Mexico, Chihuahua, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Foreign Language Title
Registros Parroquiales de la Iglesia Católica en el Estado de Chihuahua, México.

Record Description
The Family History Library collection of the Catholic Church parish records of the Diocese of Chihuahua, Mexico covers the years from 1622 to 1958.

Usually separate registers were maintained for baptisms, marriages, and deaths. However, in localities with a small population the records of baptisms, marriages, and burials were recorded in the same register. Confirmations were usually recorded with the baptismal registers, but can also be found with deaths or marriages. Generally, entries were created in chronological order. Early registers may have some ecclesiastical documents written in Latin.

Catholic Church parish records cover 95 to 100% of a city’s population. This collection only includes the parish records that were centralized into the diocesan archive.

Mexican Catholic Church parish registers were created to record baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and burials occurring in the parish.

Catholic Church parish records are a reliable source for doing Mexican genealogical research.

Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the data and images published on FamilySearch.org. It may include the author, custodian, publisher and archive for the original records.

"Mexico, Chihuahua Catholic Church Records," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org), 2009; from Arquidiocese of Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México. Registros parroquiales, 1622-1958. Local parish archives in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. FHL 485 microfilm reels. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

Information about creating source citations for FamilySearch Historical Collections is found in the wiki article Help:How to Create Source Citations For FamilySearch Historical Records Collections.

Suggested citation format for a record in this collection.

Record Content
Important genealogical information found in Catholic Church baptismal records include: 


 * Place and date of the baptism
 * Given name
 * Gender, place and date of birth or age at baptism
 * If legitimate or illegitimate
 * Parents names, sometimes their residence and/or place of birth
 * Names of maternal grandparents
 * Names of paternal grandparents
 * Name/s of godparents

Important genealogical information found in Catholic Church marriage records include: 


 * Place and date of the marriage
 * Name of the groom
 * Age of groom, his place of birth and/or residence
 * Name of the groom’s parents
 * Name of the bride
 * Age of bride, her place of birth and/or residence
 * Names of the bride’s parents
 * Sometimes, the parent’s place of origin and/or civil status
 * Names of witnesses

Important genealogical information found in Catholic Church burial records include: 


 * Place and date of the burial
 * Burial place
 * Name of the principal
 * Place and date of birth or age at time of death
 * Cause of death
 * Residence of the deceased
 * Place of death
 * Civil status of the principal, if married the name of the spouse may be given
 * If principal left progeny

Important genealogical information found in Catholic Church confirmation records include: 


 * Date and place of confirmation
 * Name of person being confirmed
 * Parents’ or godparents’ names

How to Use the Record
The Catholic Church parish records are an excellent source for genealogical research in Mexico. These may also be the only records available for Spanish research before civil registration was implemented in 1871. 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 locate 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 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.

For example:


 * Use the marriage date and place as the basis for compiling 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 employment records or other types of records such as military records.
 * Use the parent’s 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.

Related Websites

 * Chihuahua, Catholic Church Records

Related Wiki Articles

 * Mexico Deaths (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico Marriages (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mexico Baptisms (FamilySearch Historical Records)

= Known issues with this Collection =


 * Mexico, Catholic Church Records * Aguascalientes * Asientos * Nuestra Señora de Belén

You can find Bautismos, 1846-1848, Bautismos, 1855-1858, but 1848-1855 are missing


 * Mexico, Catholic Church Records * Nuevo León * Salinas Victoria * Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe * Bautismos 1790-1830 (Images 1 through 375 end 4 May 1818)

You can view the record images from 1790 through 4 May 1818 online but not the records from 4 May 1818 through 1830 because they are not digitized yet. They can be viewed on FHL INTL Film 605403.


 * Mexico, Catholic Church Records * Chihuahua * Juárez * Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe * Bautismos 1830-1834

This collection has two volumes. You can begin in 1830 and search until 1834 when the second volume appears at image 184 and contains additional records beginning in May of 1830.

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should also list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. 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.

A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the Wiki Article:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections

Citation Example for a Record Found in This Collection
“Argentina, Buenos Aires, Catholic Church Records, 1635-1981,” images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org: accessed 28 February, 2012), La Plata &gt; San Ponciano &gt; Matrimonios 1884-1886 &gt; image 71 of 389 images, Artemio Avendano and Clementina Peralta, 1884; citing Parroquia de San Ponciano en la Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Matrimonios. San Ponciano, La Plata, Buenos Aires.

When the citation has been replaced with a citation specific to the collection being described, the heading should be changed to “Citation Example for a Record Found in This Collection” in heading style 3