Presentation Given at 2022 Southern California Genealogy Jamboree

1. © 2013 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.
Civil Registration Records
in Latin America and Spain
Southern California Genealogy Jamboree
Ben Baker
bakerb@familysearch.org

2. Background
• Over 12 years as a Software Engineer at FamilySearch
• While some content is FamilySearch specific, the same principles apply
when working with Spanish civil registration records anywhere
• Currently on the Automated Content Extraction team
• Spent last two years working to publish millions of Spanish church and
civil records
• Continue to personally view records daily – have seen thousands
• Have given several other family history related presentations over the
years, See https://www.slideshare.net/bakers84
• Email me (bakerb@familysearch.org) with questions or to get a copy of
the presentation

3. FamilySearch
• Owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Provides FamilySearch services free of charge to everyone
• Why we believe genealogy is important
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/topic/genealogy
• Some statistics (2020)
• 1.3 billion people in the world’s largest collaborative family tree which is
backed by 1.7 billion genealogical sources
• 4.3 billion published historical images with 8.3 billion searchable names
• Over 5200 family history centers worldwide
• Why Spanish?
• Is 2nd most spoken language by church members, soon to become top one
• Plus, numerous people with Spanish speaking ancestry
• Don’t have nearly as many indexed records in Spanish as English yet
• Over 170 million Spanish christening records published in past year
• Also actively publishing in Portuguese as well as moving to other languages

4. High Level Process
• Find Records Of Interest
• Determine Record Structure/Boundaries
• Read the Record
• Identify key words indicating people, events, dates,
places, relationships, etc.
• Understand what is written and what it means
• Assemble information using additional knowledge and
context data

5. Find Records of Interest
• Available in many countries
• Most governments didn’t start keeping until about 1870
• Searching indexed records
• Computer-Assisted Indexing
• Explore Historical Images
• Browse All Published Collections
• Catalog

6. Kinds of Church Records
• Birth
• Marriage
• Death

7. Searching Indexed Records
• Search/Records menu from home page
• Intro video outlining a few different ways to search
https://www.familysearch.org/rootstech/session/searching-records-on-
familysearch-org

8. Refining Search Results
• Learn to add terms to narrow down results
• Can also narrow down to certain collections, dates
and/or places
• TIP: Don’t put in too much info because it will search
for records with all the characteristics

9. Computer-Assisted Indexing
• Uses advanced Machine Learning/AI technologies
• Process is very similar to a genealogist
• Must meet quality thresholds to publish
• Using for other record types too (obituaries, etc.)
• Already replacing dozens of years of indexing effort
• Can extract more information than traditional
indexing (Ex. godparents, occupations, etc.)
• Seeking to allow homelands to be more involved in
building local content
• Can correct errors

10. Computer-Assisted Indexed Records

11. Correcting Errors

12. Correcting Larger Errors

13. Explore Historical Images
• Narrow down to time and place where you are interested
• Like looking through microfilm in the old days
• Look for indexes to help find what you want more quickly

14. Explore Historical Images - Results

15. Explore Historical Images - Images

16. Browse All Published Collections

17. Catalog

18. Determine Record Structure/Boundaries
• Understand what
constitutes a
record
• Many follow similar
structure, often in
pre-defined forms
• Realize that
computer-assisted
indexing may
mess this up
sometimes

19. What You’ll Find in Record Types
Type
Birth • Name, usually within months of when a child was born
• Residence town or city where the family lived
• Date of registration and of birth
• Names of the Parents
• In some cases, paternal and maternal grandparents are recorded as well
• Informant’s Name (compareciente) – name of the person providing information to the civil
registrar. Often it is a relative such as parent, aunt/uncle, or grandparent.
Marriage • Groom’s Name and Information – Full name of the groom, his residence and/or birth
place, his occupation, and age.
• Groom’s Parents’ Information – Full names of groom’s parents and their residence.
• Bride’s Name and Information – Full name of the bride, her residence and/or birth place,
and her age.
• Bride’s Parents’ Information – Full names of bride’s parents and their residence.
• Date – day, month, and year of the marriage.
• Residence – municipio or district where the couple is getting married. Name of the town
or city where the bride and groom lived.
• Witnesses’ Information – Full names of the witnesses.
Death • Deceased’s Information – Full name of the deceased, his or her residence and/or birth
place, occupation, age, marital status, cause of death, place of burial.
• Residence – municipio or district where the death was registered. Name of the town or
city where the deceased lived.

20. Reading the Record
• Basic key words
• Spanish spelling
• Common abbreviation patterns

21. Basic Key Words – Events
Birth nació, nacida(o)
Marriage casé / casado / casar / casó / casamiento
matrimonio
Death defunción
fallecimiento / fallecido(a)
muerto(a)
difunto(a)
Burial sepultura / sepultado(a)
entierro / entierrado(a)

22. Event Key Words

23. Basic Key Words – Relationships/People
Child hijo legítimo / hija legítima
niño(a)
párvulo(a)
Grandparents abuelos / abuela / abuelo
(often with maternos / paternos
designation)
Spouse esposo(a)
marido(a)
Marital Status viudo(a) – widowed
soltera - single
Informant compareciente / compareció
Witness testigo
Laborer jornalero – many other occupations
are often listed, but this is very
common

24. Relationship/People Key Words

25. Basic Key Words –
Numbers/Dates/Places
Numbers uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete,
ocho, nueve, diez, once, doce, trece,
catorce, quince, dieciseis, …, veinte,
treinta, cuarenta, cincenta, sesenta,
setenta, ochenta, noventa
Months enero, febrero, marzo, abril, mayo,
junio, julio, agosto, septiembre,
octubre, noviembre, diciembre
Years mil novecientos/ ochocientos /
setecientos / seiscientos - 1900 / 1800
/ 1700 / 1600
Places Get familiar with place names in area
you’re in
originario(a)/natural de – originated
from (likely born in)
domiciliado – lives in now

26. Numbers/Dates/Places Key Words

27. Spanish Spelling
• Rules regulating spelling have not always existed and the
spoken and written language is not the same everywhere
in the Spanish-speaking world. There is also often Latin
and Catalan influence and usage.
• This is less of a problem in the more modern Spanish
civil registration records, but for more information, see my
previous presentation on Spanish church records at
https://www.slideshare.net/bakers84/finding-relatives-in-
spanish-church-records

28. Additional Resources
Civil Registration in Latin America – FamilySearch wiki
https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Civil_Registration_in_Latin_America
Spain Civil Registration – FamilySearch wiki
https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Spain_Civil_Registration_-_Vital_Records
Spanish Script Tutorial
https://script.byu.edu/Pages/the-spanish-documents-pages/the-spanish-documents(english)
Spanish FamilySearch wiki – Spanish Genealogical Word List
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Spanish_Genealogical_Word_List
FamilySearch Research Wiki – search for country/topics of interest
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Main_Page
Free Online Classes – (Search for several about Spanish handwriting)
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Classes_in_the_Learning_Center
Spanish Paleography Digital Learning and Teaching Tool
http://spanishpaleographytool.org/?fbclid=IwAR1Eo7HJprlhQfTBxu6kmeisIv__3_9xQu3ksdlt_92-
AkwWPBPzo4mRvSM

29. ¡Gracias!
¡Buena suerte! (Good luck!)
¡Tú puedes! (You can do it!)
bakerb@familysearch.org