Nicaragua, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Nicaragua

What is in the Collection?
This collection of baptisms, marriages, and burials was created by authorized parish priests in the years 1740 to 1960. Most of the inhabitants of Nicaragua were Roman Catholics, therefore these records may cover about 95 to 100 percent of the population from the 16th to the 20th century.

It is common to see the sacramental ordinances of baptism, marriage, and burial in separate registers; however, in smaller towns these records may all be recorded in one yearly book. The entries were normally made in chronological order. Some confirmations may be found within the baptisms. The earlier parish records were all handwritten in narrative form, and later records were handwritten in formatted entries. All records were handwritten in Spanish.

Here is a link to a Spanish Genealogical Word List; also see the section For Help Reading These Records for translation helps.

The parish registers may be the only records available for genealogical research before civil registration was implemented in 1879.

What Can these Records Tell Me?
Baptism records usually contain the following information:
 * Date and place of baptism
 * Child's name and gender
 * Child's date and place of birth
 * Parents’ names
 * Names of godparents
 * Sometimes, names of grandparents

Marriage records usually contain the following information:
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Name of groom
 * Groom's age and civil status
 * Groom's place of baptism
 * Names of groom's parents
 * Name of bride
 * Bride's age and civil status
 * Bride's place of baptism
 * Names of bride's parents
 * Names of witnesses

Death records usually contain the following information:
 * Date and place of death
 * Name of deceased
 * Age and civil status of deceased
 * Parents’ names
 * Sometimes, name of the spouse, if married
 * Cause of death
 * Place of burial

How Do I Search the Collection?
View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page  ⇒ 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.

Look at the images one by one comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

When searching: As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’s given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships. 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.

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


 * 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 Found Who I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * If you find a record of your ancestor print a copy of the original document, if possible, or at least the information where you found it. Sometimes you may find errors in the indexed or hand-copied documents.  Also, in the original, you may find more information about your ancestor.
 * 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 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.
 * 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, What Now?

 * Civil registration records are also a good source of genealogical 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.

Citing this Collection
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information; that is, cite your sources. This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually. Collection Citation: Image Citation: