Portugal Civil Registration

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Portugal

Civil Registration

Online Resources

• 1437-2023 Portugal, Civil Records,1437-2023 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images

Civil Registers (Registros Civis)

In 1832, the Portuguese government passed legislation requiring the births, marriages, and deaths of all residents to be recorded at the local civil registry. Before this legislation, only churches recorded such information.

Civil registers was first instituted as a way for non-Catholic individuals to register their births, marriages, and deaths, while Catholic priests acted as the civil register for the members of their parish. However, this system didn't come into effect until 1878.

With the formation of the First Portuguese Republic in 1910, Civil registration changed drastically. From 1911 onwards, all residents were required to have their vital events recorded in the civil registrar, regardless if this information was also recorded in their church's parish.

Civil birth, marriage, and death records are initially stored at the Civil Registry (Conservatória do Registro Civil).

• After 100 years, birth records are sent to district archives.
• After 50 years, marriage records are sent to district archives.
• After 30 years, death records are sent to district archives.

For a list of Civil Registration Offices, visit Civil Registration Offices
For a list of District Archives, visit Archives and Libraries

Types of Records

The following information may be found in these records:

Birth records (Nascimentos)

• Given name of the child
• Gender
• Legitimacy or otherwise
• Date of birth
• Date of christening
• If this is the first child in that family to be given that name
• Names of the father and mother
• Birthplace of each parent
• Names and birthplaces of the paternal and maternal grandparents
• Names of godparents
• Names of witnesses
• Name of the priest that performed the christening

Legitimations (Legitimações)

Legitimations establish a legal relationship between parents and children who were born out of wedlock. This usually took place after the parents were married, or if they were not married, when the father legally recognized a child as his heir.

• Name of child
• Date of birth
• Place of birth
• Date of parent's marriage
• Date of legitimization
• Date of court-ordered legitimization

Marriage records (Casamentos, Matrimônios)

• Names of the bride and groom
• Marital status of the bride and groom
• If previously married the name or names of the previous spouses
• Birthplaces of the bride and groom
• Ages of the bride and groom
• Names of the parents of the bride and groom
• Birthplace of each parent
• Names of the witnesses
• Name of the priest performing the wedding ceremony

Death records (Óbitos)

• Name of deceased
• Gender
• Age
• Date and place of death
• Date place of burial
• Names of parents if deceased is a minor

Use the Portuguese Genealogical Word List to find the Portuguese versions of these terms.

Extract Forms

The following extract forms were created by Dr. George Ryskamp, JD, AG®. These forms can be used for research in Brazil and Portugal. Click on the type of record form you would like to use and print it for your own files.

Birth/Baptism Extract Form
Marriage Extract Form
Death Extract Form

These forms are designed to help you quickly analyze and organize your documents. They can become a personal index for your family records.

Online Civil Registration

The following online records contain the civil registration records for specific districts in Portugal, and are browse only.

• FamilySearch has browsable images that you navigate by clicking the Municipality and Civil Parish (Freguesia) where the person of interest lived, then select nascimento (birth), casamento (marriage), or obit (death) to browse for the specific record.
  
• Tombo.pt links to the digital images on the district archives website. This includes records not available on FamilySearch. Use the sidebar on the left of the screen to select the Municipality and Civil Parish (Freguesia) where the person of interest lived, then select year range for nascimentos (births), casamentos (marriages), or obits (deaths) to browse for the specific record.
  
• The District Archives provides two ways to access the records. There are links to access through the collection page and through searching the database.
  
  • Collection takes you to the archive’s digital collection. Navigate to the civil registration records by clicking the link for Civil Registration (registro civil). Not all municipalities have digitized their civil registration records, but those that have digital records will be listed. Click the link to online records (acesso em linha) to access the digital images. If no records are available, from the collections page click the link for parishes (paroquias) and see if the church records for the town where your ancestor lived can give you the information you need. The districts of Braga, Bragança, Porto, Setúbal, and Viana do Castelo have not yet made their collection inventories digitally navigatable.
  • Database brings you to the search feature for the district archive. Search for a specific municipality by typing “concelho de [the name of the municipality]” and click search. Navigate the results to see if any civil registration records have been digitized. If none appear, check the church records by searching for “paroquia de [name of parish] to see if the church records can give you the information you need.
    

The church records for the districts of Beja, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Faro, Guarda, Santarem, and Vila Real are stored at the district and the national archives. Both archives will need to be searched to be sure the records are available.
Collections with an asterisk (*) are in the process of being indexed.

