Family branches
The lines of the family
A large family is really a set of branches — lines that share a common root but grow their own way. Here are the branches we are tracing, the key ancestors who anchor each one, and the paths that carried some of them far from the Serra da Estrela.
data/family.js and are illustrative examples.
As the family is documented, branches can be added, split, or renamed there.
Maternal & paternal lines
How we record both sides
A family history that follows only the surname misses half the story. Where the records allow, we trace maternal lines — the mothers, grandmothers, and the families they came from — alongside the paternal Guerra line. Married-in families such as the Nunes, Figueiredo, Lopes, and Ramos names appear in the tree for exactly this reason.
On the family tree, you can filter by branch to follow a single line, and each person's card links to their parents, spouse, and children so you can move between the branches freely.
Migration paths
From Freixo da Serra outward
From a single mountain parish, the family spread in stages: first to the mill town of Gouveia, then to Lisbon, and — in the emigration years around the turn of the 20th century — overseas. Tracing these paths is one of the most active parts of the project, and one where we most need help from relatives living abroad.
- Local Freixo da Serra → Figueiró da Serra & neighbouring parishes (marriage and land ties).
- Regional Freixo da Serra → Gouveia town → Lisbon (work in the wool and textile trades, then the capital).
- Overseas Serra da Estrela → Brazil Under review — passenger records being sought.
Are you a descendant of an emigrant branch?
If your family left Portugal generations ago and you suspect a connection to Freixo da Serra, you may be the missing link for one of these branches. Tell us what you know.