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Brazil Research Outline |
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Table of Contents
Helps For Using This Research Outline
References To Other Family History Library Publications
Archives And Libraries
National Government Archives And Libraries
State Archives
Civil And District Civil Registry Offices
Diocese And Parish Archives
Libraries And Archives Of Portugal
Private And Public Libraries
Historical And Genealogical Societies
Inventories, Registers, And Catalogs
Biography
Cemeteries
Census
Bahia State Census
São Paulo State Census
Paraná State Census
Polish Census
Searching Census Records
Searching In Big Cities
Church Directories
Church History
Roman Catholic
Judaism
Other Religions
Church Records
General Historical Background
Information Recorded In Church Registers
Records Not At The Family History Library
Search Strategies
Civil Registration
Information Recorded In Civil Registers
Locating Civil Registration Records
Records At The Family History Library
Locating Records Not At The Family History Library
Search Strategies
Court Records
Directories
Emigration And Immigration
Finding Your Ancestor’s Town Of Origin
Passenger Lists
Immigration To Brazil
Records Of Brazilian Emigrants To The United States
Other Records Of Departure
Encyclopedias And Dictionaries
Gazetteers
Finding Place Names In The Family History Library Catalog
Modern Place Names
Historical Place Names
Genealogy
Major Collections And Databases
Family Histories
Computer Networks And Bulletin Boards
Heraldry
Historical Geography
The Captaincies
States
History
Local Histories
Jewish Records
Land And Property
Language And Languages
Language Aids
Maps
Using Maps
Finding The Specific Town On The Map
Finding Maps And Atlases
Military Records
Military History
Minorities
Names, Personal
Surnames
Given Names
Native Races
Nobility
Notarial Records
Occupations
Periodicals
Obtaining Periodicals
Probate Records
Slavery And Bondage
Social Life And Customs
Societies
Taxation
Other Records Of Brazil
For Further Reading
Comments And Suggestions
CIVIL REGISTRATION Civil registrations comprise the vital records made by the government. Records of births, marriages, divorces, and deaths are commonly referred to as “vital records” because they document critical events in a person’s life. Civil registration records (Registros Civis) are an excellent source of accurate information on names, dates, and vital events.
Civil records are important for genealogical research in Brazil. They can be used along with church records. Since 1827 the government has accepted marriages performed in the Catholic Church as official marriages. 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.
Civil records kept track of all the population, including the Catholics and the non-Catholics. Because of the influx of non-Catholics after the 1880s, these records are important in recording this section of the population as well. Because the Catholic Church continued keeping records after the creation of the civil registration in the late 1800s, two types of records may be available for births, marriages, and deaths. Be sure to search both records.
Some civil registration records in Brazil date back to the 1860s and 1870s. Some civil records in Brazil date back to 1889. However, some areas did not begin keeping records until as recently as the 1920s. Because they cover such a large percentage of the population, civil registrations are an extremely important source for genealogical research in Brazil.
At times the Catholic Church stopped keeping death records because the civil authority was keeping them. Occasionally there were disputes between the Catholic Church and government authorities concerning the legitimacy of marriages performed by each authority. Therefore, it is important to check both the civil records and church records to understand the issues completely and to get all the genealogical information about each event. For birth, death, and marriage records that were created before civil records began in a particular area, see the “Church Records” section of this outline.
The information recorded in civil registration records varied over time. Later records generally give more complete information than the earlier ones.
The most important civil records for genealogical research are the birth, marriage, and death registers. These records may be either handwritten or typed and are most often indexed by given name rather than surname.
Other civil records include emancipações (emancipations) made by fathers when their sons reached 18 years of age (not required after 21 years old), land sales (imóveis), and corrections of children’s names (comunicaçes). For the most part, only birth, marriage, and death records have been filmed by the Family History Library, and these will be of most help in doing genealogical research.
Births were usually registered by the infant’s father or by a neighbor of the family within a few days of the event. A birth record includes the day and time of the birth; the newborn’s name; the parents’ names; the town where the birth occurred, which may be different than where it was registered; and the address of the house or hospital the birth took place in. Family information may be included, such as the parents’ ages, birthplaces or residences, marital statuses, and professions and the number of other children born to the mother. You may also find information about the grandparents.
Corrections or additions to a birth record may have been added as a note in the margin.
Early civil marriage entries simply contain the name of the bride and groom and the marriage date. In later years more information was entered, such as the bride’s and groom’s ages, occupations, civil statuses, and residences. Sometimes their parents, grandparents, and birthplaces were listed. In current civil marriage records even street addresses are given.
Because divorce was not common until the 1980s, Brazil has very few divorce records. People would get a desquite, which is a legal separation, but the Catholic Church forbade divorce.
Early civil death records are especially helpful because they may list people whom there are no birth or marriage records for, and they may provide information about the person’s birth, spouse, and parents. Deaths were recorded within a few days of the event in the town or city where the person died.
Death records generally give the deceased’s name, date, and place of death. Depending on the clerk who registered the death, the record may also include the deceased’s age or date of birth (if a child), residence, occupation, and cause of death; burial information; and the informant’s name (often a relative). They often provide the name of a spouse or parents.
Be aware that information in a death record about the deceased’s parents, birth date, birthplace, and so on may be inaccurate since the person who gave the information may not have had complete information.
Civil registration records are kept by all the states on a municipal level. There are over 3,700 municipalities (municípios) in Brazil, with offices of civil registration. The populace register in their local civil registration offices. The records are then sent to the municipal office, district office, or delegation office.
Several small villages will sometimes report births, marriages, and deaths in one central municipality office. Sometimes municipalities existed for a few years and were then dissolved. In villages where this has occurred, births, marriages, and deaths are reported in a neighboring municipality.
Duplicate copies of all civil records are made in separate books. Copies of surviving records and duplicates from the municipality archive are sent to the Arquivo Geral dos Tribunais in the federal district and to the judicial or state archives in the various states.
The Family History Library has microfilmed the civil registration records of many municipalities in Brazil. Civil records from the late 1800s to the 1920s and 1930s, and often up to the 1990s, have been filmed for the states of Pará, Ceará, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul. Some civil registration records have also been filmed for the states of Rio Grande do Norte, Sergipe, and Paraíba.
You will need to know the town your ancestor lived in. Although more than one town may comprise a municipality, the civil records are listed in the Family History Library Catalog for each town and not just by the municipality. Some municipalities are small and only have one civil registration office, but in the larger cities there might be several civil registration offices.
The specific holdings of the Family History Library are listed in the Family History Library Catalog. To find civil registration records in the Family History Library, search in the “Locality Search” section of the catalog under:
Birth, marriage, and death records may be found by contacting or visiting local civil registration offices or district and state civil archives in Brazil. The present location of records depends on whether the local office has sent its records to the higher jurisdiction. Most recent records will be found in the local civil registry offices. Older records may be found in the municipality, district archive, or state archive.
Civil registration records in Brazil can be obtained 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.
After deciding who has jurisdiction over the records for the time period you need, write a brief request to the proper office. Send the following:
If your request is unsuccessful, search for duplicate records that may have been filed in other state or ecclesiastical archives.
Directories of the civil registration offices of Brazil for 1981 and 1993 are available through the Family History Library. The following publications list the addresses of the municipality civil registration offices and will help you identify the municipality a particular town belongs to:
Cadastro de cartórios do Registro Civil 1981 (Survey of Offices of the Civil Registrar 1981). Rio de Janeiro: IBGE, 1982. (FHL book 981 J54; film 1667140 item 1; computer number 0571689.)
Cadastro de municípios 1993 (Directory of Municipalities 1993). 2 vols. Rio de Janeiro: IBGE: 1993–1994. (FHL book 981 E5c; computer number 0791700.)
A 1994 edition also lists addresses for each of the municipalities:
Information Recorded in Civil Registers
Births [nascimentos]
Marriages [casamentos]
Divorces
Deaths [óbitos]
Locating Civil Registration Records
Records at the Family History Library
BRAZIL, [STATE], [TOWN] - CIVIL REGISTRATION
The library’s collection continues to grow as new records are microfilmed and added to the collection.
Locating Records Not at the Family History Library
Effective use of civil records includes the following strategies, used in this order:
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