Mexico, Nayarit, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in the Collection?
This collection of Catholic Church records for the State of Nayarit includes the years 1596 to 1967.

These records are written in Spanish. Here is a link to a Spanish Genealogical Word List which may be helpful. Also, see the section For Help Reading These Records for translation helps.

Often in Catholic Church records, separate books were kept for baptisms, confirmations, marriage information documents, marriages, and deaths. However, in smaller areas, all records may be recorded on one register. In larger parishes a separate book was usually maintained for confirmations, while in smaller parishes the confirmations may have been included with the baptisms. In larger parishes, most of the marriage banns (informaciones matrimoniales) may be registered separately. In smaller parishes, these records were included in the marriage entry or the confirmations may have been included with the baptisms or even with marriages. In larger parishes, a separate book of confirmations was usually maintained. These records are in relatively fair condition, with the exception of some older records that may be damaged and, therefore, hard to read or missing some information. Most of the older records are handwritten in narrative style and follow a common text with some variations depending on the style used by the priest. Newer records are handwritten in formatted registers; some are even written in ledger style registers.

Sample Images
Baptism or confirmation records may contain the following information:


 * Date and place of baptism or confirmation
 * Child's name and gender
 * Date and place of birth
 * Legitimacy of child
 * Names of the parents
 * Names of paternal and maternal grandparents
 * Names of godparents

Marriage records may contain the following information:


 * Date and place of marriage
 * Groom's name, legitimacy and birth date
 * Groom's baptismal date
 * Names of groom's parents
 * Bride's name, legitimacy and birth date
 * Bride's baptismal date
 * Names of bride's parents
 * Names of witnesses
 * Sometimes, the race of the betrothed

Death records may contain the following information:


 * Name, age and residence of deceased
 * Date and place of death
 * Cause of death
 * Parents' names or name of spouse, if married
 * Sometimes, burial information

How Do I Search the Collection?
Search by name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the people in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if you have the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person in order to find your ancestor.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page 

For Help Reading These Records
These records are in Spanish. For help reading the records, see the following resources:


 * Mexico Language and Languages
 * Spanish Genealogical Word List
 * BYU Spanish Script Tutorial
 * FamilySearch Learning Center videos:
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 1
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 2
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 3

I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking For, What Now?
If you have been unable to find your ancestor try looking through records in the surrounding localities. Sinaloa is to the northwest, Durango to the north, and Jalisco to the east and south.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

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