Spain, Consular Records of Emigrants - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Record
España, Registros Consulares de Emigrantes Españoles.

Collection Time Period
This collection of Spaniard consular records includes the years of 1808 to 1960. Specific dates according to record types follows:

 

Record Description
This collection includes digital images of consular records of Spaniards abroad. The record content covers: passport registers, nationality cards, register of citizens, military records, civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths. These records are currently housed at the Archivo General de la Administración in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain. The text of the records was written in Spanish. This collection is being published as images become available.

Record Content
Key genealogical facts found in civil registration records may include:


 * Consular place and date
 * Names of principals
 * Dates of birth, marriage, death
 * Place of birth, marriage, death
 * Names of parents
 * Names of related individuals
 * Names of witnesses

Key genealogical facts found in passport records may include:


 * Consular place and date of issue
 * Name of principal Birth date and place of principal
 * Names of minor children if traveling with a parent

Key genealogical facts found in citizenship records may include:


 * Place and date of issue
 * Name of person
 * Birth date and place or age
 * Residence place

How to Use the Records
For civil registration of birth, marriage, and death, begin your search by finding your ancestors in the index if available. Name indexes to births, marriages, and deaths make it possible to access a specific record quickly. Remember that these indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned. When searching the index it is helpful to know the following:


 * The place where the event occurred
 * The name and surname of the person
 * The approximate date of the event
 * The name of the parents or spouse

Use the locator information found in the index (such as page, entry, or certificate number) to locate your ancestors in the records. 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 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.

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.
 * Occupations listed can lead you to other types of records such as employment records 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 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.
 * 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.

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.

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


 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Check for a different index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities.

Record History
Spain has an extensive network of Consulates and Embassies abroad that provide a series of services for Spaniard citizens and for foreigners that want to travel to Spain. Some of these services include the registration of births, marriages, and deaths of Spaniards living abroad, residence certificates, citizenships, passports, notary public documents, visas for foreigners, and others. The civil registration created at a consular office has the same validity and follows the same legal codes as the one in the mother country. One month after the civil event has been registered in a consulate abroad, a duplicate record is sent to the Central Civil Registry in Madrid, from where copies can be requested.

Why the Record Was Created
Consular services are necessary for Spaniards living or traveling abroad for legal documentation, protection, and other related needs while abroad. All records created in a consular office are as valid and legal as if created in Spain.

Record Reliability
This collection of records is a reliable source of information for family history research of ancestors from Spain that traveled or lived abroad.

Related Websites
Gobierno de España - Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y de Cooperación – Servicios Consulares

Related Wiki Articles
Spain

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should 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.

Examples of Source Citations for a Record in This Collection

 * "Delaware Marriage Records," index and images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org): accessed 4 March 2011, entry for William Anderson and Elizabeth Baynard Henry, married 23 November 1913; citing marriage certificate no. 859; FHL microfilm 2,025,063; Delaware Bureau of Archives and Records Management, Dover.
 * “El Salvador Civil Registration,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org): accessed 21 March 2011, entry for Jose Maria Antonio del Carmen, born 9 April 1880; citing La Libertad, San Juan Opico, Nacimientos 1879-1893, image 50; Ministerio Archivo Civil de la Alcaldia Municipal de San Salvador.

Citation for This Collection
Spain. Various Spanish Consulates. Consular records, 1808-1960. Archivo General de la Administración (AGA), Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.

Detailed instructions for adding citations are also listed in the wiki article: How to Create Source Citations For FamilySearch Historical Records Collections.