Most of your genealogical research for Madeira Islands can be found in the civil registration (registros civis) and church records (registros da igreja). Civil registration records (Registros civis) have been kept since 1832. They are government records covering birth, marriage, and death. The majority of Portuguese were Catholic and their baptism, marriage(s), deaths and burial, were recorded in the local church records. Often these registers include personal information on the family, including two and sometimes three generations.

In 1910, the First Portuguese Republic mandated that all documents with vital information that were previously recorded and held by the Catholic Church be turned over to the government. Some of these records are now in the national archive in Lisbon, called the “Torre do Tombo”, some are in archives that were established in each district, and some unfortunately were lost in this transfer.

For many locations, digital copies of civil registration of baptisms, marriages, and passports can be searched online at Arquivo E Biblioteca Da Madeira (ABA) https://abm.madeira.gov.pt/en/resources/archives/