Well, where does it tell you that the marriage was performed in that church in Matosinhos? Usually, but not always, you will find the marriage record in the place where the bride was from but sometimes it was where the groom's family was. I see no reason why a girl from Madeira could not get on a ship to Porto and get married. Maybe it was important to them to marry there, who knows maybe his mother was sick and couldn't make the trip to the island. Maybe that is where his parents got married and the tradition continues...There may be plenty of good reasons that you will never find out. The important thing now is if that source where you found out about the marriage taking place in Matosinhos is reliable then yes, that is where you need to be looking for the record. Here is the link to the microfilms from the church of S. Mamede: http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titlefilmnotes&columns=*%2C0%2C0&titleno=379523&disp=Registros+paroquiais++ Yes, research is like a mysterious puzzle that is why it is so exciting and frustrating at the same time. Good luck, Luis Beal tiamaria <tiamaria@frostdesign.com> wrote: Luis: Thank you so much for the information and the link. So much of this geneology stuff is like solving a mystery or putting together a puzzle. Trial and error and sometimes just sheer luck. One question that will probably never be anwered for me is- should this church be the source of the marriage- how in the world did my G-grandmother from Machico, Madeira wind up getting married to a man from Porto at a church in Matosinhos? I have located her descendants back a few generations and they are all from Machico or the surrounding areas. I could understand Lisboa or Coimbra as the universities there draw from all over. I do not know anything about Matosinhos and I guess it is time to learn. The adventure continues.... Thanks again, Mary ============================== Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx --------------------------------- Yahoo! for Good Click here to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.