Uruguay, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Record
Registros de la Iglesia Católica, Uruguay

Record Description
This Collection will include church records from the Catholic parishes in Uruguay for the years 1726-2004.

Record Categories
The collection includes baptisms, marriages, deaths, and other parish records.

Record Content
Baptism Records generally contain the following information:


 * Name and Gender of the child
 * Parents’ Names
 * Residence
 * Date and Place of baptism

Marriage Records usually contain the following:


 * Name of groom
 * Groom’s place of birth
 * Groom’s age
 * Groom’s occupation
 * Groom’s marital status
 * Name of groom’s father
 * Groom’s mother’s maiden name
 * Name of bride
 * Bride’s place of birth
 * Bride’s age
 * Bride’s father’s Name
 * Maiden Name of bride’s mother
 * Names of Witnesses

Death Records may contain the following information:


 * Name of deceased
 * Date of death
 * Place of death
 * Place of burial
 * Date of burial

How to Use the Record
To begin your search you should know the following:
 * The person’s name.
 * The approximate location of an event.
 * An approximate time frame of an event.
 * Indexes are available on some of these groups of images. If indexes are available, check these for the name first. Indexes are usually located at the beginning or end of a group of images. Find your ancestor’s name and look for the locator information next to the name (such as page, entry, or certificate number). This will help you find the record you are looking for in the collection.
 * Some record sets have indexes; these indexes were created at the end of the year. Copy errors could have been made in the index, so you want to find the actual record to verify the information is correct.

Keep in mind:
 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * The information in records is usually reliable, but depends upon the knowledge of the informant.
 * Regarding marriage and death records, name changes, shortened names, or nicknames may have been used by your ancestors, so pay attention to other relationships (parents, spouse, siblings, children, etc.) that can confirm whether you have the right person/record.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

Search the Collection
To browse the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒ Select the 'Departamento' (State) category ⇒ Select the 'Ciudad/Pueblo' (City/Village) category ⇒ Select the 'Parroquia' (Parish) category ⇒ Select the 'Tipo de registro y años (tomo)' (Record type and years (volume)) category which takes you to the images.

Look at the images and compare 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.

Using the Information

 * 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 the parents' birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * The name of a marriage 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 marital status/marriage number (how many times a person was married) 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.
 * Witnesses often were relatives of the parents.
 * Continue to search the indexes and records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives who may have lived in the same area or a nearby area.

Unable to Find Your Ancestor?
Your ancestor immigrated to another country. Search the records of nearby areas or immigration/emigration records.

Civil Registration records are also a promising source of family history information.


 * Uruguay Vital Records Index (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Uruguay, Civil Registration Index Cards (FamilySearch Historical Records) *Uruguay Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)

For Help Reading these Records
These records are in Spanish. For help reading the records see the following guides:
 * Spanish Genealogical Word List
 * Reading Spanish handwritten records
 * Script tutorial for Spanish

Related Websites
The following is a link to a research outline used for Uruguay:
 * Latin America Research Outline
 * Locality Analysis for Uruguay

Related Wiki Articles

 * Uruguay
 * Uruguay Church Records
 * Uruguay Vital Records Index (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Uruguay, Civil Registration Index Cards (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Uruguay Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)

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

Keep track of records where you did not find information about your ancestor so you and others will not waste time looking through these records in the future.

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

Citation Example for a Record Found in a Historical Record Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Record collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher, and archive for the original records.

{{Collection citation| text =“Uruguay, Catholic Church Records.” Images. FamilySearch. https://familysearch.org: accessed 2014. Citing Catholic Diocese of Uruguay.