A Death Record

The 1876 death record of my
3x great-grandfather, Luiz Gomes.

Death records are probably the least informative type of record the Portuguese church keeps. They do not usually make any mention of the cause of death. The age of the dead person, except in the case of the very young, is usually rounded off to the nearest five or ten years (the document below is a notable exception). The names of the deceased person's ancestors are more often inaccurate than in any other type of document I've come across. (Think about it -- if the dead person was very old, his grandparents are probably long dead; the survivors may have had to guess at their names or ages). That does not mean these records shouldn't be traced, however; finding them effectively brings a sense of closure to the histories of your ancestors, something which can't be overestimated.

THE ORIGINAL TEXT AND ITS TRANSLATION

Aos vinte dias do mez de outubro do
anno de mil, e outo centos, e setenta, e seis
pelos outo horas da manha a nesta lugar, e
frequezia de Germil Concelho de Penalva do
Castello Dioceze de Vizeu fallesceo tenho
recebido o Sacramento de Penitencia a
Extremauncao, a nao recebeo a Communhao
por de tolher da fala um individuo do
sexo masculino por nome Luiz Gomes
cazado com Esperanca Maria dos Santos de
idade de setenta e cinco annos e vinte e seis
dias Jornaleiro natural desta lugar, e freguezia
de Germil, morador desta dito lugar de
Germil, filho legitimo de Paulo Gomes natural
do lugar de Gondomar, freguezia de Insua, e de
Trinidade Maria natural desta lugar de Germil,
nao fez testamento deixou filhos, e
foi sepultaro no semiterio publico. E para
constar lavrei em duplicado este
assento, ~~que dupois de per lido~~,
digo, que assigno. Era ut supra.
[Signed by]
O parocho Thiago Coelho Menezes
On the twentieth day of the month of October of
the year one thousand eight hundred seventy six,
at eight o'clock in the morning in the area and
parish of Germil, municipality of Penalva do
Castello, Diocese of Vizeu, died, having
received the Sacrament of Penance for the
Last Rites, but without receiving Communion,
as speech had failed him, an individual of the
male gender, by the name of Luiz Gomes, who is
married to Esperanca Maria dos Santos, at
the age of seventy five years, twenty six
days, a journalist, a native of the area and parish
of Germil, a resident of the above area of
Germil, legitimite son of Paulo Gomes, a native
of the area of Gondomar, parish of Insua, and
Trinidade Maria, a native of the area of Germil.
He didn't leave a will in favor of his children, and
was buried in the public cemetery. In testimony
thereof, I made an entry in the duplicate of this
record, ~~which was read and checked~~,
correction, which I signed. Date as above.
[Signed by]
The priest, Thiago Coelho Menezes

Documents

Birth record

Marriage record

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