Colombia, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Record
Registros Parroquiales de la Iglesia Católica en Colombia

Record Description
These records are in Spanish. This collection includes records from 1600 to 2010.

The collection contains birth, confirmation, marriage and death records for parishes throughout Columbia. For a complete list of all the parishes included in this collection, see the Parishes in Colombia coverage table.

These records were created by priests. The earlier records from this collection are all handwritten in a narrative format. Some later records are handwritten on printed forms, which may vary slightly from one priest to another. Generally, these records were written in chronological order. In smaller parishes, one book was used for all the ordinances (such as baptism, marriage, and death). In larger cities, records of the different types of sacred ordinances were kept in separate books. Confirmations were generally written in the baptismal registers. Some of the older records are damaged, but most of the genealogical information can be extracted.

Some of the records in this collection may have been created in a different ecclesiastical jurisdiction than the one where these are currently housed. All the sacramental ordinances were created, registered, and kept by the priest in authority of his parish jurisdiction. The parish jurisdiction may include sub-parishes in other nearby localities. One copy of the records is kept at the parish archive and another copy is sent to the diocesan archive for preservation. Most of the parish records in this collection were acquired at the diocesan archives.

Catholic Church parish registers are the primary source for finding genealogical information of birth, death, and marriage in Colombia prior to 1935, when civil registration was implemented.

For a list of records by date or locality currently published in this collection, select the Browse link from the collection landing page.

Record Content
Baptismal records usually contain the following information:


 * Date and place of child's baptism
 * Name and gender of child
 * Father's name
 * Father's marital status
 * Father's age and place of baptism
 * Names of father's parents
 * Legitimacy of child
 * Mother's name
 * Mother's marital status
 * Mother's age and place of baptism
 * Names of mother's parents
 * Names of witnesses and their identification information

Marriage records usually contain the following information:


 * Date and place of marriage
 * Name, age and origin of groom
 * Name, age and origin of bride
 * Legitimacy
 * Groom's parents' names
 * Bride's parents' names
 * Names of witnesses

Death records usually contain the following information:


 * Name and age of deceased
 * Date and place of burial
 * Cause of death
 * Legitimacy
 * Marital status of deceased
 * Name of spouse if married
 * Parents’ names
 * Residence of deceased

Child recognition records usually contain the following information:


 * Date of legal recognition
 * Name of the father
 * Father’s parents
 * Father’s place of baptism
 * Father’s marital status and spouse’s name
 * Father’s age
 * Father’s identification number and place of issue
 * Name of the child being recognized
 * Child’s place and date of baptism
 * Mother’s name
 * Mother’s parents
 * Mother’s place of baptism
 * Mother’s marital status and spouse’s name, if married
 * Mother’s age

How to Use the Records
Search the collection by index or image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several entries or images and compare the information about the individuals listed to your ancestors to make this determination.

Catholic Church parish records are an excellent source for genealogical research in Colombia. The records of baptism, marriage, and death may contain important information about other generations of ancestors. These may also be the only records available before the implementation of civil registration in 1935. To find the record of an ancestor, a person needs to know at least the name of the ancestor and a place and approximate year of an event in the ancestor’s life. If indexes are available, it is suggested to check for the name there first.

As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’s given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.

Search the Collection
Search the Collection by Index To search the collection by index, navigate to the main search page and fill in the requested information. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

Search the Collection by Image To search the collection by image, navigate to the main search page and follow these steps: ⇒Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒Select the "Department" ⇒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 your ancestor. 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 wiki articles:


 * Spanish Genealogical Word List
 * Colombia Language and Languages

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached Wiki 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.

Related Websites

 * Online maps of Colombia
 * Online histories of Colombia
 * Colombia Genealogy

Related Wiki Articles
Colombia

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
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A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the wiki article Help:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Citation for This Collection:
The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Records collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher, and archive for the original records.