You can also access Ancestry.com and several other subscription services at no charge at Family History Centers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. My local FHC director told me that they have the full, 'world-wide' version there, while some public libraries may only have a limited version. She said they get Ancestry's family trees and photos and so on, which may not be available at public libraries.
FamilySearch.org is a free online site that has millions of records, including US Censuses. They are gradually adding films from continental Portugal, some indexed, some just as digitalized, browsable, films. Someone posted this week that the Portugal information on FamilySearch is only accessible to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. That is not the case. I spoke with my local FHC Director about that. Logging in as a member of the LDS church gives one fullest access to the site, especially to the personal family trees. You can also log in without being a member of that church: click LOG IN and then "Create An Account". But going in without logging in still gives you broad access. As far as I've seen, most if not all of the records collections on Familysearch.org are open to anyone. It is possible that some entities who allow their records to be filmed and posted on this site put limits on who can access them. Neither myself nor the FHC Director has ever encountered that. The Portuguese films are available to everyone. I got access to them without logging in. As of today, there are 32 records collections available for Portugal, so not all the records are on there yet. Fifteen have been added this year to date, with 8 having been added in June alone, all continental Portugal. You have to check back regularly. May I live long enough to see the Azores on that list!! Most images on Familysearch are available to everyone. However, with some collections (I've only seen US collections in this category) the images part comes from a subscription service, like Ancestry.com. You can see the indexed information, but you can't see the original image unless you log in. Apparently these sources have an agreement with the church, as these are the subscription services available free to the public on computers in the Family History Centers. To find the Portuguese collections on Familysearch.org: Go to familysearch.org. Choose Search. The top part helps you find individuals who have been indexed. (Very few for Portugal!) Scroll down. At the bottom of the page you will find the available records collections. Select Continental Europe. Then select Portugal. There are 32 items listed, but most of them are for Browsing only, which means they have not yet been indexed. The ones with a number in the Records column have been indexed, or are in the process of being indexed. The date of the last update is given in the last column. In all cases, a little camera on the left tells you there are images available. What you see is all that is available at this time, but they are adding collections all the time. Clicking on the top of the last column will put them in "Last Updated" order, and you can see that 8 were added in June of this year. One last comment, Familysearch has recently been "New and Improved", and it can be helpful to use their tutorials. Click on "Get Help" at the very top right corner of the Home page. Eileen Leite Chicago, IL, USA. From: mances [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, August 06, 2013 8:02 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AZORES-Genealogy] Re: Culturacores Website Pam, I tried the website looking for Mondim da Beira in Portugal but the records are only available to the members of the church! Manoel From: Cheri Mello [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, August 07, 2013 4:57 PM To: Azores Genealogy Subject: Re: [AZORES-Genealogy] Re: Family tree Gary P, If you don't have a subscription to Ancestry.com, you can go to your local public library to access it. You can look for your dad beginning in the 1940 U.S. Federal Census. Then find him in the 1930 and the 1920. You may be able to find him immigrating into America as well, by checking Ancestry's Immigration Collection. He'll probably be under the name of Francisco and the Frietes may be Freitas, Frates, etc. Once you check under Freitas, you'll also have to check under Pimentel, Pimental, etc. You don't know if he immigrated under the compounded surname or not. All that should answer your question about him living on the east coast. (I'd save a copy of the census too). Those census should also tell you if he was a naturalized citizen or not. You can order his naturalization packet from the USCIS. John Vasconcelos is going to be gone over a couple of weeks. He was born in the Fresno area and says he believes your line was from Fajazinha. My "how to" guide can be found on the Azores GenWeb here: goo.gl/XXGwQe You may also wish to bookmark the main Azores GenWeb site: http://goo.gl/Vmutv5 Cheri Mello Listowner, Azores-Gen Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada -- For 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. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores. -- For 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. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.
