Step 1- Ask as much information as possible from your family members (try to know who their parents and grand-parents were, try to go as far back in time as possible).

Step 2- Try to know which district, municipality (known as conselhos or municipios), town and parish your ancestors were born. Remember, every piece of information is important.

Once you find out the freguesia (parish) they were from, it will be easy to find the records of your relatives (important church records are usually located at the church office). For example, my dad's relatives the Candidos were born in the village of Camarneira but the freguesia was Covoes (on occasion the parish name may change or cease to exist). Here's a copy, of a birth certificate in Portuguese but translated into English of 1898 of the town of Covoes and a death certificate of 1960 of the same town.

The conselho or municipio (municipality) is important because most civil records after 1910 are located there. The archives can often be found in a place called "Conservatorio de Registro Civil de ...". In my case, my concelho was Cantanhede. I was able to order records from the Conservatorio de Registro Civil de Cantanhede .

District Archives hold every document imaginable. In my case I knew that Cantanhede was located in the district of Coimbra. The University of Coimbra housed the District Archives of Coimbra and held some much needed church records.

If you can not go to Portugal, you can basically find the same information at any Family History Centers around the world which are run by the Latter Day Saints Church. They have most of the church records in microfiche before 1910.

Please remember that all information is in Portuguese. I have a Portuguese Genealogy Lexique ( Portuguese-English) that can help you translate records. You may want to hire some Portuguese translators.

Archives, Libraries and Portuguese Collections

• This webpage contains a list of online District Archives, Libraries and other Portuguese collections around the world.

Copies of Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates and Other Documents

• Copy of a Baptism Certificate 1898, Camarneira (Portuguese-English)
• Copy of a Baptism Certificate 1613, Pocarica, Cantanhede - Copia, assento de Baptismo (Portuguese,English and Francais)
• Copy of a Marriage Certificate 1647, Pocarica, Cantanhede - Copia, assento de Casamento (Portuguese,English and Francais)
• Copy of a Marriage Certificate of 1878 (Portuguese-English)
• Copy of a Death Certificate 1613, Pocarica, Cantanhede - Copia, assento de Obito (Portuguese,English and Francais)
• Copy of a Death Certificate (Portuguese-English)
• Copy of a Passport of 1915 (Portuguese-English)
• Portuguese Confession Lists / Rol dos Confessados
• Documento de Inspeccao Medica de Viajantes que se Destinam ao Brasil (1928)

Cemiteries - Cemeterios

Inscricoes Tumulares Antigas da Pocarica
Ancient Tombstones' inscriptions of the Village of Pocarica, Portugal

Communities - Comunidades Portuguesas

This is a site that has links to many Portuguese communities around the world.

Dictionaries, Encyclopedias and Translating Tools...

• If You are looking for dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, Portuguese spell checkers, translating tools (text and urls) you will find what you need.

Portuguese Explorers, Navigators and Conquistadores

• A list of very successful explorers and others working for Portugal in the golden age of discoveries.

Forums and Newsgroups

• This is a list of Brazilian and Portuguese Genealogy forums. It also includes a chat room which deals with Portuguese genealogy.
• 
  Post your Request - Portuguese Genealogy
  For people who request help with their Portuguese Genealogy - Leave Message
  

General Resources

• This is a vast list of links relating to Portuguese genealogy.

Genealogy Letter Writing Helper

• This is a step by step on how to write a letter in Portuguese requesting documents from a Portuguese speaking country.

Historical Parish Books or Town Books

Historical books can be an important source of history and in some instances of genealogy. Do not neglect this important source of information. You can order them most of the time from the parish offices (Junta da Freguesia). Here's what you can find. I dissected two parish books for you. The one of the parishes of Febres and the one of Pocarica from the municipality of Cantanhede.

Magazines and Publications

• This site contains a list of Portuguese magazines, they are not for genealogy purposes.

Maps of Portugal

Portugal***Azores***Madeira
(There is a detailed map of every island.)
See also a map of the Provinces of Portugal - Mapa das Provincias
See a list of small islands in Portugal and the Azores and Madeira. Ilhas e Ilheus de Portugal. Small Islands of Portugal. Iles et ilots du Portugal

Mailing Lists

• Portuguese Mailing Lists

Newspapers

• This site contains a list of close to 100 hundred Portuguese newspapers, they are not for genealogy purposes.
• This is a list of Portuguese foreign newspapers from many countries in the world.

Phones and Postal Codes

• Lista Telefonica National (Port.)
• Portuguese Postal Codes (Go to Codigos Postais)

Personal Pages

• A list of personal pages

Places

• Parishes and Towns of the District of Coimbra
• This site has a list of all the districts, municipalities and parishes of Portugal and has statistics for each place.
• Mapquest
(Type the name of a village or town and it shows you exactly its location).

Researchers

• Professional Portuguese Genealogy Researchers

Search Engines

• A list of Portuguese search engines

Ship Saturnia

• Aboard the Saturnia on May 13, 1953, arrived the first group of Portuguese immigrants in Pier 21 in Halifax, Canada. This is a list and pictures of the passengers. It is a project, you may be able to help.
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Surname Lists

• This is a site who has many researchable surname lists of people.

My own list of Portuguese Surnames - 5000 names

• Portuguese Surname List
  More names, choose a letter letter A -- letter B - --letter C -- letter D - --letter E -- letter F - --letter G -- letter H - -letter I -- letter J - --letter L - --letter M -- letter N - --letter O -- letter P - -letter Q -- letter R- --letter S -- letter T - --letter U -- letter V - --letter X - --letter Z -

  Portuguese in Canada

  With Hardened Hands: Pictures and People

  • This is the list of people who are included in the book "With Hardened Hands: A pictorial history of Portuguese immigration to Canada in the 1950's". I also give a quick overview of the photos.

  Portuguese Immigrants who Arrived in Canada before 1953

  • This is a list of Portuguese immigrants who arrived to Canada before the first official wave of 1953

  Ship Saturnia

  • Aboard the Saturnia on May 13, 1953, arrived the first group of Portuguese immigrants in Pier 21 in Halifax, Canada. This is a list and pictures of the passengers. It is a project, you may be able to help.
  (new)

  Early Portuguese Immigrants in British Columbia

  • Between 1850 and 1900 many Portuguese men, especially from the Azores settled in British Columbia. This is a list of them or choose righ now the person your are interested in.Abraham Bittancourt -- Delarvo Norton -- Emmanuel Bittancourt -- Estalon Bittancourt -- Joe Fernandez-- Joe Flores-- Joe Goncalves -- Joe Lewis -- Joe Silvey -- John Enos -- John Norton-- John Silva -- John Silver -- Joseph Morais --Peter Smith -- . I am still working on getting the sources straight.
  (new)

Early Portuguese Settlers in Florida

Portuguese Culture and Tourism

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