District/Region	FamilySearch	Tombo	District Archives
Açores		Portugal, Açores, Civil Registration, Catholic Church Records, and Passports	Collection
Aveiro	Portugal, Aveiro, Civil Registration, 1911-1915* For earlier records, see Portugal, Aveiro, Catholic Church Records, 1550-1911	Portugal, Aveiro, Civil Registration, Catholic Church Records, and Passports	Collection Database
Beja	Portugal, Beja, Civil Registration and Miscellaneous Records, 1609-1950* For earlier records, see Portugal, Aveiro, Catholic Church Records, 1550-1911	Portugal, Beja, Civil Registration, Catholic Church Records, and Passports	District Collection, National Collection District Database, National Database
Braga	See Portugal, Braga, Catholic Church Records, 1530-1911	Portugal, Braga, Civil Registration, Catholic Church Records, and Passports	Collection Database
Bragança	See Portugal, Bragança, Catholic Church Records, 1541-1985	Portugal, Bragança, Civil Registration, Catholic Church Records, and Passports	District Collection, National Collection District Database, National Database
Castelo Branco	See Portugal, Castelo Branco, Catholic Church Records, 1714-1911	Portugal, Castelo Branco, Civil Registration, Catholic Church Records, and Passports	District Collection, National Collection District Database, National Database
Coimbra	Portugal, Coimbra, Civil Registration, 1893-1980* For earlier records, see Portugal, Coimbra, Catholic Church Records, 1459-1911	Portugal, Coimbra, Civil Registration, Catholic Church Records, and Passports	Collection Database
Évora	See Portugal, Évora, Catholic Church Records, 1533-1912*	Portugal, Évora, Civil Registration, Catholic Church Records, and Passports	Collection Database
Faro	See Portugal, Faro, Catholic Church Records, 1587-1880	Portugal, Faro, Civil Registration, Catholic Church Records, and Passports	District Collection, National Collection District Database, National Database
Guarda	See Portugal, Guarda, Catholic Church Records, 1459-1911	Portugal, Guarda, Civil Registration, Catholic Church Records, and Passports	District Collection, National Collection District Database, National Database
Leiria	See Portugal, Leiria, Catholic Church Records, 1534-1911	Portugal, Leiria, Civil Registration, Catholic Church Records, and Passports	Collection Database
Lisboa		Portugal, Lisboa, Civil Registration, Catholic Church Records, and Passports	Collection Database
Madeira		Portugal, Madeira, Civil Registration, Catholic Church Records, and Passports	Collection Database - Search by an individual's name
Portalegre	See Portugal, Portalegre, Catholic Church Records, 1859-1911*	Portugal, Portalegre, Civil Registration, Catholic Church Records, and Passports	Collection Database
Porto	See Portugal, Porto, Catholic Church Records, 1535-1949	Portugal, Porto, Civil Registration, Catholic Church Records, and Passports	Collection Database
Santarém	See Portugal, Santarém, Catholic Church Records, 1544-1911	Portugal, Santarém, Civil Registration, Catholic Church Records, and Passports	District Collection, National Collection District Database, National Database
Setúbal	Portugal, Setúbal, Civil Registration and Miscellaneous Records, 1649-1936* For earlier records, see Portugal, Setúbal, Catholic Church Records, 1555-1911	Portugal, Setúbal, Civil Registration, Catholic Church Records, and Passports	Collection Database
Viana do Castelo	See Portugal, Viana do Castelo, Catholic Church Records, 1537-1911	Portugal, Viana do Castelo, Civil Registration, Catholic Church Records, and Passports	Viana do Castelo District Archive
Vila Real	See Portugal, Vila Real, Catholic Church Records, 1533-1941	Portugal, Vila Real, Civil Registration, Catholic Church Records, and Passports	District Collection, National Collection District Database, National Database
Viseu	See Portugal, Viseu, Catholic Church Records, 1523-1989	Portugal, Viseu, Civil Registration, Catholic Church Records, and Passports	Collection Database

Refer to this website for locating Civil Registration offices in order to determine the municipality where your ancestor would have registered their birth, marriage, or death.
If the record exists but has not been digitized, refer to Portugal Civil Registration in Portuguese Archives.

Civil Registration Records in Portuguese Archives

Many times, Civil Registration records have not been digitized or microfilmed. What that is the case, it is necessary to contact the archives in Portugal to obtain copies of the records.

If the record was created more than 100 years ago, it will most likely be housed at the district archive of the district where the record was created. Visit Archives and Libraries for a list of the district archives of Portugal, with links to the archive's website and online catalog and contact information. If the record can be found on the catalog, this will expedite the archivist's efforts to locate and scan the document.

If the record was created within 100 years, it is likely still at the Civil Registration Office. Use the list of the district offices of civil registrars or Conservatórias list of civil registrars to find contact information for the office. Be aware that, due to privacy laws, you may need to prove your relationship to the individual you are researching in order to access the record.

Use the Portuguese Letter Writing Guide to writing a genealogical request in Portuguese, and be aware that most archives have a fee associated with locating and copying records.

Civil Registration Records at the FamilySearch Library

Some Civil Registers have been microfilmed and at are the FamilySearch Library. Perform a Place Search in the FamilySearch Catalog to determine if the civil registration records for the municipality you are researching in have been microfilmed.