Lagunillas, Zulia, Venezuela Genealogy

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

History

 * The municipality of Lagunillas was inhabited by indigenous people of the Caribe and Caquetío ethnic groups.
 * In 1499 the Spanish navigator Alonso de Ojeda accompanied by Américo Vespucio discovered the lake that the indigenous people called Coquivacoa, and explored its shores.
 * At the beginning of the 20th century, oil exploitation began on the eastern shore of the lake, after the drilling of the Zumaque I well in 1914, the exploitation of the Lagunillas field began.
 * On January 19, 1937, President Eleazar López Contreras decreed the foundation of Ciudad Ojeda as a nucleus to house the inhabitants of the town of Lagunillas de Agua.
 * On November 13, 1939, a terrible fire destroyed Lagunillas de Agua with a balance of more than 200 dead. Oil exploitation formed an oily layer on Lake Maracaibo, which caused the fire of the town built on wooden stilts.
 * President López Contreras orders the relocation of the survivors of the incident in the new Ciudad Ojeda.
 * The Lagunillas District was created in 1978, previously it was part of the Bolívar District.
 * In 1989 it became the municipality of Lagunillas.
 * Ciudad Ojeda is the capital of the municipality.
 * The Municipality of Lagunillas has a population of approximately 288,000 people.

Civil Registration

 * 1873-1989 (*) at FamilySearch Catalog - images
 * 1874-1985 (*) at FamilySearch Catalog - images
 * 1876-1973 (*) at FamilySearch Catalog - images
 * 1996-2002 (*) at FamilySearch Catalog - images

Church Records

 * 1577-1995 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images

Cemeteries
Indexes of burials in the cemeteries of the Lagunillas municipality may be found at findagrave.com
 * Cementerio Municipal de Ciudad Ojeda
 * Direction: Carretera L, Ciudad Ojeda, Lagunillas,
 * Cementerio Municipal Jardines de Santa Lucia