Guatemala, Escuintla, Civil Registration - FamilySearch Historical Records

Guatemala

What is in the Collection?
This collection will include birth, marriage, death, indexes and other records from 1877-1994. These were created by the civil registration offices in the department of Escuintla, Guatemala.

The civil registration records for Guatemala cover the vital events of birth, marriages, and deaths. They are organized by municipality/city. Earlier records were handwritten in narrative style; later records were handwritten in formatted registers.

As you search this collection, you will notice that some information in the records has been blacked out. Specific privacy laws in Guatemala prohibit some information classified as sensitive from being shared with the public. The information that is blacked out may be different from record type to record type, and does not negatively affect your family history research.

Additional images will be published as they become available. Images courtesy of Registro Nacional de las Personas (RENAP).

Reading These Records
These records are written in Spanish. Here is a link to a Spanish Genealogical Word List which may be helpful. Also, see the section "For Help Reading These Records" below for translation helps.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
Birth records may contain the following information:


 * Birth date and place
 * Name at birth
 * Gender
 * Parents’ names
 * Parents’ residence
 * Witnesses’ names
 * Informant’s names, age, occupation, marital status, birth place, and residence
 * Document date

Marriage records may contain the following:


 * Marriage date and place
 * Groom’s name, age, occupation, birth place, resident city, and address
 * Groom’s legitimacy and parents’ names
 * Groom’s maternal and paternal grandparents’ names
 * Bride’s name, age, occupation, birth place, resident city, and address
 * Bride’s legitimacy and parents’ names
 * Bride’s maternal and paternal grandparents’ names
 * Groom’s marital status
 * Bride’s marital status
 * Document date

Death records may contain:


 * Death date and place
 * Deceased’s name, gender, and age
 * Deceased’s marital status, occupation, and parents’ names
 * Cause of death
 * Informant’s name, age, marital status, occupation, birth place, resident city and address
 * Document date

View The Images
View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page.
 * 1) Select Municipality
 * 2) Select Record Type and Years to view the images.

For Help Reading These Records
For help with reading these Spanish records, see the following resources:


 * BYU Spanish Script Tutorial
 * FamilySearch Learning Center videos:
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 1
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 2
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 3

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Search for the relative or ancestor you have selected. When you find the person’s birth record, search for the births of his or her brothers and sisters.
 * The phrase “dío a luz” means the same as “was born” or “gave birth to”
 * Search for the marriage of his or her parents. The marriage record will often give you information that leads to the parents’ birth record.
 * Estimate the parents’ age and search for their birth records.
 * Repeat the process for both the father and mother.
 * Search the death records for all family members.
 * It is often helpful to extract the information on all children with the same parents. If the surname is unusual, you may want to compile entries for every person of the same surname and sort them into families based on the names of the parents. Continue to search the records to identify siblings, parents, and other relatives in the same or other generations who were born in the same town or nearby location.

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

 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.
 * Check for variant spellings of the names.
 * 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.
 * Titles may be clues to property ownership, occupations, rank, or status within the community.
 * Search the records of nearby departments

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:

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