Colombia, Diocese of Barranquilla, Catholic Church Records, - FamilySearch Historical Records

Colombia

What is in This Collection?
This collection includes Catholic Church baptism, marriage, and death/burial records from parishes for 1808 to 1985 from the Diocese of Barranquilla (city) in the Atlántico Department (state). Original records are kept by the Diócesis de Barranquilla in Colombia. There may be some confirmation and other miscellaneous records mixed in.

Some of these records have been indexed and are searchable as part of this collection.

For much of its history, the predominate religion in Barranquilla was Catholicism, which records and solemnizes important life events.

Additional indexed records will be published as they become available.

Reading These Records
These records are written in Spanish; also see the section For Help Reading These Records for translation helps.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:

Baptism Records
 * Name and gender
 * Date and place of baptism
 * Birth date
 * Legitimacy
 * Names of parents
 * Names of godparents

Marriage Records
 * Names and ages of groom and bride
 * Date and place of marriage
 * Birthplaces of groom and bride
 * Estimated birth years of groom and bride
 * Names of groom’s parents
 * Names of bride’s parents
 * Who performed the marriage
 * Names of witnesses

Death Records
 * Deceased’s name, gender, and age (keep in mind that death records for women may be filed under their married name)
 * Date and place of death
 * Date and place of burial
 * Estimated birth year
 * Marital status/name of spouse
 * Names of parents

How Do I Search This Collection?
You can search the index or view the images or both. Before using this collection it is helpful to know:
 * Your ancestor's given name and surname
 * Identifying information such as residence
 * Estimated marriage or birth year

View the Images
You will be able to search this collection once it is published.

For Help Reading These Records
For help reading these Spanish records see the following guides:


 * Spanish Genealogical Word List
 * Colombia Language and Languages
 * Reading Spanish handwritten records
 * Script tutorial for Spanish

In addition to the suggestions below, watch these free videos about using the information in baptism and other records in your research (Videos are in Spanish):


 * Registros bautismales de Antioquia, Colombia
 * Uso de las Partidas bautismales
 * Registros o Partidas

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. Keep track of your research in a research log.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth of each spouse to find a couple's birth records and parents' names.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate civil records. This link describes the history and use of Colombia Civil Registration.
 * Use the parents' birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * 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.
 * Use the marital status to identify previous marriages (whether a divorce or death dissolved a previous marriage).
 * Witnesses often were relatives of the parents.

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

 * New information is constantly being indexed, microfilmed or updated. Periodically check back and see if your ancestor’s records have been added.  You can see if the area you’ve been looking in has been recently updated by going to Historical Records Collections and notice the asterisk for recently added or updated records.
 * For marriage and death records, your ancestors may have used shortened names or nicknames, so pay attention to other relationships (parents, spouse, siblings, children, etc.) that can confirm whether you have the right person/record.
 * 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.
 * A boundary change could have occurred and the record of your ancestor is now in a neighboring state, or your ancestor immigrated to another country. Search the records of nearby areas or immigration/emigration records. This link describes the history and use of Colombia Emigration and Immigration.
 * The following is a link to a video (in Spanish) about emigration and immigration within and to Colombia: El Transporte en Colombia y las Migraciones
 * Also, view this video (in Spanish) about other record types that can help you learn about your ancestor: Los Abundantísimos Registros no Eclesiásticos

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: “Colombia, Diocese of Barranquilla, Catholic Church Records, 1808-1985.” Database with Images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 2017. Citing Parroquias Católicas, Barranquilla [Catholic Church parishes, Barranquilla].

Record citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation

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