Mexico, Oaxaca, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

 Mexico Oaxaca

What is in the Collection?
This collection of Catholic Church records, such as baptisms, marriages, deaths, and burials from the State of Oaxaca includes the years 1559 to 1988.

These records are written in Spanish. Here is a link to a Spanish Word List which may be helpful. Also, see the section For Help Reading These Records for translation helps.

Often in Catholic Church records, separate books were kept for baptisms, confirmations, marriage information documents, marriages, and deaths. However, in smaller areas, all records may be recorded on one register. In larger parishes a separate book was usually maintained for confirmations, while in smaller parishes the confirmations may have been included with the baptisms. In larger parishes, most of the marriage banns (informaciones matrimoniales) may be registered separately. In smaller parishes, these records were included in the marriage entry or the confirmations may have been included with the baptisms or even with marriages. In larger parishes, a separate book of confirmations was usually maintained. These 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.

For additional details about the history of these records and help using them, see the wiki article Mexico Catholic Church Records (FamilySearch Historical Records).

Sample Images
Baptism and confirmation records may contain the following:


 * Date and place baptism or confirmation
 * Child's name and gender
 * Child's date and place of birth
 * Names of the parents
 * Names of paternal grandparents
 * Names of maternal grandparents
 * Godparents

Marriage records may contain the following:


 * Date and place of marriage
 * Names of the bride and groom
 * Groom's age and civil status
 * Name of groom's father and statement of consent
 * Father's age, origin, and residence
 * Bride's age and civil status
 * Name of bride's father and statement of consent
 * Father's age, origin, and residence
 * Witnesses' names

Death records may contain the following:


 * Name and age of deceased
 * Date and place of death
 * Cause of death
 * Spouse's name, if married
 * Parents' names

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 will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the people in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if you have the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person in order to find your ancestor. View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page  ⇒ Select the "City or Town" ⇒ Select the "Parish" ⇒ Select the "Record Type and Years" 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 yours. 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?
If you are unable to find your ancestor, try looking through records in the surrounding localities. Guerrero is to the west, Puebla to the northwest, Veracruz to the north, and Chiapas to the east.

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: