854. Pitimbú means in indigenous language Olho D`água do Fumo. Primitively, Pitumbú was known as French Port and reached great prosperity. The author Diogo de Campos Moreno states that after the creation of the General Government of Brazil, the French, in order to better trade on the coasts of the Captaincy of Itamaracá, established a port known as the French port to the north and another on the Auijavá River, today known Abiaí, the old boundary between Goiana (PE) and Paraíba, through which they could enter the mainland lands of the captaincy of Itamaracá, including Paraíba, with safety and their fear of the local authorities. The French still found a port where their galleys moored, a large rock located in the estuary of the Goiana River, which became known as Pedra da Galé. The same author also narrates, about this anchorage, that its recognition was easy. One could see from the square, the tall barriers in the color of tambaba, and the lower old ones corresponding to the mouth of the Abiaí River, equally distributed across the hill of Macaco. Some historians claim that the municipality of Pitmbú is older than the Capital itself, due to the existence of several villages of Tabajaras Indians to the south of Cabo Branco. District created with the name of Pitimbú, in 1758. Elevated to the category of municipality with the name of Pitimbú, on December 22, 1961, spun off from João Pessoa.

Local Offices
Pitimbu 1 Oficio de Notas Praça Senhor Bonfim, 140 Centro Pitimbu PB 58324-000 Telephone: (83) 3299-1220 E-mail: cartoriopitimbu@yahoo.com.br

Online Resources

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

Local Churches
Paróquia NOSSA SENHORA DA PENHA DE FRANÇA (1765) Rua da Matriz, s/n Centro 58324-000 Taquara PB Telephone: 3299-1637 Casa Paroquial Praça Senhor do Bom Fim, s/n Centro Pitimbu PB 58324-000

Localities
Praia de Pitimbu, Praia de Acaú, Praia Bela, Praia Azul, Praia Mariscos, Praia do Pontal, Praia da Guarita, Ponta de Coqueiros, Praia de Pontinhas, Barrado Abiaí, Barra do Graú, Santa Rita.