New Mexico, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States New Mexico

What is in the Collection?
The collection consists of an index and images of baptisms, marriages, and deaths for some parishes in the following counties:


 * Bernalillo
 * Colfax
 * Doña Ana
 * Mora
 * Rio Arriba
 * San Miguel
 * Santa Fe
 * Socorro
 * Taos
 * Valencia

Church records in the United States began in the early 1600s. They can be found in the churches, church archives, or university archives. They normally included records of christenings, confirmations, marriages, and deaths. The Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian church in the world. Traditionally, Catholic records have been kept at the parish level, so a majority of records will be found at the church where the event transpired. Older Catholic records and records of defunct Catholic parishes have often been moved to archives, historical archives, or university libraries.

To know who were members, churches were required to record the date a person was baptized in the Christian religion. Many churches also recorded the date of birth along with the date of baptism. Churches were also required to record the burial and marriage dates of the members of the local congregation. Only some churches performed confirmations and were required to record the names of those that were confirmed members of the church. These records are in Spanish. For help with reading the records see the following wiki articles:
 * Spanish Genealogical Word List

What Can these Records Tell Me?
The baptismal records include:


 * Child's name
 * Birth date and place
 * Christening date
 * Names of parents and their origin
 * Godparents' names

The death and burial records include:


 * Date and place of internment
 * Name and age of deceased
 * Residence of deceased
 * Death date
 * Cause of death

The marriage records include:


 * Date and place of marriage
 * Names of bride and groom
 * Residences of bride and groom
 * Groom's baptismal date
 * Bride's baptismal date
 * Groom's parents' names
 * Bride's parents' names
 * Witnesses' names

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search, you will need to know at least some of the following:


 * The name of your ancestor
 * The approximate date of a baptism, christening, marriage or death
 * The place where the event took place
 * The names of family members and their relationships

Compare the information on the image to what you already know about your ancestor to determine if it is the correct family or person. You may need to compare several images before you find your ancestor.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page then: ⇒Select the appropriate "County, Town" ⇒Select the appropriate "Parish" ⇒Select the appropriate "Record Type and Years"

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

What Do I Do Next?
Whenever possible, view the original records to verify the information and to find additional information that might not be reported. These pieces of information can lead you to additional records and family members.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the age to calculate the birth date to find other records such as birth, christening, marriage, census, and death records.
 * Use the probate date as a substitute death date.
 * Use the name of the undertaker, mortuary, or cemetery to find funeral and cemetery records.
 * Use the parents' birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * Use the occupations to find employment or military records.
 * Use the information to find additional family members.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records often were kept years before government records were required and are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

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

 * Try viewing the original record to see if there were errors in the transcription of the name, age, residence, etc. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * Collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relations that can be verified by records.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality in an area search.
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name while searching the index or browsing through images.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Search the indexes and records of New Mexico, United States Genealogy.
 * Search in the New Mexico Archives and Libraries.

Citing this Collection
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information; that is, cite your sources. This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually. Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation:

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