Mexico, Baja California and Baja California Sur, Civil Registration - FamilySearch Historical Records

 Mexico Baja California

What is in the Collection?
This collection includes civil records for Baja California and Baja California Sur and covers from 1860 to 2004.

Records, such as birth, marriages, and deaths, are organized by state and then by municipality/city. Early records were handwritten in narrative style; later records were handwritten in formatted registers. These records are written in Spanish; also see the section For Help Reading These Records for translation helps.

Civil records in Mexico cover about 90 to 95% of the population. Beginning in 1859, the Mexican government began requiring births, marriages, and deaths to be recorded by civil authorities on a municipality/district level. Although these records are a great source of genealogical information, they are not complete as civil registration wasn't strictly enforced in Mexico until 1867 and people did not always comply. For this reason, church registers must be used alongside the civil records. The civil records of Mexico have been preserved relatively well. Only some of the older registers may have some physical damage. However, in general they are in good condition to extract genealogical information.

The Mexican civil registration was created to record the vital events of birth, marriage, death, and other civil events, which would determine and prove the civil status, existence, and condition of the population.

The civil registration records of Mexico are a reliable source for doing genealogical research.

What Can these Records Tell Me?
Birth records generally contain the following information:


 * Birth date and place of birth
 * Name of child
 * Child’s gender
 * Legitimacy
 * Parents' names, and origin
 * Names of witnesses

Marriage records generally contain the following information:


 * Date and place of marriage
 * Names of bride and groom
 * Age(s)of bride and groom
 * Groom's civil status and occupation
 * Names of parents
 * Names of witnesses

Death records generally contain the following information:


 * Name, age and gender of deceased
 * Birth date and place of deceased
 * Residence of deceased
 * Civil status and name of spouse
 * Names of parents
 * Date and place of death
 * Cause of death
 * Declarant's name, age,nationality, residence, occupation and relationship to deceased
 * Witnesses' names, age, nationality, residence, occupation and relationship to deceased
 * Place of burial (sometimes)

How Do I Search the Collection?
View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page  ⇒Select the "City or Municipality" category ⇒Select the "Record Type and Years" category which 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.

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


 * Mexico Language and Languages
 * Spanish Genealogical Word List
 * 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

I Found Who I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * 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 death date or age along with the place of death to find birth records.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church records.
 * Compile information for every person who has the same surname as your ancestor; this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.
 * Continue to search the records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives 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.

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

 * Civil registration records are also a good source of genealogical information. You should obtain copies of both church records and civil registration, when possible, since they do not necessarily provide the same information. For example, baptismal registers sometimes provide the names of the fathers of illegitimate children when the civil registration does not.
 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * You ancestor may be using a nickname or alias.
 * A boundary change could have occurred and the record of your ancestor is now in a neighboring area. Try looking through records in the surrounding localities. Baja California shares a small part of its northeastern border with Sonora and its northern border with California. Baja California Sur is surrounded by water excepting the northern border it shares with Baja California.

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.

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