Dominican Republic Civil Registration - FamilySearch Historical Records

Dominican Republic

What Is In The Collection?
This collection will include civil records from 1801 to 2006. The records include birth, marriage, and death certificates from various localities in the Dominican Republic and may include approximately 370,000 names.

The records are written both in narrative style and in formatted records. Some records appear damaged; however, genealogical information may still be extracted.

This is an ongoing active collection. Additional records will be added to this collection. Check the browse headers for the collection to determine current coverage. For a complete list of all the provinces contained in this collection, see the Provinces of the Dominican Republic - Civil Registration coverage table. This coverage table was last updated 8 August, 2017.

Reading These Records
These records are written in Spanish; see the section For Help Reading These Records for translation helps.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information is usually found in these records:

Birth Records
 * Name and gender of child
 * Date, place, and time of birth
 * Child’s legitimacy
 * Parents’ names and ages
 * Parents’ occupation and residence
 * Grandparents’ names
 * Date, place and time of registration
 * Registrant’s occupation and residence

Marriage Records
 * Names and ages of bride and groom
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Marital status of bride and groom
 * Bride and groom’s residence
 * Parents’ names and ages
 * Date of betrothal promise
 * Witnesses’ name, age, marital status and occupation
 * Name of civil official and/or marriage officiator

Death Records
 * Name and age of deceased (keep in mind that death records for women may be filed under their married name)
 * Marital status/spouse’s name of deceased
 * Date, place and time of death
 * Cause of death
 * Parents’ of deceased
 * Parents’ origin and residence
 * Witnesses’ names
 * Informant’s name and age, occupation.

How Do I Search The Collection?
You can search the index or view the images or both. Before using this collection it is helpful to know:
 * Your ancestor's given name and surname
 * Identifying information such as residence
 * Estimated marriage or birth year

Search The Index
Search by name by visiting the Collection Page.
 * 1) Fill in the search boxes on the Collection Page with the information you have.
 * 2) Click Search to show possible matches.

View The Images
View images for Dominican Republic Civil Registration, 1801-2010 collection by visiting the Browse Page.
 * 1) Select Province
 * 2) Select Locality
 * 3) Select Record Type and Years to view the images.

View images for Dominican Republic Births, 1801-2006 collection by visiting the Browse Page '''
 * 1) Select the Province
 * 2) Select the Locality
 * 3) Select the Volume and Year range which takes you to the images.

For Help Reading These Records
For help reading these Spanish records, see the following wiki articles:


 * Spanish Genealogical Word List
 * Reading Spanish handwritten records
 * Script tutorial for Spanish

How Do I Analyze The Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images.

What Do I Do Next?

 * When available, look at the original record. It often has more information than the indexed record.  Making a copy of the original record, or at least citing where you found it, is also useful.
 * It's always a good idea to keep your citation on a Research Log. This is an important tool to help keep track of what you have and have not found.  Family search wiki has a  Research Log that you can download and use.

To learn more about using the information in civil records, view this lesson for free:
 * Documentos esenciales para buscar a sus antepasados - Spanish
 * Registros Civiles y Parroquiales – Spanish

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church records.
 * For death records, the information in records is usually reliable, but depends upon the knowledge of the informant.
 * For marriage and death records, your ancestors may have used shortened names or nicknames, so pay attention to other relationships (parents, spouse, siblings, children, etc.) that can confirm whether you have the right person/record.
 * Use the marriage date and place as the basis for compiling a new family group or for verifying existing information.
 * Use the marital status to identify previous marriages, that is, whether a divorce or death dissolved a previous marriage.
 * Use the parents' birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * Witnesses often were relatives of the parents.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.
 * 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.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking for, What Now?
Hispanic Genealogy Research community on Facebook is a page sponsored by FamilySearch and here you may also post a question or upload an image of a document for further assistance. The Hispanic Genealogy Research page is designed especially for those who have Hispanic ancestry but may not be fluent in Spanish. Be sure to click like on the page on your first visit so you can receive information and updates from the page in your news feed.
 * New information is constantly being indexed, microfilmed or updated. Periodically check back and see if your ancestor’s records have been added.  You can see if the area you’ve been looking in has been recently updated by going to Historical Records Collections and notice the asterisk for recently added or updated records.
 * The birth of a child must be registered within 30 days of the birth. After that, it is considered a late registration and has penalties. Therefore, if parents knew they wouldn't meet the deadline, then to avoid the penalties, many children were not registered.
 * Check for variants of given names, surnames, and place names. Transcription errors could occur in any handwritten record; also, it was not uncommon for an individual be listed under a nickname or an abbreviation of their name. Click here for a list of Spanish name abbreviations
 * A boundary change could have occurred and the record of your ancestor is now in a neighboring province. A map of the Dominican Republic can show you all the nearby provinces.
 * If you get stuck and can’t read a document or you’re not sure where to go next in your research, you can ask for help through

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.

Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation:

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