Cheri, it looks like everyone is confused! In all of the time that I've been researching the Azores (more than some and less than others), I have never come across a jurisdiction referred to as Matriz-Civil. The name of the Civil Registry is just as one would expect it to be, "Registro Civil." Matriz is a "Church term" meaning "Mother Church." It dates back to before parishes (freguesias) were assigned to a particular "conselho." For many years the freguesia of São Paulo in Ribeira Quente was under the jurisdiction Arcanjo Sao Miguel da Villa Franca - although geographically, it fell within the boundaries of Povoacao. The same held true for a number of other parishes that were under the jurisdiction of Divino Espírito Santo in Maia, Nossa Senhora da Estrella, in Ribeira Grande, or Sao Jorge, in Nordeste. Some of those parishes eventually ended up in those other Conselhos - while others did not.
-- 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.
