Hi Mike, I would say that the majority of the Biblioteca's records match what's in the FHLC, or as far as what's called vital records go.
This stuff will vary by island too. Different historians had interests in different islands. Let me pick on Ponta Garca on Sao Miguel island. FHLC has: Baptisms 1683-1883 (with gaps). The Biblioteca should have up to about 1910 today. Marriages 1675-1884 (and the biblioteca should have up to about 1910 today). Obitos 1696-1883 (and the 1910 thing). Now what does the Biblioteca really have? Baptisms 1676-1910 Marriages 1675-1910 Obitos 1696-1910 They also have some obitos of children from 1771-1809; adoptions, recognitions, and legitimizations from 1877 (filmed) and 1892-1895 (not filmed - remember, they filmed in the mid-1980s, so stuff from the 1890s wasn't available for filming); an index to baptisms (1861-1972) and an index to marriages (1849-1986). So why weren't the baptisms from 1676-1683 filmed? Maybe someone else had the book and they missed it in microfilming. But it's probably in real, real, real bad shape. You can see some of the damage on the microfilm. Some books are tattered with wormholes. Some look pretty fragmented. When Shirley Allegre and I went, we wanted to see a particular record. We couldn't read the parents' names in the baptism. Shirley had a copy of it from the microfilm. We requested the book and waited. The librarian came out with the microfilm. I tried to explain to her in my broken Portuguese that we needed the book. Shirley pulled out her baptismal copy and we asked the librarian to read the parents' name. She couldn't and understood why we wanted the book and not the film. She took Shirley's copy and went to the back room and came out with the book opened to the correct page. It was completely falling apart. Shirley and I carefully took it to the table, wrote the information on the back of her copy and carefully took the book back. We did not close it, touch the page, nothing. The book was very, very fragile. Also, various indices exist that weren't filmed. The archive has them and they don't necessarily match what was filmed. I'll pick Achada for this one. Achada marriages are in real bad shape. Looks like half of one record was filmed with another fragmented half. Terribly sad. The marriages were filmed from 1690-1883 (with gaps). An index exists that supposed to run from 1695-1729. That's quite helpful with those fragmented records. Reality is that the index actual covers about 1680-something to 1729. This is where the historians (and a genealogist's familiarity with the freguesia) comes in to play. Ernesto do Canto lived on Sao Miguel island in the 1800s. He had an interest in genealogy and history. So at some point in the latter half of the 1800s, he got access to some of Sao Miguel records and created some indices. He wrote out on a piece of paper of what he indexed. For Achada, he indexed the marriages from 1695-1729. These aren't filmed. You can go to the archive and view them. Later, another historian, Rodrigo Rodrigues came along (he probably knew Canto as their lives overlapped). In 1929, Rodrigo took the index from Achada and reworked it. He corrected some of Canto's work and apparently tried to piece together some fragments to expand the index. However, the Biblioteca is working off of Canto's list and say that that have 1695-1729. However, if you open the book and look at it, you can see in Rodrigo's writing that he saw a record from 168... 6 Apr Manoel Vaz Mancebo, viuvo. That's all that could be read out of that fragment of the record. The next one is 1688, then 1689, then 3 from 1690. Anyways, you can tell the difference in handwriting between the two men. On the front of the Achada index, Rodrigo wrote in Portuguese "These extracts were corrected/amended and compared/checked with the original books of the parish register of Achada, in 1929, by Rodrigo Rodrigues. How did I learn all this stuff? The original list of what the Biblioteca has for Ponta Garca came from another researcher. He had written them and they sent back that list. He gave me a copy. Good thing he did. When I requested the index, they told me they didn't have it. I pulled out that old letter that they had sent this other researcher and pointed to the book I wanted. I don't think they were too happy with me. I learned the Canto and Rodrigues stuff like you are - reading the list. And from going to the archive myself. People post what they know. If it's one of my freguesias, I'm in heaven. What's in one freguesia may not be in the other. A month or so ago, Eliseu posted about the Proclamas, which sound like what we call the marriage banns here in America. He found those records in Ribeira Grande. Each island is different. Sao Miguel has Canto and Rodrigues. Also Carlos Machado. The other islands don't. Rosemarie just posted some books that other historians wrote on the other islands. You will learn to become familiar with what is available for your island and then your freguesias as well. Most record keeping (worldwide) only goes back to the Middle Ages, if you are lucky. I think the Azores were settled around 1444. Not all islands were settled at the same time. I think only one freguesia has records back that far. The island of Flores has had Mother Nature and pirates ruining their records. Some of their freguesias don't go back very far at all. After that, yes, you will be out of luck. By then, you'll be needing to chase another line though! Cheri Mello Listowner, Azores-Gen Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. 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