Mexico, Quintana Roo, Civil Registration - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in the Collection?
The collection of the civil records for Quintana Roo covers the years 1866 to 1902.

This is a collection of civil registration records for the State of Quintana Roo, Mexico. Records, such as birth, marriages, and deaths, are organized by state and then by municipality/city. Earlier records were handwritten in narrative style, later records in formatted registers. These records are written in Spanish.

Civil records in Mexico cover about 90 to 95 percent of the population. Beginning in 1859, the Mexican government began requiring births, marriages, and deaths to be recorded by civil authorities on a municipality/district level. Although these records are a great source of genealogical information, they are not complete as civil registration wasn't strictly enforced in Mexico until 1867 and people did not always comply. For this reason, church registers must be used alongside the civil records. The civil records of Mexico have been preserved relatively well. Only some of the older registers may have some physical damage; however, in general they are in good condition to extract genealogical information.

The Mexican civil registration was created to record the vital events of birth, marriage, death, and other civil events, which would determine and prove the civil status, existence, and condition of the population.

Records in this collection are generally reliable, but depend on the reliability of the informant.

What Can This Collection Tell Me?
Birth records may contain the following:


 * Name and gender of child
 * Date of birth
 * Legitimacy
 * Parents' names, residence, and/or places of origin
 * Names of witnesses

Marriage records may contain the following:


 * Date and place of marriage
 * Names of the bride and groom
 * Civil status (widowed, single, divorced) of bride and groom at the time of the event
 * Place of origin and residence of the bride and groom
 * Names of parents
 * Name of witnesses

Death records may contain the following:


 * Place and date of death
 * Name of the principal (deceased)
 * Civil status of principal at time of death
 * Civil status and name of spouse, if married at time of death
 * Parents' names
 * Occasionally, place of burial

How Do I Search the Collection?
As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’s given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that they may have used nicknames or different names at different times. View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: ⇒ Select the "State" ⇒ Select the "City or Municipality" ⇒ Select the "Record Type and Years" which takes you to the images.

Search the collection by image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine which one is your ancestor. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to make this determination.

For Help Reading These Records

These records are in Spanish. For help reading the records, see the following resources:


 * Mexico Language and Languages
 * Spanish Genealogical Word List
 * BYU Spanish Script Tutorial
 * FamilySearch Learning Center videos:
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 1
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 2
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 3

I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking For, What Now?
Unable to find your ancestor? Try looking through records in the surrounding localities. Campeche is to the west, Yucatán to the northwest, and Belize to the south.

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.


 * Collection Citation:

"Mexico, Quintana Roo, Civil Registration, 1866-1902." Images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 2017. Arquidiocesis de Yucatán, Mérida (Yucatán General Directorate Archives, Mérida).}}

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