Reading and translating an old Portuguese record

A baptism, marriage or death record you cannot read? I transcribe it, translate it into English, and extract every piece of information useful to your research.

For you if you have an old Portuguese record you cannot read.

45 € per record · 120 € for 3

What the service includes

Parish registers (baptisms, marriages, deaths) and Portuguese civil records, from the 16th to the 20th century.
Reading the handwriting and abbreviations of priests and civil registrars.
Reading the marginal notes (averbamentos): marriages, deaths, corrections added later.
Explanation of old terms: “exposto”, “filho natural”, “digo”, freguesias and hamlets.

What I need from you

A photo or a readable scan of the record, or its reference in the digitised archives (DigitArq, Torre do Tombo, FamilySearch).
What you already know about the person, even roughly.

What you receive

The full transcription of the record, in its original language.
Its English translation.
A table of everyone mentioned: name, role (parents, grandparents, godparents, witnesses), places and dates.
My notes and the leads for going back to the next generation.

A concrete example

You found on DigitArq the baptism record of your great-grandfather Manuel, baptised in 1887 in a parish near Ourém, but you cannot read the priest’s handwriting. I send you the transcription and translation of the record, then the table of the people mentioned: his parents, his four grandparents, his godfather and godmother, with their villages. The grandparents’ names already give you the next generation, which can be researched with a second record.

Typical case, to illustrate the process.

What a real old register looks like: a page of baptisms from 1696, in Castelo (Mação).

Register of baptisms, 1696, parish of Castelo (Mação), from my own research. Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo.

And here is the reading sheet I send you for a record of this kind (shown in French; yours will be in English):

Turnaround and price

Within 5 working days. 45 € per record, or 120 € for 3 records. If a record turns out to be unreadable or damaged, I tell you before charging.

Working translation, not official: it does not replace a certified translation for administrative purposes.