Costa Rica Baptisms - FamilySearch Historical Records

Costa Rica

What is in This Collection?
This collection is an index for the years 1700 to 1915. This index is not complete for any particular place, region or time period. This collection may include information previously published in the International Genealogical Index.

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

Birth and Christening
 * Gender
 * Names of the parents
 * Birth date
 * Birthplace
 * Baptism date (if the source is a church record)

Coverage Table
The Coverage Table shows the places and time periods of the original records in this collection. The table indicates how many records the collection has from each place. Most of the records in the collection are from the time periods listed in the table; however, the collection may have a few records from before or after the time period.

How Do I Search This Collection?
When searching for your ancestors it is helpful to know such information as:
 * Your ancestor's first name or some identifying information
 * Their residence, age, estimated event (birth, marriage, death) year, and family relationships

How Do I Analyze the Results?
This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors 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.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate 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. 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's
 * There is also some variation in the information given from one record to another

I Found the Person 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
 * 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
 * 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?

 * Civil registration records are also a good source of genealogical information. See Costa Rica Civil Registration for further 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

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in Costa Rica.
 * Costa Rica Guided Research
 * Record Finder
 * Research Tips and Strategies

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.