The Pires Ferreira family is a family from Brazil created in 1725 with the arrival of Domingos Pires Ferreira in Recife. The family quickly rose in importance, specially on Maranhão and Piauàregions.
The Pires Ferreira family has four main branches: the pernambucanos (from Pernambuco), maranho-piauienses (from Maranhão and PiauÃÂ), paulistas (from São Paulo) and baianos (from Bahia). Up until 2025, more than 39,000 members of Pires Ferreira family were catalogued.
The Pires Ferreira family began in 1725, with the arrival of Domingos Pires Ferreira to Recife, Pernambuco in Colonial Brazil. He worked as a merchant and built his fortune and influence. His children were important for the Pernambucan revolt in 1817 and were active on the local politics and the third generation had important roles during the Empire of Brazil.
The Pires Ferreira family was also influential in Piauàand Maranhão. Domingos bought farms on ParnaÃÂba to grow cattle, but the family would establish themselves for good on 1786, when José Pires Ferreira married Marianna de Deus Castro Diniz, daughter of João Paulo Diniz, pioneer of the dried meat industry in Brazil, and in 1790 moved to the farm Barra do Longá, near the Longá River. From there, their influence rose in the cities of Araioses, Magalhães de Almeida, São Bernardo, Buriti dos Lopes, Joaquim Pires, Luzilândia, Esperantina and Barras. The family worked with engenhos operated by animal traction and slave labor. They grew on power through marriage with important local families, specially the Castello Branco family.
During the Old Republic, the Pires Ferreira influence on Piauàcontinued through party politics. After the Proclamation of the Republic, Piauàpolitics was dominated by Antonio Coelho Rodrigues, in a political movement called "coelhismo". The Governor Coriolano de Carvalho e Silva fought with the Pires Ferreira family due his persecution of political enemies and the family lost local power. Firmino Pires Ferreira and others created an alliance known as Colligation and obligated Raimundo Arthur de Vasconcelos, the political inheritor of Coriolano, to expel Coriolano from politics, thus creating a new power structure known as Consecration. From 1896 until 1908, during Raimundo, ÃÂlvaro de Assis Osório Mendes and Areolino de Abreu Governments, Ferreira's influence on politics became predominant on PiauÃÂ. This political movement was called "piferismo".
In 1907, the Pires Ferreira family helped to elect AnÃÂsio Auto de Abreu, but he died in 1909 and Antonio Freire Silva becames the new Governor. With this change, the Federal Government gained more influence in the state. Despite their initial rivalry, they united against the government of Miguel Rosa, successfully electing EurÃÂpedes Clementino de Aguiar. From there on, the ideas of Félix Pacheco, an allied of the Pires Ferreira that was crucial to EurÃÂpedes inauguration in the government, became predominant, what came to be known as "pachequismo". Félix then supported his brother, João LuÃÂs Ferreira in the next elections for Governor. The Pires Ferreiras wanted to elect a Governor of their own and they entered in a quarrel with Félix, but they gave up.
Pachequismo lasted for two governments, from João LuÃÂs Ferreira and Matias OlÃÂmpio de Melo. Melo's government was marked by a raise in violence in the state, as he had to fight cangaceiros and the Coluna Prestes. In 1927, the federal judge Lucrécio Dantas Avelino was murdered in his own house, and the opposition accused Melo to be the responsible, and Melo accused EurÃÂpedes of the crime. Fernando used the instability of pachequismo and the support of the president Washington LuÃÂs, who he had family ties, to be elected as a Senator. Félix won the election, but Fernando contested on the Supreme Federal Court and was elected instead, with Félix becoming ineligible.
The structure of power change once again, and Melo was obligated to colligate with Fernando, that supported João de Deus Pires Leal as governor. When João won the elections, his government began to substitute political opponents from the public machine. João de Deus also interfered directly in the elections, when he supported the election of José Pires Ferreira Neto to the Legislative Assembly of PiauÃÂ.
On 21 July 1930, Firmino died, creating a vacuum of power on Piauàpolitics. As his seat on the Senate was vacant, the Pires Ferreiras fought to keep someone from the family on power. They supported two candidates, Joaquim Pires Ferreira and Pires Carvalho. But the tenentists conspired together with names such as Vaz da Costa and Matias OlÃÂmpio for a victory of the Liberal Alliance on Piauàor a revolution. On 4 October, the revolucionaries successfully took power on PiauÃÂ. João de Deus was deposed and the vice-governor, Humberto de ÃÂrea Leão, assumed. With that, the political power in the state shifted to supporters of Getúlio Vargas. Several people tied to João de Deus were fired and Matias OlÃÂmpio influence grew once again.
A process of division of goods diminished their importance. Since then, many of the Pires Ferreira members became liberal professionals. From 1940 onwards, women from the family began to work.
Between 1748 and 1756, the Portuguese Crown stimulated the immigration of 6,000 people from the Azores to Santa Catarina and Rio Grande de São Pedro to protect their lands from the Spanish interests. Amongst them, José Francisco Pires immigrated from Terceira Island to Santa Catarina Island. The Pires family from the south of the island descends from his son, Captain José Pires Ferreira.