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Bahia, Brazil Genealogy

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Guide to State of Bahia family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, and military records.

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Beginning Research
Record Types
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Most of your genealogical research for Bahia will be in two main record types: civil registration (registros civis) and church records (registros da igreja). This article will teach you methods for locating and searching these two record groups.


History

The area of Bahia was one of the first to be settled by the Portuguese. In 1549 the Portuguese established the city of Salvador, which became the administrative and religions capital of the Portuguese colonies in South America until 1763. It was the center of sugar cultivation in Brazil from the 16th to the 18th Centuries. This high demand for sugar production resulted in the importation of vast numbers of slaves from western Africa; with more than 37&% of all slaves being sent to Brazil. The catholic archbishop of São Salvador da Bahia serves as the Cardinal Primate of all Brazil, and Salvador, the capital of the state, has the highest number of churches than any other state capital in Brazil.

Municipalities

Civil Registration (Registros civis)

Civil registration records (Registros civis) are government records covering birth, marriage, and death. They are an excellent source of names, dates, places, and relationships.

In 1850, a law was passed requiring registration of births and deaths throughout the country. Until 1870, the Catholic Church was required to keep this record. After 1870, these records were to be kept by the justices of the peace. Since 1827, the government has accepted marriages performed in the Catholic Church as official marriages.

Civil registration records are kept on a municipal level by local civil registration offices. Records are subsequently sent on to a municipal, district, or delegation office. People from small villages often reported their births, marriages, and deaths to a nearby central municipality office. Many towns in Brazil are very new. If you do not find records for the city you need, you will need to determine when the city was founded and from which older city it was created (try a Google search). Origins of cities are also given in the reference book, Cidades e vilas 1998, which can be consulted online from a FamilySearch Center computer.

Online Digital Records for Civil Registration

For several localities in Brazil, civil registration records have been filmed, and digitized online copies of the records are available through FamilySearch Historical Records. Filming continues and more records are added as they become available. Until records become available for Bahía, research should rely mostly on church records. The majority of birth, marriage, and death events would be recorded both in civil and in church records.

Writing for Civil Registration Certificates

It is possible to obtain civil registration records by writing to the local civil registry in the municipality. Civil officials will generally answer correspondence in Portuguese. Your request may be forwarded if the records have been sent to state archives. This method is not always reliable. Officials might or might not respond. Using available church records is advisable first.


Write a brief request in Portuguese to the proper office using this address as guide replacing the information in parentheses:

Cartório de Registro Civil
(postal code), (city), Bahía
BRASIL

Send the following:

  • Money for the search fee, usually $10.00
  • Full name and the sex of the ancestor sought
  • Names of the ancestor’s parents, if known
  • Approximate date and place of the event
  • Your relationship to the ancestor
  • Reason for the request (family history, medical, and so on)
  • Request for a photocopy of the complete original record


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

Church Records (registros da igreja)

The vast majority of Brazilians were Catholic and were registered in entries for baptisms, marriages, deaths, and burials in the local church records. Often two and sometimes three generations are indicated in the registers, with personal information on the family. Church records are the main source prior to 1850, when civil registration began. After this date one should search in both church and civil records, since there may be information in one record that does not appear in the other. For instance, the church records may only list the godparents, while the civil records may list the grandparents.

Online Digital Records for Church Records

For some localities, digital copies of Catholic church records can be searched online:

"Batismos" are infant baptisms, which are used for birth information. "Matrimônios" are marriages. "Óbitos" are deaths. "Índice" is the index.

Microfilmed Church Records in the FamilySearch Catalog

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Microfilmed copies of Church records are often available and are being digitized for online access in the FamilySearch Catalog. Some images can only be viewed at a FamilySearch center. Find your closest FamilySearch Center.
To search the FamilySearch Catalog:

a. Click on this link to see a list of records for Brazil, Bahía.
b. Click on "Places within Brazil, Bahía" and a list of towns and cities will open.
c. Click on the town or city you wish to search.
d. Click on "Church Records" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
e. Choose the correct event and time period for your ancestor. "Batismos" are baptisms. "Nascimentos" are births. Matrimônios and "Casamentos" are marriages. "Óbitos" are deaths. "Índice" is the index.
f. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the microfilm listed for the record. FHL icons.png The magnifying glass indicates that the microfilm is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the microfilm.

Writing to a Catholic Priest for Church Records

Baptism, marriage, and death records may be searched by contacting or visiting local parish or diocese archives in Brazil. Brazil has no single repository of church records. Write your request in Portuguese whenever possible. This method is not always reliable. Officials might or might not respond.

Write a brief request in Portuguese to the proper church using this address as guide replacing the information in parentheses:

Reverendo Pároco
Paróquia de (name of parish)
(postal code), (city), Bahía
BRASIL


When requesting information, send the following:

  • Money for the search fee, usually $10.00
  • Full name and the sex of the ancestor sought
  • Names of the ancestor’s parents, if known
  • Approximate date and place of the event
  • Your relationship to the ancestor
  • Reason for the request (family history, medical, and so on)
  • Request for a photocopy of the complete original record


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

Other Online Records

Emigration and Immigration

Online Resources

Reading the Records

  • You do not have to be fluent in Portuguese to read your documents. Genealogical records usually contain a limited vocabulary. Use this Portuguese Genealogical Word List to translate the important points in the document.

Tips for finding your ancestor in the records

  • Births were usually reported within a few days of the birth by the father of the child, a neighbor, or the midwife. A search for a birth record should begin with the known date of birth and then searching forward in time, day by day, until the record is found. It might be found within a few days of the actual birth date, but in some instances, it might be weeks or months later.
  • In the larger cities of Brazil such as Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, or others, there are several registration offices located throughout the city. If you know in which part of the city your ancestor lived, you should begin your search in the records of the office nearest their home. If you do not know, you will need to search office by office.
  • Some civil registration books have indexes in the front or back of them. These indexes are often by the given name of the child. You may have to check every entry in the index if your ancestor had more than one given name.
  • Marriages typically took place in the hometown of the bride.
  • Death records can be particularly helpful for people who may not have had a civil birth or marriage record but died during the period when civil registration had begun.


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