Hi Cheri,
I was doing some research about these documents and came across some
information that explains more about them. The first is a scope and content
section in the arquivos.azores.gov.pt website which says that these were
required special processes that occurred when the heirs were minors,
disabled, or absent. These inventories were originally called "Inventarios
Orfanologicos" and then as just "Inventarios" which were required until
1994. After 1994 there was a law number 227/94 of September 8th that
eliminated the requirement.
The other place I found more information was in the forums of a Portuguese
genealogy website called geneall.net. It says that when the judge had
knowledge of someone's death whose heirs were minors, disabled, or absent,
it was required to administer their rights. In this case, the head of
household (which was the surviving spouse or if both were deceased, the
eldest child) was summoned to appear in court in three days to, under oath,
present required statements, organize a family council consisting of five
persons including family members, or friends of the heirs being
administered. Only after this, the process of creating the inventory would
start. The law required that the "inventariante" or head of household to
make a statement under oath describing all of the assets left by the
deceased. It goes on to say that the penalty for perjury of any assets was
the loss of the assets that were not mentioned to the co-heirs.
There are several parts to these inventories: (sorry for not having the
proper accentuation, but my keyboard doesn't have them)
- Declaracoes de Cabeca de Casal (Head of Household Statements or
Declarations)
- This is the most important part of these inventories from a
genealogy standpoint, because it contains information about the deceased,
the head of household or surviving spouse, heirs, pre-nuptial agreements,
addresses, dates, and the existence of a will. So, these inventories were
required regardless of will.
- Relacao de Bens, this part contains the list of assets
- Conferencia de Interessados, this part contains information about the
meeting presided by the judge in which the heirs decide in agreement the
award of assets. If no agreement was reached, they started a process of
"licitacoes" which was some sort of bidding process of the assets.
- Mapa de Partilha, this part includes how each share of the assets was
assigned to each heir
- Sentenca, the judicial decision
So, the most important piece of these inventories is the "statement(s) of
the head of household", which contains information on the couple, children,
including their spouses, with their ages. In addition, they include a death
certificate for the purposes of creating this inventory which contains more
information about the deceased including cause of death.
Sources:
www.arquivos.azores.gov.pt/details?id=1040114
https://geneall.net/pt/forum/159229/inventario-orfanologico/
Ruben
-
- On Sunday, July 22, 2018 at 7:19:54 PM UTC-4, Cheri Mello wrote:
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
>
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