Ecuador, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Record
'''Ecuador. Registros Parroquiales de la Iglesia Católica.'''

Collection Time Period
This collection of Catholic Church parish records includes the years 1565-1996.

Record Description
This collection includes baptisms, marriages, deaths, and miscellaneous records from parishes in the country of Ecuador. For the most part, the records are handwritten in narrative form; only in later years are the records handwritten in formatted registers. The text is in Spanish.

For a list of records by date or locality currently published in this collection, select the Browse link from the collection landing page

Record Content
The key genealogical facts found in most baptism records are:


 * Place of baptism
 * Date of baptism
 * Gender of the child
 * Date of birth
 * Name of the child baptized
 * Legitimacy
 * Parents’ names
 * Residence of the parents
 * Paternal grandparents’ names
 * Maternal grandparents’ names
 * Godparents’ names

The key genealogical facts found in most marriage records are:


 * Place of marriage
 * Date of marriage
 * Names of the groom and bride
 * Witnesses’ names
 * Groom’s age
 * Bride’s age
 * Marital status of the groom and bride
 * Groom’s parents
 * Bride’s parents

The key genealogical facts found in most death or burial records are:


 * Deceased’s place of burial
 * Date of burial
 * Age at time of death
 * Deceased’s name
 * Deceased’s marital status and, if married, the spouse’s name
 * Legitimacy
 * Parents’ names
 * Residence of the deceased
 * Place of death
 * Cause of death

How to Use the Record
These may be the only records available before the implementation of civil registration in about 1900. To find the record of an ancestor, a person needs to know at least the name of the ancestor and the place and approximate year of an event in the ancestor’s life. If indexes are available, it is suggested to check for the name there first. Begin your search by finding your ancestors in the index. Name indexes to baptisms, marriages, and death or burials make it possible to access a specific record quickly.

Remember that these indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

When searching the index it is helpful to know the following:


 * The place where the event occurred
 * The name and surname of the person
 * The approximate date of the event
 * The name of the parents or spouse

Use the locator information found in the index (such as page, entry, or certificate number) to find your ancestors in the records. Compare the information in the record to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination.

When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully study each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family.

For example:


 * Use the marriage date and place as the basis for creating 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.
 * Occupations listed can lead you to other types of records such as employment or military records.
 * Use the parents’ birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * The name of the 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 marriage number 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.

Keep in mind:


 * The information in church records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant.
 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after the late 1800.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from one record to another.

If you are unable to find the ancestors you are looking for, try the following:


 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Check for a different index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities.

Record History
This collection of church records covers several parishes in dioceses and archdioceses of Ecuador. All the records of the sacramental ordinances were created, registered, and kept by the priest in authority of his parish jurisdiction. The parish jurisdiction may have included sub-parishes in nearby localities. One register was generally kept at the parish archive and another copy sent to the diocesan archive for preservation.

Why the Record Was Created
Catholic Church parish registers were created by priests authorized to record the church sacraments of baptism, marriage, death, burial, and other ordinances in their parish jurisdiction.

Record Reliability
Catholic Church parish registers are the primary source for finding genealogical information of birth, death, and marriage in Ecuador prior to 1900, when the civil registration was implemented.

Related Websites

 * Conferencia Episcopal Ecuatoriana
 * Catholic Church-Hierarchy of Ecuador
 * Ecuador Genealogía

Related Wiki Articles
Ecuador

Citation for This Collection
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Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
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Citation Examples for Record Found in FamilySearch Historical Collections
The following are examples of records found in different collections. Please help us by replacing these examples with a citation for a record you have found in this collection.


 * "Delaware Marriage Records," index and images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org): accessed 4 March 2011, entry for William Anderson and Elizabeth Baynard Henry, married 23 November 1913; citing marriage certificate no. 859; FHL microfilm 2,025,063; Delaware Bureau of Archives and Records Management, Dover.
 * “El Salvador Civil Registration,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org): accessed 21 March 2011, entry for Jose Maria Antonio del Carmen, born 9 April 1880; citing La Libertad, San Juan Opico, Nacimientos 1879-1893, image 50; Ministerio Archivo Civil de la Alcaldia Municipal de San Salvador.

When the citation has been replaced with a citation specific to the collection described, please change the heading to "Citation Example for Records Found in This Collection".