Portugal, Beja, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Record
Registros Paroquiais da Igreja Católica do Distrito de Beja, Portugal.

Record Description
This is a collection of Catholic Church baptisms, marriages, and deaths for the year of 1881-1911, which were created in parishes of the District of Beja, Portugal. The ecclesiastical jurisdiction for the District of Beja is the Diocese of Beja. This District is divided into 13 municipalities (municípios):


 * Aljustrel
 * Almodôvar
 * Alvito
 * Barrancos
 * Beja
 * Castro Verde
 * Cuba
 * Ferreira do Alentejo
 * Mértola
 * Moura
 * Ourique
 * Serpa
 * Vidigueira

The records were handwritten in Portuguese. Parishes in the District of Beja are part of the Beja Diocese. Each parish priest kept the original register in the parish archive and a duplicate copy was later sent to the Diocesan Archive to keep the records centralized and kept at a higher state of preservation. However, this collection of records is housed at the Beja District Archive. Not all localities may be represented at once. Additional images will be published as they become available.

Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the data and images published on FamilySearch.org Historical Records. It may include the author, custodian, publisher and archive for the original records.

Portugal. Catholic Church Parishes in the Beja District. Parish records, 1881-1911. Arquivo Distrital de Beja, Beja, Portugal.

Information about creating source citations for FamilySearch Historical Collections is found in the wiki article Help:How to Create Source Citations For FamilySearch Historical Records Collections.

Record Content
Some key genealogical facts found in baptism records are:


 * Date and place of the event
 * Name of child
 * Date of birth and gender
 * Legitimacy
 * Parents’ names, residence, and/or places of origin
 * Names of witnesses or godparents’ names

Some key genealogical facts found in marriage records are:


 * Date and place of the event
 * Names of the bride and groom
 * Civil statuses (widowed, single, divorced) of bride and groom at time of the event
 * Place of origin and/or residence of bride and groom
 * Names of parents
 * Names of witnesses

Some key genealogical facts found in death records are:


 * Place and date of death
 * Name of the deceased
 * Civil status of deceased person at time of death
 * Civil status and name of spouse, if married at time of death
 * Cause of death
 * Sometimes names of living parents and children
 * Sometime if the deceased left a testament (will)
 * Place of burial (cemetery)

How to Use the Record
Begin your search by finding your ancestors in the index. Name indexes to baptisms, marriages, and death or burials make it possible to access a specific record quickly. Remember that these indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

When searching the index it is helpful to know the following:
 * The place where the event occurred
 * The name and surname of the person
 * The approximate date of the event
 * The name of the parents or spouse

Use the locator information found in the index (such as page, entry, or certificate number) to locate your ancestors in the records. Compare the information in the record to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination.

When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family. For example:
 * Use the marriage date and place as the basis for compiling a new family group or for verifying existing information.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth of each partner to find a couple's birth records and parents' names.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth to find the family in census records.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records.
 * Use the parent’s birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * Compile the marriage entries for every person who has the same surname as the bride or groom; this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.
 * Continue to search the marriage records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives of the bride and groom who may have married in the same county or nearby. This can help you identify other generations of your family or even the second marriage of a parent. Repeat this process for each new generation you identify.
 * Use the marriage number to identify previous marriages.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

Keep in mind:
 * The information in church records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant.
 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after the late 1800.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from one record to another.

If you are unable to find the ancestors you are looking for, try the following:
 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Check for a different index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities.

Related Websites

 * District of Beja Archive (Portuguese)
 * Diocese of Beja (Portuguese)

Related Wiki Articles
Portugal Catholic Church Records

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.

A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the wiki article Help:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Citation Examples for Records Found in FamilySearch Historical Collections
''The following are examples of records found in different collections. Please help FamilySearch Wiki by replacing these examples with a citation for a record you have found in this collection.''

Example for a Browsed Collection: “Argentina, Buenos Aires, Catholic Church Records, 1635-1981,” digital images, FamilySearch (: accessed 28 February, 2012), Artemio Avendano and Clemtina Peralta, 1884; La Plata &gt; San Ponciano &gt; Matrimonios 1884-1886 &gt; image 71; citing Parroquia de San Ponciano en la Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

When the citation has been replaced with a citation specific to the collection being described, the heading should be changed to Citation Examples for Records Found in This Collection (Heading 3).