Spain, Province of León, Municipal Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Record
España, Registros Municipales de la Provincia de León

Record Description
This collection includes civil registration, census, quintas (military), election and catastro de ensenada (estate) records for the city and parish of León in the León Province of Spain. The text of the records is in Spanish. This collection is being published as images become available.

For additional details about the history of these records and help using them, see the wiki article Spain, Municipal Records (FamilySearch Historical Records).

For a list of records by localities, document type and dates currently published in this collection, select the Browselink from the collection landing page.

Record Content
Civil registration includes birth, marriage, and death records. Birth records generally include the following information:


 * Child’s full name
 * Date and place of birth
 * Names and ages of parents
 * Birthplaces of parents
 * Witnesses of birth

Marriage records may include the following information:


 * Names and ages of groom and bride
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Birthplaces of groom and bride
 * Names and ages of groom’s parents
 * Names and ages of bride’s parents
 * Who performed the marriage
 * Names of witnesses

Death records usually include the following information:


 * Deceased’s name and age (keep in mind that death records for women may be filed under their married name)
 * Date and place of death
 * Date and place of birth
 * Marital status/Name of spouse
 * Names of parents
 * Birthplaces of parents
 * Names of informant/witnesses
 * Date and place of burial

Census records usually contain the following information:


 * Names of heads of household
 * The number of people living in the household
 * Ages of each person in household
 * Occupation of household head

Military draft records usually contain the following information:


 * Name and age of draftee
 * Birth date and place
 * Closest relation and residence
 * Date and place of registration

How to Use the Record
To begin your search you should know the following:
 * The person’s name.
 * The approximate location of an event.
 * An approximate time frame of an event.
 * Indexes are available on some of these groups of images. If indexes are available, check these for the name first. Indexes are usually located at the beginning or end of a group of images. Find your ancestor’s name and look for the locator information next to the name (such as page, entry, or certificate number). This will help you find the record you are looking for in 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.

Keep in mind:
 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * 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.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

Search the Collection
To browse the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒ Select the Municipio (City or Municipality) category ⇒ Select the “Parroquia” (Parish) category ⇒ Select the Tipo de registro y años (Record Type and Years) category 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.

Using the Information

 * 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.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land 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 county. However, ministers may have reported marriages performed in other counties.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * Use the marital status/marriage number (how many times a person was married) to identify previous marriages.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.
 * Witnesses often were relatives of the parents.
 * 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.

Unable to Find Your Ancestor?
A boundary change could have occurred and the record of you 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.

Church records of the region are a good place to check as well because churches keep records of baptisms/confirmations, marriages, and burials. All of these records would give the same information as civil records in terms of names, relationships, and dates and places of events.

For Help Reading these Records
These records are in Spanish. For help reading the records see the following guides:
 * Spanish Genealogical Word List
 * Colombia Language and Languages
 * Reading Spanish handwritten records
 * Script tutorial for Spanish

Related Websites

 * Hispanic Genealogy Blog is written in English.
 * Blog de Genealogía Hispaña Blog is written in Spanish.
 * Genealogía Española-España GenWeb Website is in Spanish.

Related Wiki Articles

 * León Civil Registration - Vital Records
 * Spain, Léon, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * León
 * Spain

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
Citations for individual image records are available for this collection. Browse through images in this collection and click on the "Show Citation" box: Spain, Province of León, Municipal Records, 1642-1897

When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.

A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the wiki article Help:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Record collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher and archive for the original records.