While I was in Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel island, I made extensive use of the inventories or wills. I was able to find them on the Archives Catalog at http://www.arquivos.azores.gov.pt/ I don't know how to find them for other islands. I don't think the other archives entered them or perhaps the inventories or wills are not housed at the other archives.
The inventories and wills varied a lot and from time period to time period. The more recent ones were better, as they were more organized and followed a format. They started with a cover page, naming the deceased and who was in charge of their inventory. Some had maybe 7 pieces of paper (so potentially 14 pages of information). Some had 144 pieces of paper (288 pages of information). The more "recent" ones (1920s forward) had a copy of the death certificate with the cause of death listed. Or the best that medicine knew for that time period. They named children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren if they had any. If you can read the births and marriages, then you already know the words of "filhos" and "netos." "Bisnetos" are the great-grandchildren. Some listed relatives on the paternal side "pelo lado paterno" or the maternal side "pelo lada materna," Anytime I saw the word "familia" I scanned the page. Some listed what I believe were people they owed. Some listed what they owned, as in the furnishings and whatnot. My 2 great-grandmother's had a declaration from her husband. I don't know what it says yet. I'm waiting on my cousin to tell me. And there was a lot of legal stuff in there too. The earliest will/inventory that I looked at was from 1807. Some exist from the 1700s. Not every ancestor will have an inventory or will. You didn't need to own property to have an will or inventory. As I said, it appeared that one guy owed a lot of people a lot of money. They allowed me to take pictures with my camera (found out I need a different pair of reading glasses to take pictures). They said that the inventories are NEVER to be posted anywhere on the Internet. That means Ancestry.com, Geni.com, My Heritage, FamilySearch.org, your own personal page, etc. They consider the inventories private Yes, I understand that if the person died in 1807, no one alive today was mentioned in that will. But they have their rules. I said it was going to be left on my computer so I could consult it. I would extract only genealogy information from the documents, but would never post an image of any them. So for those utilizing the inventories/wills, do NOT post them ANYWHERE on the Internet or you mess it up for future genealogists. Hopefully the other archives will get their inventories/wills up on the Archives Catalog. Cheri Mello Listowner, Azores-Gen Researching: São Miguel island: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada -- 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 azores+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/azores.
