Quetzaltenango Department, Guatemala Genealogy

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

Quetzaltenango (Xelajú or familial Xela) is a "department" in the western highlands of Guatemala. It is named in part for the Quetzal bird, a national symbol of the nation. The chief city is Quetzaltenango for many years the second largest city of Guatemala. Some records of importance to genealogists are located here, while many others for the area are stored in Guatemala City.

History
The city was said to have already been over 300 years old when the Spanish first arrived. Quetzaltenango became the city's official name in colonial times. From 1838 to 1840 Quetzaltenango was the capital of the state of Los Altos, one of the states or provinces of the Federal Republic of Central America. When the union broke up, the army of Guatemala took over making Quetzaltenango again part of Guatemala. Since the late 1990s Quetzaltenango has been having an economic boom, which makes it the city with the second-highest contribution to Guatemalan economy. 

Civil Registration and Church Records
Most of the research you will do will be in these two records.
 * 1877-2008 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1877-1994 -
 * 1877-1994 - Guatemala, Quetzaltenango, Civil Registration, 1877-1994. Additional towns.
 * 1581-1977 - Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, Catholic Church Records, 1581-1977

Additional online records may be listed in the Family History Library Catalog for places within Guatemala, Quetzaltenango.

Reading the Records

 * You do not have to be fluent in Spanish to read your documents. Genealogical records usually contain a limited vocabulary. Use this Spanish Genealogical Word List to translate the important points in the document. Handwriting skills are taught in BYU Spanish Script Tutorial.


 * Online interactive slideshow lessons are available to help you learn to read these records:


 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 1
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 2
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 3


 * Detailed instructions for reading Spanish records, examples of common documents, and practice exercises for developing skills in translating them can be found in the Spanish Records Extraction Manual.
 * The Spanish Documents Script Tutorial also provides lessons and examples.

Building a Family Record with a Search Strategy
Many articles on strategy are available on the Wiki, but here is a simple set of steps to guide you
 * Search for the relative or ancestor you selected. When you find his birth/baptism/christening record, then search for the births of his brothers and sisters.
 * Next, search for the marriage of his parents. The marriage record will have information that will often help you find the birth records of the parents, and even the names of their parents.
 * You can estimate the ages of the parents and determine a birth year to search for their birth records.
 * Search the death registers for all known family members.
 * Repeat this process for both the father and the mother, starting with their birth records, then their siblings' births, then their parents' marriages, and so on.
 * If earlier generations (parents, grandparents, etc.) do not appear in the records, search neighboring parishes.