Belén, Tundama, Boyacá, Colombia Genealogy

Guide to Municipality of Belén ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, church records, parish registers, and civil registration.

History
''The history of Belén and Cerinza are completely interconnected, because originally, Belén was an extension of Cerinza. Thus, we begin with the history of the Cerinza Valley.''

Pre-Colonization

 * Cerinza (which means "Green Throat"). The entire Valley of Cerinza was under the domain of the Cacique de Cerinza, who at the same time was under the command of Tundama.
 * In 1537 and 1539, in the great battles against the Spanish, the indigenous people of the area fought under the leadership of the Tundama.

Colonization

 * In 1554, the encomienda was established and the Viceroy ordered Melchor Vanegas to establish an Indian reservation.
 * In 1581, the title to bread and cattle was given to Antonio De Castro, the conqueror, in Cerinza. And he was named encomendero.
 * According to a report by the visitor Francisco Durán in 1582 the indigenous cacique of Cerinza was called  'Pedro Tocavita'  and his captain was  'Pedro Tobón' . Another partiality of Cerinza had a Cacique called Juan Cuysa and his captain was also of the last name Tobón. Additionally, they named in the document two captains named Cocha and another Gacha.
 * According to the documents of the First Visit to Cerinza, in 1584, Andés de Velosa, son of Antonio Castro, became the encomendero.
 * In the Second Visit of 1635, Juan de Poveda was the encomendero (originally from Muzo). His son, Benito de Poveda, was a priest of Cerinza in the same year. He also appoints  'Domingo de Rosa'  as protector of the natives and  'Bartolomé Roa'  as interpreter. In addition, the document names  'Cacique Tocavita'  and his captain  'Juan Tobón' .
 * In 1635 there were 764 indigenous people in Cerinza.
 * During the time of colonization, in order to appoint a mayor, the town was required to have 40 houses. If there were more than 80 houses, you had to have 2 mayors, etc. Mayors served for one year.
 * In 1739, Bethlehem received its first mayor. Don Agustín de Murcia y Salas was the mayor when Belén was established as a Vice Parish in 1751. When the Vice Parish was established, the mayor became Joseph Piñeros who also served as judge to the same time.
 * The mayors changed annually and existed until Independence. The list of mayors 1751-1822 taken from the aforementioned book.

Ecclesiastic
List of "Signatories of the Act of Foundation of the Parish of Belen:
 * In the beginning, after the conquest of the Muisca kingdom, parishes were not erected except in large cities such as Santa Fe and Tunja.
 * Indigenous peoples were called "doctrinas" and the missionary in charge was called Doctrinero.
 * In 1556, the evangelization of the Indians began in Duitama and the towns subject to Cacique Tundama.
 * Documents dated 1571 prove that in this year, Cerinza already had Dominican scholars.
 * Due to problems and disagreements between the indigenous people of the Cerinza reservation and the whites of the same town, several white families moved to the town of Belén.
 * At the beginning, Belén depended on the Parish of Cerinza. But, the inhabitants wanted to found a free and independent Parish from that of Cerinza.
 * In 1734, a fire destroyed the Casa Cural de Cerinza. All church records dated before 1734 were lost in the fire.
 * Dr. Don Diego Durán, Beneficiary Priest of the Parish of Santa Rosa de Viterbo, Vicar and Ecclesiastical Judge...I let all the Spanish neighbors residing in the Valleys of the Town of Zerinza know, and all the Indians of said town, as having burned the Parish books in this Holy Church of said Town of Zerinza with the fire that occurred on the sixth day of this month of January of one thousand seven hundred and thirty-four years, ... and for as we have been informed that the Reverend Father Fray Pedro Joseph Forero of the Order of Preachers having died, being Doctrinaire Priest of the Town of Zerinza, within a few days the houses that were his room had an irremediable fire, without it being possible anything escape into the fire; where the parish books of baptism, marriages, and burials are found: and so that in some way such notable damage can be compensated; and that those parishioners have the consolation for what can be offered to them by taking r certifications and fees of the games; that it befits their rights... we dispatch... Doctor Don Diego Durán Cura and Vicar of the Parish of Santa Rosa... so that later and without any delay he can go to the said Town of Zerinza and publicly on holidays congregated in the Church, commands them, as of course we command them by virtue of the Holy Spirit and penalty of excommunication, that they all appeal within the third day that we assign to them to reformate the said parish books, giving each of the neighbors enough and individual reason with the little More or less the time of their own baptisms, those of their children and relatives..."''
 * On April 19, 1751, by order of Archbishop Pedro Felipe de Azúa, Belén was established as Vice Parish. Before this date, all religious ordinances occurred in the Parish of Cerinza or in the Parish of Santa Rosa de Viterbo.
 * After establishing the Vice Parish, "the name of Cerinza was given to both the indigenous hamlet and the town of Spanish foundation. Belén was called Parroquia de Cerinza and Cerinza was called the Pueblo de Cerinza" Many records, including those from the 1800s, call the place Belen de Cerinza.
 * The Parish of Belén was founded on May 7, 1762 and was thus dismembered from the Parish of Cerinza, but continued to be part of the matrix of Santa Rosa de Viterbo.


 * En 1777, disolvieron al resguardo y fueron rematados las tierras al español Juan Antonio Gallego.
 * De 1777 a 1783, la Parroquia de Cerinza fue agregada a la de Belén.

Modern Era

 * The municipality of Belén has a population of approximately 7,000 people.

Cultural life

 * 1) Tía Isabel -- Our Famous Potter of Tiestecitos at "Colombian Culture, Colombia Adoption and Raising Colombian Kids "
 * 2) ISABEL LA POTIERE DE TUTAZA by Dauphine Scalbert
 * 3) El Rincón de los Tistos on Youtube

Civil Registration

 * There are no records online for Belén municipality.

Church Records

 * There are no records online for Belén municipality.
 * Some exist in the Casa Cural in the municipality of Belén.
 * See the General Archive of the Nation 6 Rolls of microfilm with the parish records of Belén:
 * Roll #1 - Baptisms
 * Book 1 1752-1782
 * Book 2 1782-1792
 * Book 3 1792-1799
 * Book 4 1799-1808
 * Book 5 1809-1817
 * Book 6 1817-1830
 * Book 7 1830-1839
 * Book 8 1839-1844
 * Book 9 1844-1850
 * Roll #2 - Baptisms
 * Book 10 1850-1854
 * Book 11 1854-1860
 * Book 12 1860-1870
 * Book 13 1870-1876
 * Book 14 1880-1883
 * Book 15 1883-1887
 * Book 16 1886-1889
 * Book 17 1888-1890
 * Book 18 1890-1895
 * Roll #3 - Baptisms
 * Book 19 1894-1903
 * Book 20 1903-1910
 * Book 21 1910-1915
 * Book 22 1915-1917
 * Book 23 1917-1919
 * Book 24 1919-1923
 * Book 25 1924-1927
 * Book 26 1927-1939
 * Scroll #4 - Baptisms (Book 27), Marriages (1-7), and Deaths (1)
 * Book 27 1939-1946
 * Book 1 1752-1805
 * Book 2 1805-1824
 * Book 3 1826-1852
 * Book 4 1853-1878
 * Book 5 1878-1901
 * Book 6 1902-1927
 * Book 7 1928-1945
 * Book 1 1783-1818
 * Roll #5 - Deaths (Books 2-12) and Information (1)
 * Book 2 1809-1837
 * Book 3 1837-1856
 * Book 4 1857-1875
 * Book 5 1875-1883
 * Book 6 1883-1886
 * Book 7 1886-1907
 * Book 8 1907-1917
 * Book 9 1920-1927
 * Book 10 (without dates in the AGN catalog - it may be an error in the original)
 * Book 11 1927-1938
 * Book 12 1938-1946
 * Book 1 1842-1857
 * Roll#6 - Information
 * Book 2 1857-1871
 * Book 3 1871-1874
 * Book 4 1874-1884
 * Book 5 1884-1892
 * Book 6 1892-1898
 * Book 7 1898-1911
 * Book 8 1913-1915
 * Book 9 1925-1942
 * Book 10 1942-1950


 * It is possible to obtain copies of these records. Instructions of the General Archive of the Nation (AGN) (June 2021):
 * Scanned images will remain the same as they are on the roll frame, taking into account that these may be blurred or illegible.
 * The images will be delivered in JPG format and 300 ppx resolution.
 * For the delivery of these images, you must bring a USB memory with available capacity to be copied.
 * According to Technical Annex No. 03 to Resolution No. 088 dated February 19, 2020 "By which the rates that the General Archive of the Nation will charge for sales of goods, services and space rental are established ”, the cost of the requested service is as follows:  
 * Each digitized image from microfilm to digital from a frame without editing has a cost of $205 including VAT.
 * According to Technical Annex No. 03 to Resolution No. 088 dated February 19, 2020 "By which the rates that the General Archive of the Nation will charge for sales of goods, services and space rental are established ”, the cost of the requested service is as follows:  
 * Each digitized image from microfilm to digital from a frame without editing has a cost of $205 including VAT.

Census Records

 * There are no records online for Belén municipality.
 * Existen Censos de Indios en los siguientes años:
 * 1562 - 720 Indigenas
 * 1602 - 964 Indigenas
 * 1635 - 764 Indigenas
 * 1755 - 271 Indigenas
 * 1777 - 249 Indigenas
 * 1797 - 298 Indigenas

Cemeteries

 * Cementerio municipal de Belén