Jeff, I just saw your post talking about the origin of your family ancestors in RGS, Brazil. As you mentioned in your email, lots of Portuguese immigrated to different places in Brazil and the south was one of them. Many of them immigrated to RGS and adjacent areas in the second half of the XVIII century. The Angra do Heroismo Archives has online the "Relação dos Imigrantes Açorianos para os Estados do Brasil, 1771-1774". The link is below, if you didn't check it yet.
http://www.bparah.azores.gov.pt/html/bparah-arquivo+regional-documentos+genealogicos.html Also, I'm sure you will be able to contact the Historic Archives in Porto Alegre - http://ahpoa.blogspot.com/ - to find out more about the distribution of land in the Viamao area and the families that settled there. Usually the portuguese families that arrived there received land to live and work on, but first you need to work on finding the names of your ancestors. I'm also from Brazil and with family from Azores, mainly Terceira Island. My blog has several links to research in Brazil, including the link above. The Biblioteca Nacional has newspaper from major places in Brazil and they are online. Also National Archives, in Rio de Janeiro can also be very useful for your research. They do a great work and had provided me with several document copies from my family. You can find both links at my blog http://myportuguesegen.blogspot.com/2011/12/immigration-in-brazil.html Unfortunately Brazil doesn't have a census like we have in US. I hope this will help some and anything you can contact me on my private email. Last but not least, I do speak Portuguese. Isabella Baltar myportuguesegen.blogspot.com On Friday, December 27, 2013 11:58:15 AM UTC-5, Jeff Rolim wrote: > > Hello. > > I am new to genealogy but I am ready to start the research that will lead > me to my lost family members. > > I currently live in The United States but I am from a small town in > Brazil, called Viamao. Back in the days, that particular area in Brazil > received a huge number of people from Azores and I always heard as a kid > that my family originated there. > > Unfortunately, I only have a few names and even fewer birth dates that > will make my research even more complicated. My mom was able to get some of > the records from a church in Osorio, Brazil but few people's records were > found. We actually suspect my family was Jewish but forced to become > Christians back then, several friends found their records in church and my > family did not. I am Jewish, by choice, and it would shock me if my > research finds Jewish ancestry at this point in my life. > > Any help or tip from you all will be greatly appreciated, so far I have > requested a DNA kit and will start my genealogy tree soon. > > Thanks, > > Jeff Rolim > Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T -- 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.
