Venezuela Civil Registration - FamilySearch Historical Records

Venezuela



Title in the Language of the Records
Registro Civil de Venezuela

What is in the Collection?
This Collection will include records from 1873 to 2003.

This collection includes births, marriages, and deaths that are registered in separate books at different municipal offices of the civil registry. Most records are well-preserved. Earlier records are handwritten in Spanish; newer records are handwritten, also in Spanish, in formatted records. Some localities may be listed under their old administrative jurisdictions, depending on the time of the creation of the record. These records are written in Spanish.

Before 1873, the Catholic Church was the only organization that recorded important events in a person’s life, such as baptism, marriage, and death or burial. However, in the early months of 1826, the government was began creating the civil registration of the judicial and non-judicial civil acts of their citizens under the National Treasury Department in the mortgage annotations office. The government also wanted a duplicate copy of the Catholic Church registers to use for civil records.

For a list of records by localities and dates currently published in this collection, select the Browse.

Collection Content
Venezuela Civil Registration

How do I Search the Collection?
These records are in Spanish. For help with reading the records, see the following resources:

Spanish Genealogical Word List

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 search the collection with the browse, you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒Select the "State" ⇒Select the "City or Municipality" ⇒Select the "Parish or District" ⇒Select the "Record Type and Years" which takes you to the images.

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.

For Help Reading These Records
To learn more about using the information in civil records, view these lessons for free:
 * Encontré este registro ¿y ahora qué? - Spanish
 * Documentos esenciales para buscar a sus antepasados - Spanish
 * Tesoros ocultos en los registros originales - Spanish
 * ¿Y ahora qué? Cómo hacer la investigación genealógica – Spanish

What Do I Do Next?
When searching the index it is helpful to know the following:


 * The first name of the person
 * The approximate event date
 * The event place

Compare the information in the record to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination. When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. Add this new information to your records of each family.

For example:


 * Looking in the same collection, you may be able to identify other members of the family.
 * Compile the marriage entries for every person who has the same surname as the bride or groom; this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.
 * Continue to search the marriage records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives of the bride and groom who may have married 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.

If you want to find more information about the family, the pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records.

For example:


 * 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 residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records.
 * Use occupations to look for other types of records such as employment or military records.
 * Use the parents’ birthplaces to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * The name of the officiator is a clue to the family’s religion or area of residence in the county. However, ministers may have reported marriages performed in other counties.
 * Use the marriage number to identify previous marriages.

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

 * The information in marriage 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 1800s.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from one record to another record.

If you are unable to find the ancestors you are looking for, try the following:


 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Search for the marriage record of the marriage partner, if known.
 * Check for a different index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby counties.

Related Websites

 * Consejo Nacional Electoral (CNE)

Related Wiki Articles

 * Venezuela Catholic Church Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Venezuela Church Records

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: