Vizcaya, Spain Genealogy

Guide to Vizcaya Province ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

'''Most of your genealogical research for Vizcaya will be in two main record types: civil registration and church records. This article will teach you methods for locating and searching these two record groups.'''

History
Biscay (Spanish: Vizcaya; Basque: Bizkaia) is a province of Spain and was included in the newly created Autonomous Community of the Basque Country (Spanish: País Vasco) in 1979 along with the provinces of Álava and Gipuzkoa. It lies on the south shore of the Bay of Biscay. The provincial capital is the city of Bilbao. The province is divided into 111 municipalities.

Place Names
When conducting research in Vizcaya, you will find on many websites that the town names are written in Basque, not in Spanish. There is a tool that will help you convert the town names and give you a link to the FamilySearch Catalog entry for the Catholic Church parish records. Click here to visit the tool.

Civil Registration

 * Spanish civil registration records (government birth certificates, marriage certificates, and death certificates) began in 1871.


 * Births, marriages, and deaths were recorded by the local Juzgado de la Paz, or Oficinia del Registro Civil. The records are still housed in their local municpal archives. In addition, Spain does have a national index or central repository for civil registration.


 * Some municipios (towns/cities) may have civil registration records beginning as early as 1837. Some of them have been microfilmed and/or digitized by FamilySearch.


 * Larger cities may have multiple civil registration districts, and smaller towns may have their own civil registration office, or belong to an office of a nearby town. To determine the political jurisdiction for the town where your ancestors came from, please see the Spain Gazetteers article.

Here are several different approaches to obtaining these certificates:

1. Online Civil Registration Records
Search FamilySearch Historical Records and the FamilySearch Catalog for Vizcaya to see if there are online civil registration records for this area. If no records are available, order a certificate from the Ministerio de Justicia or write to the Municipality Civil Registry Office.

2. Microfilmed Civil Registration Records in the FamilySearch Catalog

 * a. Click on this link to see a list of records for Spain, Vizcaya.
 * b. Click on "Places within Spain, Vizcaya" and a list of towns and cities will open.
 * c. Click on the town or city you wish to search.
 * d. Click on "Civil Registration" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * e. Choose the correct event and time period for your ancestor.
 * f. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the microfilm listed for the record. FHL icons.png The magnifying glass indicates that the microfilm is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the microfilm.

3. Basque Country

 * Registro Civil will allow you to order a birth, marriage, or death certificate from any municipality in the Basque Country (provinces of Alava, Guipuzcoa, and Vizcaya).

4. Ordering Certificates From the Ministerio de Justicia

 * Researchers can solicit the Ministerio de Justicia online for copies of certificates.
 * For detailed information on how to order these records online, please see the article Order Spain Vital Records Online. It will take you through the process step by step, and includes translation of terms you will find in that process.

5. Writing to the Civil Registry of a Municipality
NOTE: All lines of the international delivery address should appear in all capital letters. If possible, the address should have no more than five lines. For more information see USPS International Mail Manual.


 * Juzgado de la Paz (Court of Peace) or Oficina Registro Civil (Civil Registry Office) should be contacted if the online request for the certificate copy to the Ministerio de Justicia fails.


 * The complete address for the Civil Registry Office, including the postal code and other contact information for the towns/cities listed on the Registro Civil—Municipios for the Province of Vizcaya (Civil Registry—Municipalities) page appears after you select the town/city. Write or email a brief request in Spanish for the certificate copy using the address formats shown below.


 * The site has an error (at this time) with the superscript for the civil registry address with this designator: REGISTRO CIVIL N? 1. The address correction is shown in the last column of the table:




 * Write a brief request to the proper office. Send the following:
 * Full name and the sex of the person sought.
 * Names of the parents, if known.
 * Approximate date and place of the event.
 * Your relationship to the person.
 * Reason for the request (family history, medical, etc.).
 * Request for a photocopy of the complete original record.
 * Check or cash for the search fee (usually about $10.00).

Write your request in Spanish whenever possible. The Spanish Letter-writing Guide will help you with organizing your letter and phrasing your requests in Spanish using the translated questions and phrases.

Catholic Church Records

 * Catholicism's roots extend deep into Spain's history. Parish and diocesan records created by the Catholic Church in Spain have long been considered some of the richest genealogical records in the world. Ever since the Council of Trent, Catholic parish records have been consistently recorded, usually providing three generations in a single baptismal entry. 


