Examples of a genealogy study and family history book

Examples

A study, a book and a tree

One of our studies went back nine generations, with around 300 documents from the 16th to the 20th century, and led to a book telling the family's story up to the present day.

The excerpts below come from that real study. To protect the family, we have changed the names, places and dates; the structure, the method and the type of information are the originals.

From the study · person record Names, places and dates changed

Name: Domingos Vaz de AlmeidaMerchant in Porto, born in the Upper Minho
Parents: João Vaz and Catarina de AlmeidaPrimary documentMarriage record, 1671; confirmed by the 1729 inquiries [A2.21] [A2.50]
Baptism: 18-02-1638, Santa Maria de VilarPrimary documentParish registers, Baptisms [A2.7]
Marriage: 03-05-1671, Massarelos, Porto, to Maria FerrazPrimary documentMarriage record, in the bride's parish [A2.21]
Occupation: “Man of business”, owning houses in Rua das FloresPrimary document1709 deed; 1719 tithe tax roll [A2.36] [A2.47]
Place of birth: A 1758 file gives Porto as his place of birthLater discrepancyContradicted by contemporary sources; the error is explained in the file itself [A2.75]
Interpretation: The houses in Rua de São Miguel probably stayed in the familyHypothesisHis son is living in the same street in 1745; to be confirmed
Death: 21-09-1719, São Nicolau, PortoPrimary documentLeft a will; his two sons were executors [A2.48]

Every fact has its source and its degree of certainty. Discrepancies are not hidden: they are explained.

From the book · part II, The city

The boy who left

Porto, c. 1650–1750

In 1729, when a commissioner went to Vilar to ask about the grandparents of a young graduate from Porto, the witnesses remembered Domingos well. They said he had “left as a boy” for the city, where he married and had children.

As a boy. We do not know at what age exactly, but the phrase points to adolescence: twelve, fourteen, sixteen. His mother had died when he was five; his father had remarried. The house was not enough for everyone. For a farmer's second son, the ways out were well known: the Church, the army, Brazil — or Porto.

Domingos chose Porto.

When he reappears in the records, he is already an established man. On 3 May 1671 he married Maria Ferraz in Massarelos. The record states explicitly that the groom was the son of João Vaz and Catarina de Almeida, “of the parish of Santa Maria de Vilar”. Domingos was thirty-three. Maria was twenty-one.

Where the documents fall silent, the book asks questions and marks hypotheses as such.

From the book · part III, Men of the law

When the Kingdom was left without a king

Porto, 1801–1819

The decree of 16 August 1801 gave Luís a seat as judge of the Court of Appeal of Porto. He was fifty-four and was coming back, at last, to the city where he was born, to the court where his father had served. For the first time in thirty years of his career, his work and his home were in the same city.

In November 1807, Junot's army entered Portugal. The royal family, the Court and much of the machinery of the State sailed for Brazil. Lisbon was occupied.

In June 1808, when news arrived of the uprising in Madrid, the Spanish general who governed Porto withdrew to Galicia. The city was left without a government. Between 6 and 9 June the civil and judicial authorities met to decide what to do — and among those present was Judge Luís Vaz de Almeida.

By an edict of 26 June, the Junta that took over the city appointed him to pass sentence on the prisoners “of State and of disloyalty”: those accused of collaborating with the French.

From the tree · main line and siblingsNames and dates changed. The main line is highlighted.

These examples show what an extensive study can achieve. Every family is different: what can be found depends on the records that have survived.

A study, a book and a tree

The boy who left

When the Kingdom was left without a king

Start with what you already know.