This past week there were a few posts relative to the records of Bretanha. I would like to add the following for purpose of clarification and enlightenment: The vital records of Bretanha available on the Azorean Government website only go back to 1703. However, in 1727, the Vicar of Bretanha, André de Sousa Dias, decided to save what was left the registers of much earlier baptismal and marriage records. These registers were in such a terrible state of decay that already many pages were missing and the remaining ones were deteriorating, crumbling, with missing pieces, chewed away by mice, etc. Thus he developed an index of marriages going as far back as 2 Jan 1569 and baptisms going as far back to 11 April 1606! The baptismal registers note the names of the godparents. The marriage records note the names of the witness, in most cases, as well as the names of the parents of the bridal couple. Rodrigo Rodrigues and Carlos Machado used this index when dealing with marriages and baptisms which do not appear in the existing records.
The late Father Octávio Luis dos Reis of Pilar, copied out the baptismal index, but did not bother with the names of the godparents. There are many gaps in the index. The registers themselves must have been discarded once the Vicar finished his index. This index has helped me extend many, many of my Bretanha lines. And I owe it all to the interest and dutiful interest of the Vicar, André de Sousa Dias, may he rest in peace. John Miranda Raposo -- 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]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.