 * The vast majority of Spaniards are Catholic, and so almost every Spaniard can be found in the records of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church was the primary record keeper of births, marriages, and deaths, until civil registration started in 1869.


 * Some church records have been lost or have deteriorated due natural disasters such as fire, flood, and earthquakes. Civil and political strife has also caused record loss, including during time of the Spanish Civil War.


 * The Catholic Church has created several different records. The most used in genealogical research include: baptisms (bautizos, bautismos), marriages (matrimonios), and burials (entierros, defunciones, fallecimientos). Other records include: confirmations (confimaciones) and pre-marriage investigations (expedientes matrimoniales, información matrimonial).


 * Tip: If you are researching after 1869, when Civil Registration started in Spain, both church and civil records should be searched since there may be information in one record that does not appear in the other.

1. Online Church Records

 * Dokuklik: Has online parish indexes for the three provinces of the Basque Country - Alava, Guipúzcoa, and Vizcaya.
 * Antzinako: A site for the Basque region of Spain with some records extracted. The record collections are not complete.


 * 1501-1900 - Spain, Bilbao Diocese, Catholic Parish Records, 1501-1900 at My Heritage — index and images, ($)
 * 1538-1985 - (includes Vizcaya) at FamilySearch — index and images, incomplete.
 * 1538-1985 - Spain, Santander, Catholic Church Records, 1538-1985 at FamilySearch — browsable images, incomplete.

2. Microfilmed Church Records in the FamilySearch Catalog

 * a. Click on this link to see a list of records for Spain, Vizcaya.
 * b. Click on "Places within Spain, Vizcaya" and a list of towns and cities will open.
 * c. Click on the town or city you wish to search.
 * d. Click on "Church Records" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * e. Choose the correct event and time period for your ancestor.
 * f. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the microfilm listed for the record. FHL icons.png The magnifying glass indicates that the microfilm is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the microfilm.

3. Writing to Request Catholic Church Records
NOTE: All lines of the international delivery address should appear in all capital letters. If possible, the address should have no more than five lines. For more information see USPS International Mail Manual.


 * Baptism, marriage, and death records may be searched by contacting or visiting local parish or diocese archives in Spain. Write your request in Spanish whenever possible. This method is not always reliable.  Officials may or may not respond.


 * The Province of Vizcaya  in the País Vasco Autonomous Community is in the Diócesis de Bilbao. Write or telephone to inquire whether the diocese holds the parish records:


 * EXCMO. SR. OBISPO DE BILBAO
 * CALLE VIRGEN DE BEGOÑA, 38
 * 48006 BILBAO
 * BIZKAIA
 * ESPAÑA


 * Tel.: +34 944 667 979
 * Fax: +34 944 667 971
 * Email: gotzainidaz@bizkeliza.org


 * When requesting information, be brief and write the request in Spanish. Please include the following:
 * Money for the search fee, usually $10.00
 * Full name and the sex of the ancestor sought
 * Names of the ancestor’s parents, if known
 * Approximate date and place of the event
 * Your relationship to the ancestor
 * Reason for the request (family history, medical, and so on)
 * Request for a photocopy of the complete original record

Write your request in Spanish whenever possible. The Spanish Letter-writing Guide will help you with organizing your letter and phrasing your requests in Spanish using the translated questions and phrases.

Reading the Records

 * You do not have to be fluent in Spanish to read your documents. Genealogical records usually contain a limited vocabulary. Use this Spanish Genealogical Word List to translate the important points in the document. Reading handwriting skills are taught in the BYU Spanish Script Tutorial.


 * Online interactive slideshow lessons are available to help you learn to read these records:




 * Detailed instructions for reading Spanish records, examples of common documents, and practice exercises for developing skills in translating them can be found in the Spanish Records Extraction Manual.
 * The Spanish Documents Script Tutorial also provides lessons and examples.

Tips for finding your ancestor in the records
Effective use of church records includes the following strategies.


 * Search for the birth record of the relative or ancestor you selected. When you find his birth record, search for the births of his brothers and sisters.
 * Then, search for the marriage of his parents. The marriage record will often help you find the birth records of the parents.
 * You can estimate the ages of the parents and determine a birth year to search for their birth records.
 * Search the death registers for all family members.
 * Then repeat the process for both the father and the mother.
 * If earlier generations are not in the record, search neighboring parishes.