San José Province, Costa Rica Genealogy

Guide to Province of San José family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

'''Most of your genealogical research for San José will be in two main record types: civil registration and church records. This article will teach you methods for locating and searching these two record groups.'''

Knowing Your Locality

 * You will need to know the town where your family lived and province. Towns are known as "cantons": Wikipedia: Cantons of Costa Rica. Directory of Cities, Towns, and Regions in Costa Rica will explain location its geographical jurisdictions. Because some given names and surnames are very common, you might find many birth certificates in the indexes for the same name.  Details about the locality of your ancestors will help in choosing the correct entry.
 * Costa Rica Maps offers several maps from different time periods.
 * Google Maps and Wikipedia might also help.

Civil Registration

 * Civil registration records are government records covering birth, marriage, and death. They are an excellent source of names, dates, places, and relationships.
 * Civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths began in 1888.

1. Searching Births, Marriages and Deaths in the Costa Rica Civil Registry

 * 1) Access Civil Registry section of the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones de Costa Rica http://www.tse.go.cr/consulta_persona/menu.htm
 * 2) To find information on individuals, select "consulta por nombre y apellidos" (Search by name) http://www.tse.go.cr/consulta_persona/consulta_nombres.aspx
 * 3) Enter the first name and maiden name of the person being searched.
 * 4) In the results window, select the person from the list and click "Realizar Consulta" near the bottom of the list.
 * 5) The profile for the individual is displayed showing birth date, names of parents and death date, if applicable. Click on any links to get additional details.
 * 6) To find marriages or death records, repeat steps 2 to 4, selecting "consulta de matrimonios" (Consultation marriages) or "consulta de defunciones" (Consultation deaths).
 * 7) The profiles for the married couple or the deceased person is displayed, showing marriage or death dates and names of parents.

2. Additional Online Digital Databases for Civil Registration
These collections will duplicate the material in the government database. However, different search engines can turn up different results. Also a transcription error in one database can be remedied in another database.
 * 1860-1975 - — at FamilySearch Historical Records,  free, index, not complete for all localities. Also available at Ancestry.com, which can be searched for free at Family History Centers. Frequently, the Ancestry search engine is more powerful.
 * 1860-1975 - Costa Rica, San José, Civil Registration, 1860-1975 at FamilySearch Historical Records — free, browseable images only, not complete for all localities.
 * 1860-1975 - Costa Rica, Various Provinces, Civil Registration, 1860-1975 at FamilySearch Historical Records — free, browseable images only, not complete for all localities.


 * "Nascimientos" are births. "Matrimonios" are marriages.  "Defunciones" are deaths.

3. Microfilm Copies of Civil Registration Records Searched at a Family History Center
If the locality and time period you need are not included in the online records, the next step is to find them in the microfilm collection of the Family History Library. These microfilms may be viewed at Family History Centers around the world. To find a microfilm:


 * a. Click on this link to see a list of records for Costa Rica, San José.
 * b. Click on "Places within Costa Rica, San José" and a list of towns and cities will open.
 * c. Click on the town or city you wish to search.
 * d. Click on "Civil Registration" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * e. Choose the correct event and time period for your ancestor.
 * f. Some combination of the icons shown below will appear at the far right of the microfilm listed for the record.
 * FHL icons.png The magnifying glass indicates that the microfilm is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the microfilm.

4. Writing for Civil Registration Certificates
Civil registration records are kept at the local civil registration office in each municipality. You must determine the town where your ancestor lived before you can find the records. A civil registration district may include several towns or a small section of a large city. In addition to the town, you need to know an approximate year in which the birth, marriage, divorce, or death occurred.'This method is not always reliable. Officials might or might not respond.'

Use this address as a guide, replacing the information in parentheses:


 * Oficino del Registro Civil
 * (street name, number)
 * (city or town), San José
 * (postal code)
 * Costa Rica


 * Find the Costa Rica postal code here.

