Paraguay, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Paraguay

What is in the Collection?
This collection contains Catholic Church parish records for the years 1754-2015, which includes baptisms, marriages, deaths, and miscellaneous parish records covering localities for the country of Paraguay. The text of the records is handwritten, mostly in narrative form. In later years, the text was handwritten in formatted records.

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

Church registers are created by the priest in charge of the parish where the ordinance was performed. The original records are kept in a register in the local parish archive and a duplicate copy is usually sent to the corresponding diocese or archdiocese for archival preservation.

Catholic Church parish registers of birth, death, and marriage are the primary source and most reliable records for genealogical research in Paraguay. After 1880, it is recommended to also use the civil records.

The priests were authorized and requested to create the registers in order to keep a record of all the sacramental ordinances, such as baptisms, marriages, and deaths, in the life of his parishioners. Before the civil registration was implemented in 1880, civil authorities used the church records as a civil documentation.

Coverage Table
As of 14 December 2016 this collection included records from the following departments.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
Baptismal records usually contain the following information:


 * Date and place of baptism
 * Name and gender of child
 * Child's birth date
 * Parents’ names
 * Godparents’ names

Marriage records usually contain the following information:


 * Names of the bride and groom
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Groom's age, civil status, residence and origin
 * Names of groom's parents
 * Bride's age, civil status, residence and origin
 * Names of bride's parents
 * Names of witnesses
 * Names of officiant at marriage

Burial/death records usually contain the following information:


 * Date and place of death
 * Name of the deceased person
 * Age, civil status and residence of deceased
 * Sometimes, the name of spouse, if married
 * Sometimes, names of parents
 * Burial place

How Do I Search the Collection?
As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’s given name and surname, as well as where they lived, and an estimated event date. 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 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.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. 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 compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To browse the collection, you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select the "Department" category ⇒Select the "City or Town" category ⇒Select the "Parish" category ⇒Select the "Record Type and Years" category which takes you to the images.

For Help Reading These Records

These records are in Spanish or Latin. For help reading the records, see the following wiki articles:


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

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family. Keep in mind:


 * The information in church records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant.
 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after the late 1800.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from one record to another.

I Found Who I was Looking for, Now What?

 * Use the marriage date and place as the basis for compiling a new family group or for verifying existing information.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth of each partner to find a couple's birth records and parents' names.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth to find the family in census records.
 * Use the death date or age along with the place of death to find birth records.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records.
 * Occupations listed can lead you to other types of records such as employment or military records.
 * Use the parents' birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * The name of the officiator is a clue to their religion or area of residence in the county. However, ministers may have reported marriages performed in other counties.
 * Compile information for every person who has the same surname as your ancestor; this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.
 * Continue to search the records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives 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.
 * Use the marriage number to identify previous marriages.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking for, Now What?

 * Civil registration records are also a good source of genealogical information. See Paraguay Civil Registration for further information. You should obtain copies of both church records and civil registration, when possible, since they do not necessarily provide the same information. For example, baptismal registers sometimes provide the names of the fathers of illegitimate children when the civil registration does not
 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * You ancestor may be using a nickname or alias.
 * A boundary change could have occurred and the record of your ancestor is now in a neighboring area. Search the records and indexes of neighboring cities, provinces, and regions.
 * Your ancestor may have immigrated to another country. Search the records of nearby countries or immigration/emigration records.

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

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. Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation: