Civil Registration Records in Latin America and Spain - Handout
1. Civil Registration Records in Latin America and Spain
Ben Baker
bakerb@familysearch.org
My Background
Over 12 years as a Software Engineer at FamilySearch, currently on the Automated Content
Extraction (ACE) team working to publish computer-assisted indexed records. Spent last two
years working on publishing millions of Spanish church and civil records. In the process, I
learned a lot about these records, having literally personally viewed thousands of them and
continuing to do so daily.
Note that some content is FamilySearch specific, but the same process applies when working
with Spanish records from other websites or archives. I have also given many other family
history related presentations over the years. See https://www.slideshare.net/bakers84 to view
these.
High Level Process
In order to find your relatives in Spanish records, following a process and developing your skills
will make you more successful. Computer assisted indexing does very similar steps in very
similar ways as a genealogist would:
1. Find Records of Interest
2. Determine Record Structure/Boundaries
3. Read the Record
a. Identify key words indicating people, events, dates, places, relationships, etc.
b. Understand what is written and what it means
c. Assemble information using additional knowledge and context data
Finding Records of Interest
Civil registration records are available for many countries in Latin America and Spain on
FamilySearch and other record providers. Most governments didn’t keep civil registration
records until after about 1870. For earlier records, Catholic church records will likely yield
more results. Civil registration records include all people in the country, regardless of religion,
so non-Catholic relatives are more likely to be found in civil registration records.
Searching by specific names/dates/places/etc. is available for records that have been indexed,
but many have not yet been indexed. FamilySearch is trying to change this by doing computer-
assisted indexing. This has already unlocked millions of new records and will continue to
provide millions more in coming months.
Computer-assisted indexed records will be indicated with the header “This record was indexed
by a computer; there may be errors”. Learn more flexible search methods to find what you are
2. looking for. Correct errors that you find or request corrections until more correction tools are
produced.
Other ways to find records of interest:
• Explore Historical Images (Search / Images) – Start with a place and narrow down
• Browse All Published Collections – Search terms can narrow down areas of interest
• Catalog
What kinds of civil registration records are there?
• Birth
• Marriage
• Death
Determine Record Structure/Boundaries
Need to understand what constitutes a record. Many civil registration records follow similar
structure, often in pre-defined forms provided by each government.
Birth • Name, usually within months of when a child was born
• Residence town or city where the family lived
• Date of registration and of birth
• Names of the Parents
• In some cases, paternal and maternal grandparents are recorded as well
• Informant’s Name (compareciente) – name of the person providing
information to the civil registrar. Often it is a relative such as parent,
aunt/uncle, or grandparent.
Marriage • Groom’s Name and Information – Full name of the groom, his residence
and/or birth place, his occupation, and age.
• Groom’s Parents’ Information – Full names of groom’s parents and their
residence.
• Bride’s Name and Information – Full name of the bride, her residence
and/or birth place, and her age.
• Bride’s Parents’ Information – Full names of bride’s parents and their
residence.
• Date – day, month, and year of the marriage.
• Residence – municipio or district where the couple is getting married.
Name of the town or city where the bride and groom lived.
• Witnesses’ Information – Full names of the witnesses.
Death • Deceased’s Information – Full name of the deceased, his or her residence
and/or birth place, occupation, age, marital status, cause of death, place of
burial.
• Residence – municipio or district where the death was registered. Name
of the town or city where the deceased lived.
3. • Family Information – Full names of father and mother (if single or child)
or full name of spouse (if married). Occasionally deaths will mention
names of children (if deceased had living children at the time of death).
Read the Record
When reading a record, try to get a feel for what is in the records, looking for key words and
phrases. When finding something you don’t understand, try Google Translate to understand
things, but don’t trust the output completely.
Basic Key Words
Events Birth nació, nacida(o)
Marriage casé / casado / casar / casó / casamiento
matrimonio
Death defunción
fallecimiento / fallecido(a)
muerto(a)
difunto(a)
Burial Sepultura / sepultado(a)
Entierro / entierrado(a)
Relationships /
People
Child hijo legítimo / hija legítima
niño(a)
párvulo(a)
Grandparents abuelos / abuela / abuelo
(often with maternos / paternos designation)
Spouse esposo(a)
marido(a)
viuda / vuido – widowed
Single soltera
Informant compareciente / compareció
Witness testigo
Laborer jornalero – many other occupations are often listed,
but this is very common
Numbers /
Dates /
Places
Numbers uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho,
nueve, diez, once, doce, trece, catorce, quince,
dieciseis, …, veinte, treinta, cuarenta, cincenta,
sesenta, setenta, ochenta, noventa
Months enero, febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, junio, julio,
agosto, septiembre, octubre, noviembre, diciembre
Years mil novecientos / ochocientos / setecientos /
seiscientos - 1900 / 1800 / 1700 / 1600
Places Get familiar with place names in area you’re in
originario(a)/natural de – originated from (likely
born in)
domiciliado – lives in now
4. Spanish Spelling
Rules regulating spelling have not always existed and the spoken and written language is not the
same everywhere in the Spanish-speaking world. There is also often Latin and Catalan
influence and usage. This is less of a problem in the more modern Spanish civil registration
records, but for more information, see my previous presentation on Spanish church records at
https://www.slideshare.net/bakers84/finding-relatives-in-spanish-church-records
Additional Resources
Civil Registration in Latin America – FamilySearch wiki
https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Civil_Registration_in_Latin_America
Spain Civil Registration – FamilySearch wiki
https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Spain_Civil_Registration_-_Vital_Records
Spanish Script Tutorial
https://script.byu.edu/Pages/the-spanish-documents-pages/the-spanish-documents(english)
Spanish FamilySearch wiki – Spanish Genealogical Word List
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Spanish_Genealogical_Word_List
FamilySearch Research Wiki – search for country/topics of interest
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Main_Page
Free Online Classes – (Search for several about Spanish handwriting)
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Classes_in_the_Learning_Center
Spanish Paleography Digital Learning and Teaching Tool
http://spanishpaleographytool.org/?fbclid=IwAR1Eo7HJprlhQfTBxu6kmeisIv__3_9xQu3ksdlt_
92-AkwWPBPzo4mRvSM