'''Write your request in Spanish whenever possible. Use the translated questions and phrases in this Spanish Letter-writing Guide to assist you in writing your letter in Spanish. Send the following when requesting information:'''


 * Money for the search fee, usually $10.00, and an international reply coupon (IRC)
 * Full name and the sex of the ancestor sought
 * Names of the ancestor’s parents, if known
 * Approximate date and place of the event
 * Your relationship to the ancestor
 * Reason for the request (family history, medical, and so on)
 * Request for a photocopy of the complete original record

Church Records

 * Catholic Church parish registers are the primary source for finding genealogical information of birth, death, and marriage in Ecuador prior to 1873, when the civil registration was implemented.
 * Parish registers include baptism, confirmation, marriage and death records.
 * All the records were registered and kept by the priest in authority of his parish jurisdiction. One register was generally kept at the parish archive and another copy sent to the diocesan archive for preservation.

1. Online Digital Records for Church Records
For some localities, digital copies of Catholic church records can be searched online: In a separate collection, a few baptisms, marriages, and burials have been indexed for Costa Rica: Bautismos are infant baptisms, which are used for birth information. Información matrimonial are documents collected in preparation for a marriage. Matrimônios' are marriages. Defunciones are deaths. Entierros are burials'". Índice''' is the index.
 * 1595-1992 - — free, index, not complete for all localities.
 * 1595-1992 -   — free, browsable, not complete for all localities.
 * 1700-1915 - - at FamilySearch Historical Records — free, index, not complete for all localities. Also available at Ancestry.com, which can be searched for free at Family History Centers.
 * 1750-1920 - -  at FamilySearch Historical Records — free, index, not complete for all localities. Also available at Ancestry.com, which can be searched for free at Family History Centers.
 * 1787-1900 - -  at FamilySearch Historical Records — free, index, not complete for all localities. Also available at, which can be searched for free at Family History Centers.

2. Microfilm Copies of Church Records Searched at a Family History Center
If the locality and time period you need are not included in the online records, the next step is to try to find them in the microfilm collection of the Family History Library. Currently, they are being digitized, and plans are to complete that project by 2020. Check back occasionally to see if your records have become available. In the meantime, some of them might be available at a Family History Center near you. To find a microfilm:


 * a. Click on this link to see a list of records for Costa Rica, San José.
 * b. Click on "Places within Costa Rica, San José" and a list of towns and cities will open.
 * c. Click on the town or city you wish to search.
 * d. Click on "Church Records" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * e. Choose the correct event and time period for your ancestor.
 * f. Some combination of the icons shown below will appear at the far right of the microfilm listed for the record.
 * FHL icons.png Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the microfilm.

3. Writing to a Catholic Priest for Church Records
Baptism, marriage, and death records may be searched by contacting or visiting local parish or diocese archives in Peru. More recent Catholic parish records are kept at the local parish. The diocese keeps the records of parishes that no longer exist. Write your request in Spanish whenever possible. 'This method is not always reliable. Officials might or might not respond.'

Write a brief request in Spanish to the proper church using this address as a guide replacing the information in parentheses:


 * Reverendo Padre
 * Parroquia de (name of parish) 
 * (parish), San José
 * (postal code)
 * Costa Rica


 * Find the Costa Rica postal code here.

Send the following when requesting information:


 * Money for the search fee, usually $10.00, and an international reply coupon (IRC)
 * Full name and the sex of the ancestor sought
 * Names of the ancestor’s parents, if known
 * Approximate date and place of the event
 * Your relationship to the ancestor
 * Reason for the request (family history, medical, and so on)
 * Request for a photocopy of the complete original record

'''Write your request in Spanish whenever possible. Use the translated questions and phrases in this Spanish Letter-writing Guide to assist you in writing your letter in Spanish. '''

Reading the Records

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


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


 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 1 — Spanish alphabet
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 2 — Names, dates, and key genealogical words
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 3 — Read Spanish records: birth, baptism, marriage, and death records

Search Strategy

 * Search for the relative or ancestor you have selected to work on. When you find his birth record, 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.
 * 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.

Tips for finding your ancestor in the records

 * Births were usually reported within a few days of the birth by the father of the child, a neighbor, or the midwife. A search for a birth record should begin with the known date of birth and then searching forward in time, day by day, until the record is found. It might be found within a few days of the actual birth date, but in some instances, it might be weeks or months later.


 * The Catholic Church continued keeping records after the creation of the civil registration in 1900. Therefore two types of records are available. If you can find the needed record in the church records, you do not have to search both records. Someday, when both records are available online, then it would be wise to search both.


 * Death records can be particularly helpful for people who may not have had a civil birth or marriage record but died during the period when civil registration had begun.