Guatemala Genealogy

Guide to Guatemala ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, church records, parish registers, and civil registration.

Country Information
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. It was formerly a colony of Spain. The official language is Spanish.

Getting Started


Finding Your Ancestors' Town in Guatemala

 * Genealogical records are organized by geographical locality. Civil registration (government birth, marriage, and death records) and church records (christenings/baptisms, marriages, and burials) were kept at the local level. To search these records, you must know the town where your ancestors lived.
 * If you do not know your ancestors' town, follow the advice in the Wiki article, Guatemala Finding Town of Origin, to search a variety of records that might provide that information.

Guatemala Clickable Map
Genealogy records are kept on the local level in Guatemala. Click on a department in the map for instructions and links to records for the department. By hovering over the number, you can verify the name of the department.

Departments
The largest jurisdictions in Guatemala are called 'Departments' (departamentos). These are analogous to States or Provinces in other countries. There are 22 Departments of Guatemala.

Parishes
Parishes in Guatemala

FamilySearch Resources
Below are FamilySearch resources that can assist you in researching your family.
 * Facebook Communities - Facebook groups discussing genealogy research
 * Historical Records
 * Family History Center locator map

Research Tutorials

 * Search page
 * Introduction to Hispanic Research
 * U.S. Hispanic Immigration
 * U.S. Hispanic Immigrants: Finding their Place of Origin
 * Improve your Search Results in FamilySearch Hispanic Records
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records:
 * Lesson 1: The Spanish Alphabet
 * Lesson 2: Words and Dates
 * Lesson 3: Reading Spanish Records
 * Hispanic Online Resources