March 10, 2021

A Look at Colonial Mexico Catholic Records
Last Names of Nuevo Leon

In this presentation you will learn about the various records created by the Catholic Church during Spanish colonial times for Mexico. In it I showcase documents of my own family research and provide information on church index books, online websites, and archives were to find them.

You can expect to learn about the valuable genealogical information found in these records and where to find them online and offline. You will also learn about books and websites to help you search for records of your own ancestors.

Outline:

A Brief History of the Catholic Church in Mexico

It is important to know the history of the catholic church in Mexico to understand when the church started to create records. It is also important to learn the relation ship of the church and state to know how records were affected.

The Various Record Types Created by The Catholic Church

The church creates many different types of records and in this section some of them, genealogy pertinent, are mentioned.

Baptism Records

Learn about what information can be found in baptism records and see examples of different time periods to get a better idea of how they look and what you can find.

Marriage Records

Explore various marriage records and learn about the genealogical information that they contain and learn how to tell if a marriage dispensation was done.

Marriage Dispensations

The church requires a marriage dispensation to be done if the couple are related by
Consanguinity (blood relatedness), Affinity (relation by marriage or sexual relationship), and or are Ultramarinos (not born in Mexico). If so, then a marriage investigation had to be done.

Marriage Investigations

Marriage investigations contain a wealth genealogical information and many of them contain information on several generations of the ancestors of the couples. They are perfect to break down brick walls.

Death Records

Church death records are also a great resource to find details about your ancestors. Here you will see several examples and get an idea of what you can expect to find.

Where to Find Them Online

Best place to find Mexico Colonial Church records is www.FamilySearch.org they have indexed many of these records. They also contain many images of microfilms that you can manually browse.

Where to Find Them Offline

Unfortunately, the only place to find them offline will be at the archive for the Archdiocese that has jurisdiction over the towns/cities that your ancestors lived at.

Index Books/Websites

In this final section of the video, you will learn about index books that private individuals or organizations have done. SAGA (The Spanish American Genealogical Association) is one of them. www.sagacorpuschristi.org

Also, of books that have indexed many marriage investigations and finally about two websites that contain many indexes to marriage investigation films. Here they are:

Guadalajara: http://www.guadalajaradispensas.com/

Michoacán: https://www.valladoliddispensas.com/

You can also see an Archdiocese map showing church boundaries for the 16th century.

Resources to Learn More

https://mexicangenealogy.com/ (You are here) - We Help you discover your Mexican and Spanish Colonial genealogy. We provide you with genealogy communities and resource pages for every Mexican State. We also have the book to get you finding your ancestors the fast and right way.

https://www.wearecousins.info/ - We help you find your South Texas and Northeastern Mexico ancestors. With genealogy books, records, and resources about South Texas and Northeastern Mexico.

https://lasvillasdelnorte.com/ - Las Villas del Norte Genealogy Group helps you find your ancestors by providing you with online presentations, how to videos, and publications so you can leave a legacy for your children, and their children.

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About the author 

Moises Garza

I have doing my family genealogy since 1998. I am also the creator of this blog Mexican Genealogy, and my personal blog We Are Cousins. To always be up to date with both of these sites follow me on facebook. To contact me or book me for a presentation, buy my books, and or learn more about me visit my personal website at www.moisesgarza.com.

Books to Help You Grow Your Family Tree

Benavides-Last-Names-of-Nuevo-Leon
Garza-Last-Names-of-Nuevo-Leon
Gonzalez-Last-Names-of-Nuevo-Leon
Villarreal Last Names of Nuevo leon

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  1. My name is Elvia Garza Frausto. My great grandfather was Moises Garza, grandfather Federico Garza. Both buried in Matamoros in an old family cemetery called La Teijeritas. I went there in 2003 and could not get the dates off the coffin where they are buried together. The ranch they used to have is also the same as the cemetery. I was wondering if you had ever been there for your research. Lots of relatives with Garza Garza, Villareal etc there.

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