GuidedResearch:Why Can't I Find the Record - Costa Rica Births

This page will give you additional guidance and resources to find birth information for your ancestor. Use this page after first completing the birth section of the Costa Rica Guided Research page.

The church in Italy began keeping records in 1563. Not all parishes conformed until much later. Most parishes have kept registers from about 1595 to the present. Church records are crucial for research before the civil government started keeping vital records. After that, church records continued to be kept but often contain less information. In southern Italy, civil authorities began registering births, marriages, and deaths in 1809 (1820 in Sicily). In central and northern Italy, civil registration began in 1866 (1871 in Veneto). After this date, virtually all individuals who lived in Italy were recorded.

Additional Nationwide Databases and Online Resources

 * 1800s-1900s:  Italy Civil Registration  at Antenati - incomplete

Additional Records with Birth Information
Substitute records may contain information about more than one event and are used when records for an event are not available. Records that are used to substitute for birth events may not have been created at the time of the birth. The accuracy of the record is contingent upon when the information was recorded. Search for information in multiple substitute records to confirm the accuracy of these records.

Tips for finding births
Success with finding birth records in online databases depends on a few key points:
 * Your ancestor's name may misspelled. Try the following search tactics:
 * Try different spelling variations of the first and last name of your ancestor.
 * Try a given name search (leave out the last names)
 * Use wild cards, if possible, to represent phonetic variants, especially for surname endings.
 * Consider phonetic equivalents that may be used interchangeably, such as "F" and "V"; "C", "K", and "G"


 * Expand the date range of the search.
 * Try searching with the province name only instead of by the town.
 * If your ancestor's name is common, try adding more information to narrow the search.

Known Record Gaps
Records Start Records destroyed
 * Actual church and civil registration record availability varies by locality.
 * Floods and wars were the leading cause of destruction for church records. Civil registration records are generally complete, with few exceptions.