Mexico, Sonora, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Record
Registros Paroquiales de la Iglesia Católica del Estado de Sonora, Mexico.

What is in the Collection?
This collection of parish records (such as baptism, marriage, death, and burial records) from several states in Mexico includes years from about 1657 to 1994. These records are written in Spanish.

Sample Images
Baptismal records may contain the following information:


 * Date of baptism
 * Place of the event and usually the parish saint name
 * Name of the person being baptized
 * Names of the parents
 * Age or birthdate of the person being baptized
 * Gender
 * Legitimacy
 * Before 1820, social class of the parents
 * Sometimes the person’s race

Marriage records may contain the following information:


 * Date of marriage
 * Place of the event and usually the parish saint name
 * Names of the betrothed
 * Names of the parents
 * Names of the witnesses
 * Ages and marital statuses of the betrothed
 * Places of origin and residence of the betrothed and sometimes that of the parents
 * Legitimacy of the betrothed
 * Sometimes the race of the betrothed

Death or burial records may contain the following information:


 * Date of death or burial
 * Place of burial or death
 * Name of the deceased person
 * Sometimes the names of the parents or the spouse, if the deceased was married
 * Age of the deceased person at time of death
 * Place of residence or origin of the deceased person
 * Sometimes the race of the deceased

How Do I Search the Collection?
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 them 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 "City or Towno" category ⇒ Select the "Parish" category ⇒ Select the "Record Type and Years" category 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. Baja California is to the northwest, Arizona to the north (and a little bit of New Mexico), Chihuahua to the east, and Sinaloa to the southeast.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached 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:

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