Panama Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Panama

What is in the Collection?
This is a collection of Catholic Church records (such as baptism, marriage, death, and burial records) from Panama. It includes the years from 1707 to 1973.

Entries were normally made in chronological order. In larger parishes, these records may be registered separately. In smaller parishes, the confirmations may have been included with the baptisms or even with marriages. In larger parishes, a separate book of confirmations was usually maintained. The records are in relatively fair condition, with the exception of some older records that may be damaged and therefore hard to read or missing some information. Most of the older records are handwritten in narrative style and follow a common text with some variations depending on the style used by the priest. Newer records are handwritten in formatted registers; some are even written in ledger style registers.

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

What Can these Records Tell Me?
Baptism or confirmation records usually contain the following information:
 * Name and gender of child
 * Date and place of baptism or confirmation
 * Child's birth date
 * Names of the parents
 * Names of godparents
 * Before 1820, social class of the parents
 * Sometimes the person’s race

Marriage records usually contain the following information:


 * Names of the bride and groom
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Groom's age, civil status and origin
 * Names of groom's parents
 * Bride's age, civil status and origin
 * Names of bride's parents
 * Sometimes, the legitimacy of betrothed
 * Sometimes, the race of the betrothed
 * Names of the witnesses
 * Name of officiant at wedding

Death or burial records usually contain the following information:


 * Date and place of death or burial
 * Name of the deceased person
 * Age and civil status of deceased
 * Sometimes, the name of spouse, if deceased was married
 * Sometimes, the names of parents
 * Place of residence or origin of the deceased person
 * Sometimes, the race of the deceased

How Do I Search the Collection?
You can search the index or view the images or both. Before using this collection it is helpful to know:
 * Your ancestor's given name and surname
 * Identifying information such as residence
 * Estimated marriage or birth year
 * Family relationships

Search the Index
Search by name by visiting the Collection Page.
 * 1) Fill in the search boxes on the Collection Page with the information you have.
 * 2) Click Search to show possible matches.

View the Images
View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page.
 * 1) Select Province
 * 2) Select City or Town
 * 3) Select Record Type and Years to view the images.

For more tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images.

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


 * 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 Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * 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 other church and land records.
 * Use the parents' birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * Compile information for every person who has the same surname as your ancestor; this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.
 * Continue to search the records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives 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.

I Can’t Find The Person I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * If possible, look at the actual image of the record to verify the information found in the online description.
 * Check for variants of given names, surnames, and place names. Transcription errors could occur in any handwritten record; also, it was not uncommon for an individual be listed under a nickname or an abbreviation of their name.
 * Civil registration records are also a good source of genealogical information. You should obtain copies of both church records and civil registration, when possible, since they do not necessarily provide the same information. For example, baptismal registers sometimes provide the names of the fathers of illegitimate children when the civil registration does not.
 * There may be more than one person with the same name.
 * You ancestor may be using a nickname or alias.
 * Even though this is an index there may still be inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.
 * A boundary change could have occurred and the record of your ancestor is now in a neighboring area. Search the records and indexes of neighboring cities, provinces, and regions.
 * Your ancestor may have immigrated to another country. Search the records of nearby countries or immigration/emigration 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: Image citation: