Mexico, Nuevo León, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Foreign Language Title
Registros Parroquiales de la Iglesia Católica del Estado de Nuevo León, México

Collection Time Period
This collection of Catholic Church records from the Diocese of Nuevo Leon covers from 1667 to 1976.

Record History
Catholic Church parish records cover 95 to 100% of a city’s population. This collection only includes the parish records that were centralized into the diocesan archive.

Why This Record Was Created
Mexican Catholic Church parish registers were created to record baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and burials occurring in the parish.

Record Reliability
Catholic Church parish records are a reliable source for doing Mexican genealogical research.

Record Description
Usually separate registers were maintained for baptisms, marriages, and deaths. However, in localities with a small population the records of baptisms, marriages, and burials were recorded in the same register. Confirmations were usually recorded with the baptismal registers, but can also be found with deaths or marriages. Generally, entries were created in chronological order. Early registers may have some ecclesiastical documents written in Latin.

Record Content
Important genealogical information found in Catholic Church baptismal records include: 


 * Place and date of the baptism
 * Given name
 * Gender, place, and date of birth or age at baptism
 * If legitimate or illegitimate
 * Parents' names, sometimes their residence and/or places of birth
 * Names of maternal grandparents
 * Names of paternal grandparents
 * Names of godparents

Important genealogical information found in Catholic Church marriage records include:


 * Place and date of the marriage
 * Name of the groom
 * Age, place of birth, and/or residence of groom
 * Names of the groom’s parents
 * Name of the bride
 * Age, place of birth, and/or residence of bride
 * Names of the bride’s parents
 * Sometimes the parents' places of origin and/or civil status
 * Names of witnesses

Important genealogical information found in Catholic Church burial records include: 


 * Place and date of the burial
 * Burial place
 * Name of the principal
 * Place and date of birth or age at time of death
 * Cause of death
 * Residence of the deceased
 * Place of death
 * Civil status of the principal
 * If married, may give name of the spouse
 * Whether principal left progeny

Important genealogical information found in Catholic Church confirmation records include:


 * Date and place of confirmation
 * Name of person being confirmed
 * Parents’ or godparents’ names

How to Use the Record
The Catholic Church parish records are an excellent source for genealogical research in Mexico. These may also be the only records available for Spanish research before civil registration was implemented in 1871.

Related Websites
This section of the article is incomplete. You can help FamilySearch Wiki by supplying links to related websites here.

Related Wiki Articles
Mexico Church Records

Mexico Church History

= Known issues with this Collection =


 * Mexico, Catholic Church Records * Aguascalientes * Asientos * Nuestra Señora de Belén

You can find Bautismos, 1846-1848, Bautismos, 1855-1858, but 1848-1855 are missing


 * Mexico, Catholic Church Records * Nuevo León * Salinas Victoria * Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe * Bautismos 1790-1830 (Images 1 through 375 end 4 May 1818)

You can view the record images from 1790 through 4 May 1818 online but not the records from 4 May 1818 through 1830 because they are not digitized yet. They can be viewed on FHL INTL Film 605403.


 * Mexico, Catholic Church Records * Chihuahua * Juárez * Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe * Bautismos 1830-1834

This collection has two volumes. You can begin in 1830 and search until 1834 when the second volume appears at image 184 and contains additional records beginning in May of 1830.

Sources of This Collection
"Mexico, Nuevo Leon Catholic Church Records", database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org), 2009; from Archdiocese of Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Registros parroquiales, 1667-1976. Local parish archives throughout the State of Nuevo Leon, Mexico. FHL 794 microfilm reels. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

Digital images of original records housed at various Catholic Church archive repositories throughout the State of Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

The format for citing FamilySearch Historical Collections, including how to cite individual archives is found in the following link: How to Create Source Citations for FamilySearch Historical Records Collections.

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should also list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. 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.

A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the Wiki Article: How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.