would you please inform the link for that index? Thank you On Friday, January 17, 2014 10:43:41 AM UTC-2, Eileen Leite wrote: > > Got your attention, didn’t I? haha. Read on: there are no computer > databases, but still, you can save hours of searching. > > > > I made these notes for myself several years ago, when I was doing > microfilm research. It’s a bit long, but worth it if it helps! > > > > Some of the Ponta Garca NS da Piedade church records were indexed by > devoted souls. Even so , the indexes can be very tricky to figure out. > These are the old indexes, handwritten in the church books, not modern > searchable databases! As delighted as I was to find this time-saving > blessing, it was very frustrating figuring out how to use the index to find > the actual record. It made me crazy to see a baby of ‘my’ couple in the > index and not be able to find the full record. > > > > I have found indexes in the back of volumes of records, so know that they > apply to the previous pages, not the following. If a volume has records > covering several years, there may be an index for each year, tucked in > after that year, or the index may well cover several years. So go to the > end of the year and then to the back of the book. An index may only be a > couple of pages and can be easy to miss. One way to tell an index is, that > the records themselves leave a clear margin on the sides, but the index > lists names on the left. > > > > The baptismal indexes I’ve found list first names in the left column, then > parents’ names, and then page number where the record should be found. > Some priests numbered each baptism for the year in the book, but the > indexes I’ve seen always give the page number, not the baptismal number. > Sometimes there is a V after the number, which means on the left hand page, > which can mean on the opposite page to the numbered one or sometimes on > the next page. Each page isn’t numbered, rather as you turn the pages the > number in the upper right hand corner of the right page goes up by one with > each turn. > > > > Some lists start all parents’ names with “de”, meaning “(child) of”. That > was annoying and made it harder for me to find the name I was looking for! > The parents’ names are frequently abbreviated. If you are new at this, go > carefully and keep an open mind. If you like to scan for a particular name, > looking for its shape, don’t. Your eye might miss it. Read every line > carefully. J with a tiny superscript o or e, is Joao or Jose; Medeiros > might be Med or just M with a superscript d. So “Joao de Medeiros” might be > written as “Jo dMed”. (The formatting might not come through, but I think > you have the idea.) and of course you all know that names are flexible, > especially for the women. Also remember that numbers may not be shaped > like you would today and ink fades so what appears to be a “3” may be an > “8”. Remain open minded! > > > > Baptisms are indexed by the babies’ first names, first in alphabetical > order, then in the order they appear in the book. This can be very > helpful. There is also a little “Whoops” list at the end of the index > giving names the priest skipped. Knowing the names are in order can be > helpful as the page numbers in the index are sometimes (make that, > frequently) wrong. I have found more than one record a page or two after > the number in the index. Also, I think the wonderful priest who went > through and indexed one book might have gotten cross eyed and read the > wrong line on his notes. Like buttoning your sweater wrong, one misread > page number can put the next 6 names off. I always note the entries two or > three before and after my family name. If I can’t find my baptism, I’ll > look for the one after it. If I find it, I know that my Antonio is the one > before it, and just go back until I find him. > > > > One name was the fifth from the last Maria for the year. I couldn’t find > her! I started with the last record and went back , looking at the names > in the margin, carefully counting each Maria baptized. I found the five > after her and the one before her, and so knew she had to be between them, > and started reading all the records there with great care. Ah ha! The name > in the margin was so faint and blurred that it didn’t look like Maria. If I > had not narrowed down the search, it would have taken me much miserable eye > strain in that very hard to read, very poor quality microfilm, to find that > child. > > > > May your searching be successful! > > > > Eileen Leite > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
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