Chile Civil Registration - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in the Collection?
This collection includes records of births, marriages, and deaths for various localities in Chile from 1885 to 1903.

For a complete list of all the provincias and comunas included in this collection, see the Provinces of Chile - Civil Registration coverage table.

These records are organized by province, according to the jurisdictions in place at the time of the creation of the records. Only records from a few localities have been indexed. More records and images will be added as they become available.

The majority of the records have been well-preserved. Some may be faded but are still readable if the image is enlarged. Some earlier records were handwritten in narrative style, however, the majority of the records were handwritten in formatted registers with a similar style as to a ledger.

These records are written in Spanish Genealogical Word List; also see the section For Help Reading These Records for translation helps.

What Can these Records Tell Me?
The information in each record varies by year. Birth records usually contain the following information:


 * Date of registration
 * Name and gender
 * Birth date and place of birth
 * Parents’ names
 * Parents nationality, occupation, and residence
 * Name, age, occupation, and residence of registrant
 * Witnesses’ names

Marriage records may contain the following information:


 * Date and place of the marriage
 * Name, age, marital status, occupation, and nationality of groom
 * Residence at time of marriage
 * Name, age, marital status, occupation and nationality of bride
 * Residence of groom at time of marriage
 * Residence of bride at time of marriage
 * Names of groom's parents
 * Names of bride's parents
 * Witnesses’ names

Death records may contain the following information:


 * Date of the registration
 * Name of deceased
 * Gender, age, nationality, and occupation of deceased
 * Marital status/name of spouse
 * Date, place, and time of death
 * Cause of death
 * Burial place
 * Name of the registrant
 * Registrant’s age, occupation, and residence

How Do I Search the Collection?
Some record sets have indexes; these indexes were created at the end of the year. Copy errors could have been made in the index, so you want to find the actual record to verify the information is correct. Using the index is a helpful way to find the actual record.

For death records, the information in records is usually reliable, but depends upon the knowledge of the informant.

Regarding marriage and death records, name changes, shortened names, or nicknames may have been used by your ancestors, so pay attention to other relationships (parents, spouse, siblings, children, etc.) that can confirm whether you have the right person/record.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: ⇒ Select the "Province" ⇒ Select the "Municipality" ⇒ Select the "Record Type and Years" which takes you to the images.

Look at the images and compare the information with what you already know about your ancestor to determine which one is your ancestor. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

When searching: 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, 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 your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.

For Help Reading These Records
For help reading these Spanish records, see the following wiki articles:


 * Spanish Genealogical Word List
 * Script tutorial for Spanish

What Do I Do Next?

 * Use the marriage date and place as the basis for compiling a new family group or for verifying existing information.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth of each partner to find a couple's birth records and parents' names.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth to find the family in census records Chile Census.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church records Chile Church Records.
 * Use the parents' birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * The name of a marriage officiator is a clue to their religion or area of residence in the municipality. However, ministers may have reported marriages performed in other municipalities.
 * Compile the marriage entries for every person who has the same surname as the bride or groom; this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.
 * Use the marital status to identify previous marriages (whether a divorce or death dissolved a marriage).
 * Witnesses often were relatives of the parents.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?
When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

Continue to search the marriage records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives of the bride and groom who may have married in the same county or nearby. This can help you identify other generations of your family or even the second marriage of a parent. Repeat this process for each new generation you identify.

Continue to search the indexes and records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives who may have lived in the same area or a nearby area.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking for, What Now?
A boundary change could have occurred and the record of your ancestor is now in a neighboring state or region, or your ancestor immigrated to another country. Search the records of nearby areas or immigration/emigration records Chile Emigration and Immigration. Watch this free video (in English) about finding immigrants from Chile to the United States: U.S. Hispanic Immigrants: Finding their Place of Origin.

Church records are also a good substitute when birth, marriage, and death records can’t be found or are unavailable.


 * Chile Baptisms (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Chile Deaths (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Chile Marriages (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached Wiki article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image. Collection Citation: Record Citation (or citation for the index entry): Image Citation