San Marcos Department, Guatemala Genealogy

Guide to Department of San Marcos ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, church records, parish registers, and civil registration.



History
After being annexed by the First Mexican Empire in 1821, the Federal Republic of Central America was founded in 1823, which included the present day San Marcos region of Guatemala. The department was created by a governmental decree on 8 May 1866. In 1902 the eruption of the Santa María volcano in the neighbouring department of Quetzaltenango was responsible for the destruction of the twin towns of San Marcos and San Pedro Sacatepéquez. The towns were rebuilt and in 1935 were joined to form the new municipality of San Marcos La Unión. This new municipality did not last long and the unified municipalities were again split in 1945 with San Marcos remaining the departmental capital. 

Civil Registration and Church Records
Most of the research you will do will be in these two records. Currently, there are no church records filmed for San Marcos Department. These records for towns in San Marcos, are found mixed in with neighboring parishes:
 * 1877-2008 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1877-1994 -
 * 1877-1994 - Guatemala, San Marcos, Civil Registration, 1877-1994. Additional towns.
 * Guatemala, San Marcos, Malacatán, Catholic Church Records, 1625-1938, images only.
 * Guatemala, San Marcos, Tacaná, Catholic Church Records, 1766-1900

Additional online records may be listed in the Family History Library Catalog for places within Guatemala, San Marcos.

Reading the Records

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


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


 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 1
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 2
 * Reading Spanish Handwritten Records, Lesson 3


 * Detailed instructions for reading Spanish records, examples of common documents, and practice exercises for developing skills in translating them can be found in the Spanish Records Extraction Manual.
 * The Spanish Documents Script Tutorial also provides lessons and examples.

Building a Family Record with a Search Strategy
Many articles on strategy are available on the Wiki, but here is a simple set of steps to guide you
 * Search for the relative or ancestor you selected. When you find his birth/baptism/christening record, then 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, and even the names of their 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.