Argentina, Capital Federal, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Records
Registros Parroquiales de la Provincia de Capital Federal, Argentina

Record Description
This collection includes records in Spanish dating from from 1737 to 1977 and contains baptism, confirmation, marriage, and death records from parishes in the Buenos Aires City as it existed at the end of the 20th century.

Buenos Aires City was founded in 1580 (after an aborted attempt 40 years earlier) and was part of the provinces in the area—first Asunción then Buenos Aires—until 1880, when the city was separated from Buenos Aires Province and federalized (put under direct control of the national government).

Earlier registers are handwritten in narrative style, and later records were handwritten on printed forms. Catholic Church parish registers are the major records available to identify individuals, parents, and spouses before 1930. After this date, civil authorities began registering vital statistics, which by law includes people of all religions. For genealogical purposes, the information in civil sources confirms and supplements the information in church records.

Records from some of these parishes have been indexed and are searchable as part of this collection. For a list of localities currently published in this collection, select the Browse link from the collection landing page.

Record Content
Birth records usually contain the following information:


 * Date of event
 * Place of event
 * Name of Child
 * Child's birth date
 * Father’s name
 * Father’s origin and age
 * Mother’s name
 * Mother’s origin and age
 * Parents' residence
 * Names of godparents

Confirmation records usually contain the following information:


 * Confirmation date
 * Name
 * Gender
 * Godparents

Marriage records usually contain the following information:


 * Date of event
 * Place of event
 * Name of groom
 * Groom’s age, race, origin and civil status
 * Groom’s place of residence
 * Groom's religion
 * Groom's occupation
 * Names of groom's parents and their origin
 * Can read and write
 * Name of bride
 * Bride’s age, race, origin and civil status
 * Bride’s place of residence
 * Bride’s religion
 * Bride's occupation
 * Names of bride's parents and their origin
 * Can read and write
 * Witness's name, age, origin and residence

Death Records may contain the following information:


 * Name of deceased
 * Date of death
 * Age of deceased
 * Residence of deceased
 * Cause of death
 * Witness's name, age and residence

How to Use the Record
As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’s given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.


 * 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.

To search this collection by index: 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.

To browse this collection by image: ⇒ Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒ Select the “City or Town” category ⇒ Select the “Parish” category ⇒ Select the “Record Type and Years” that 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.

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

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


 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Search the records of nearby localities.

For Help Reading These Records
These records are in Spanish. For help reading the records, see the following wiki articles:


 * Spanish Genealogical Word List
 * Argentina Language and Languages

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached Wiki article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Maps

 * Argentina’s provinces in the early 21st century
 * Subdivisions of Buenos Aires City in the early 21st century
 * Buenos Aires City in 1911
 * Buenos Aires City (and other cities) in 1891
 * Argentina’s provinces in 1857

Local Histories

 * Wikipedia’s history of Buenos Aires City
 * History of Buenos Aires City
 * Britannica history of Buenos Aires City
 * Brief history of the province and city of Buenos Aires
 * Book on the history of South America, including a history of Argentina, published in 1904

Related Wiki Articles

 * Argentina
 * Argentina Church Records
 * Argentina Church History

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
Citations for individual image records are available for this collection. Browse through images in this collection and click on the "Show Citation" box: Argentina, Capital Federal, Catholic Church Records, 1737-1977

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 Help:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

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