Venezuela Church Records

For information about records for non-Christian religions in Venezuela, go to the Religious Records page.

What is in This Collection?
Parish registers are the documents kept by the Catholic Church since the year 1654 and contain books for registering church events: christenings, confirmations, marriages and deaths. Depending on when the parish was created, it is possible to find records beginning in 1550.

Reading These Records
These records are written in Spanish. For help reading these records see the following guides:
 * Spanish Genealogical Word List
 * BYU Spanish Script Tutorial
 * FamilySearch Learning Center videos:
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 1
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 2

If you speak Spanish, the following free online lesson may be helpful to learn how to use the information in these records:
 * Registros Civiles y Parroquiales – Spanish

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:

Baptismal Registers
 * Day, month, year, place (parish) where the baptism was performed
 * Sex of the child, name; names and surnames of the parents and the godparents.
 * Very rarely the names of grandparents are annotated or the place from where the ancestors originated.

Confirmation Registers
 * Name of the person
 * Date and place of the event
 * Age of the person
 * Parents or Godparents

Marriage Registers
 * Names, surnames, date of birth, place and date of marriage
 * Residence, ages of the couple if it is a civil state
 * Names and surnames of the parents and sometimes of the grandparents.

Burial Registers
 * Day and where the death occurred
 * Name and surname of the deceased person
 * Age and sex of the person
 * Parents and/or marital status

Local Parishes in Venezuela
Parish registers are preserved in the original local church.

Online Church Records

 * 1577-1995 at FamilySearch — index and images
 * See also, Venezuela Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records
 * 1654-2015 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1760, 1905-2013 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Microfilms
In the Family History Library catalog, look under "Venezuela, [PARISH NAME] - Church records" for microfilmed copies of the parish registers.

Writing to a Catholic Priest for Church Records
Baptism, marriage, and death records may be searched by contacting or visiting local parish or diocese archives in Peru. More recent Catholic parish records are kept at the local parish. The diocese keeps the records of parishes that no longer exist. Write your request in Spanish whenever possible. 'This method is not always reliable. Officials might or might not respond.'

Write a brief request in Spanish to the proper church using this address as a guide replacing the information in parentheses:


 * Reverendo Padre
 * Parroquia de (name of parish) 
 * (parish), (state)
 * (postal code)
 * Venezuela


 * Find the Venezuela postal code here.

Send the following when requesting information:


 * Money for the search fee, usually $10.00
 * Full name and the sex of the ancestor sought
 * Names of the ancestor’s parents, if known
 * Approximate date and place of the event
 * Your relationship to the ancestor
 * Reason for the request (family history, medical, and so on)
 * Request for a photocopy of the complete original record

'''Write your request in Spanish whenever possible. Use the translated questions and phrases in this Spanish Letter-writing Guide to assist you in writing your letter in Spanish. '''

Search Strategy

 * Search for the relative or ancestor you have selected to work on. When you find his birth record, search for the births of his brothers and sisters.
 * Next, search for the marriage of his parents. The marriage record will have information that will often help you find the birth records of the parents.
 * You can estimate the ages of the parents and determine a birth year to search for their birth records.
 * Search the death registers for all known family members.
 * Repeat this process for both the father and the mother, starting with their birth records, then their siblings' births, then their parents' marriages, and so on.
 * If earlier generations (parents, grandparents, etc.) do not appear in the records, search neighboring parishes.