I live in Sao Miguel, I have done research *inloco* several times. I have had, in my hands, perfectly well preserved books, and also, some in very delicate state of deterioration. I have sent several emails to CCA administration and for what I understand, the conditions of these books ALSO contribute to what ever policy of priority they are following, to the online publication.
My most recent email response from the CCA administration, in other words, last week, was that they are just finishing Ponta Delgada (and I am anxiously waiting for Sao Vicente) and will do their best to make Santa Maria available as soon as possible, Island where I am from, and where my direct line (Chaves) is from. I have done some extensive research in CCA, in these books already. "...ter reparado, estamos em vias de conclusão do concelho de Ponta Delgada, um dos maiores dos Açores, *com milhares de imagens*. Vamos fazer os possíveis para que a disponibilidade dos registos de Santa Maria decorrem com a maior brevidade possível." (I underlined and balded "thousands of images") Santa Maria has FIVE parishes, Vila do Porto, Santa Barbara, Santo Espirito, Sao Pedro and the youngest parish is Almagreira, and the periods within the records are, 1599 to 1906, 1640 to 1906, 1671 to 1906, 1670 to 1906 and 1903 to 1906, respectively. Some parishes are or were mentioned as "Matriz" (Matrix), and I believe this is because from all churches in one "Concelho", and I would call it in English, a kind of County, this was the most important, or the "Leading" church. As time went by, some of these places ended up adopting this name as the name of the Parish itself. Example, Ribeira Grande, where I live, has today a Freguesia named Matriz, and the Church is Nossa Senhora da Estrela. Santa Maria Island also has a "Matrix Church" Padroeira Nossa Senhora da Assuncao, ans also known as Matriz, and the parish, today Freguesia, is Vila do Porto. I think I am explaining correctly. All this to say that researchers here, specially the non native or with very few knowledge of how these "Counties" were organized, should keep in mind that its better to have a good understanding of the Azores Geography and then think about the names of the churches, because you will find "Padroeiras" with the same name in different places inside the same Island, or not, and also in different islands. Governmental territory organization is or are, young systems, before church had a lot of power over it. Many younger "Freguesias" today, were nothing but a LOGAR, today written, LUGAR, a word that some of you may have read hundreds if not thousands of times. These Lugares (places) may very well be today a Freguesia, and in some cases, you will NOT find any records prior 1911 online because they are in the village next to it, which governed it, and the record books will tell you that. Example, check Achada - Nordeste to look for places of Santana - Nordeste, like Feteira, also know as Feteira Grande and Feteira Pequena, where today is a Freguesia and in the books, Santana is a parish, or Church's Padroeira. So on, and so on. I have seen AzoresGenWeb some time ago, and has good info, and I would suggest also that everyone should start by knowing which Island (we are nine) is your ancestor coming from, then what Concelho (I would call it County) then Freguesia and I would call it Parish, then think about the Padroeiras, those are the Saints' names the people (povo) would choose, for many endless reason, to "baptize" the church. And as I wrote before, some ended being chosen to be the today's name of the Freguesia. Before you may start correcting me [?] remember please I am not an English native writer or speaker, I was born and always lived in Azores, so my apologies for any confused sentence, but please feel free to do so, I am here to learn. Regarding CCA, I don't have a clue how they are doing it, but I can perfectly imagine its a very dedicated job to do. And yes I am also impatient about Santa Maria, and for all that I have read, I better start planing new visits to CCA. -- Ricardo Chaves -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- 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. To post to this group, send email to azores@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.
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