One of the great things about Legacy Tree is that we have onsite researchers all over the globe. We have had many clients with Spanish ancestors, and to research these projects we have gone onsite in Spain. Let me share with you some of the wonderful things about Spanish records and archives that may help you as you research your Spanish genealogy and family history.
Organization of Spanish Records
As is the case with most genealogical records, Spanish records are organized by geographical locations, dates, and surnames. Spain is divided into 50 provinces and each province belongs to either one of the 17 autonomous communities, one of the 2 autonomous cities (Ceuta and Melilla), or one of the 3 autonomous islands (Islas Chafarinas, Penon de Alhucemas, and Penon de Velez de la Gomera). To determine the political jurisdiction for the town and province where your ancestors lived you should consult a Gazetteer of Spain.
Using Civil Registration Records for Spanish Genealogy Research
There are basically two types of records that are the most useful in Spanish family history research: Civil Registration and Catholic Parish books. Civil Registration records include government birth, marriage, and death records. These began as early as 1837. Some of these records have been microfilmed and/or digitized by FamilySearch. Many records have not been digitized. To research these records you will need to order them either online from the Ministerio de Justicia or send a letter to the local office in Spain. To acquire the address for a Civil Registration office in Spain follow this link to the Direcciones y teléfonos. We prefer to have our researchers go onsite because we can get the records faster and our researchers are thorough and experienced.
To search Civil Registration records you need to know the exact birth month and year of those you are researching. If you do not have that information, you would want to begin research with Catholic Church records.
Using Catholic Church Records for Spanish Genealogy Research
In certain Spanish dioceses, Catholic Church records date back to 1307. Other dioceses began keeping records during the Council of Trent (1545-1563), including in Spain. Since approximately 70% of Spaniards are Catholic, Catholic Church records are a great place to start your research. Church Records – christenings/baptisms, marriages, and burials – were kept at a local level and later a copy was provided to a centralized archive.
It is best to call the Diocesan Archive and ask about record availability for the years you would be researching. Diocesan Archives are typically closed several days a year for holidays but are generally open on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Priests that serve small towns often travel and support several churches, thus are not always in the town pinpointed by your research. Some Archives do not allow you to take copies or photos of their records, so you will need to extract the information from the record while you are there.
Where are you lucky enough to get a record that lists the child’s information including the names of the parents, their birthplaces plus both sets of grandparents and their birthplaces? Spain, that’s where!
Searching Spanish Records for Clues
Recently one of our onsite researchers visited the Diocesan Archive of Almería. This Diocese does not allow researchers to make copies or take photos, but here is a transcription of a Baptism record. Note the family’s generational, contextual information:
Baptism record of María Dolores Catalina Fuentes Lacal. Borned 22 March 1850 in Vélez-Rubio, Almería, Andalucía. María Dolores Catalina´s parents: Antonio Fuentes Alcalde, barber, and Isabel Lacal Giménez. Antonio´s parents: Miguel Fuentes Saurina and Juana Alcalde Morales. Isabel´s parents: Francisco Lacal Caparrós and Justa Giménez Ferrer. All of them borned in Vélez-Rubio. Godfather: Eladio Molina. Godmother: María Lacal Giménez. Witnesses: Diego Muro and Diego Pérez.
CITATION: Parish records of Vélez-Rubio, Almería, Andalucía. 46º Birth´s book, years 1849-1851, pg. 32, certificate 72, birth of María Dolores Catalina Fuentes Lacal, 22 March 1850, Diocesan Archive of Almería.
This record identifies the maiden names of the women. Note that Spanish naming patterns use the female surname as well as the male surname, making it very easy to follow the maternal line. Children are given two surnames – the first one is their paternal surname and the second one is their maternal surname.
Occasionally, we have discovered baptismal records with notations added to the margin of the record. In the example below, years after the original record was written, a priest recorded who the child married and the marriage date.
Take note: On this baptism record you can see the priest noted that the child later married.
Enrique married María Teresa Villar Dosal on 27 Abril 1936. This record also listed María’s parents names. Using this date, we researched the civil records of Llanes, Asturias and found the couples marriage record.
As you can see, this record provides:
- Date and place of baptism
- Name of the child
- Date of birth
- Names of the child’s parents
- The grandparents’ names and places of birth or residences
- Whether or not the family members were living
- Whether or not the family members were legitimate
- The godparents’ names
- Witnesses’ names
Although Catholic records are excellent about providing three-generational family views, they contain very little biographical facts such as occupations, socioeconomic status, education, or health facts.
Spain has a rich heritage of record keeping dating back to 1307. Early records are often handwritten in a narrative style. Later records are usually written in a formatted style within a register. Records were kept in chronological order. Some writing is in Latin, but most is in their native Spanish language. We have discovered several generations of ancestors for multiple clients by going onsite in Spain; it is a great place for family history records.
Legacy Tree Genealogists works with onsite researchers all over the world, including in Spain, who are very familiar with the Spanish archives and their contents, and can visit any of the branches to obtain the records you need in person. If you’re not sure how to pursue your Spanish heritage, we are ready to help! Contact us today to discuss what options are available.
Los Californianos is a non-profit organization whose members are descended from the original soldiers and settlers who came to California from 1769-1848. Many of us no longer speak or read Spanish enough to be able to decipher 300 year old documents, although
a lot of us have managed to trace our families back into the west coast of Mexico circa the late 1600s. However, finding how these families connect to the original conquistadors is extremely difficult. It is like the middle piece of a puzzle is missing, I understand that some documentation was lost to flooding. I think it would make for a marvelous “Who do you think you are?” show to have this group interviewed and help the ones who might never get to Mexico or Spain for research!
That DOES sound interesting!
I would like to search the Acosta original before going with Colon to the Bahamas. I understood that some of the crew stayed behind.
I’d free ole or suffer .
Thank you very much for looking to Spain, as a country that have a lot of people in the Americas. I am a second generation Cuban, my four grandparents are Spaniards. I am a resident of the USA for more than fifty years. I am doing my genealogy tree but never had have the opportunity of finding any information about Spain in any genealogy group.
To me this is great and, I thank you again for your efforts.
Interested in researching my grandparents. One from Madrid the other from Barcelona.
Hi Rebeca, our expert researchers would be honored to help you research your grandparents! Please contact our Client Solutions Specialists through the form on our Get in Touch page. They can point you in the right direction and provide a free estimate if research is needed.
My 4th grandfather Francisco Galan arrived Puerto Rico from cataluna Spain but then I can’t find death record .he married Mara la o Acevedo.
Hi Raymond! Thank you for your comment. If you’d like more help finding records, it might be useful to set up a consultation here so we can find out more about what you already know, and how we can point you in the right direction.
Looking for birth records of my father, Miguel Martin Vasquez. Born in Campofrio (Huelva) Spain, October 7, 1901 to Segundo Martin and Juana Martin Vasquez
Searching for birth, baptismal, other family records family records for my father, Miguel Martin Vasquez, son of Segundo and Juana
Hi Juanita! We’d love to help you out! You can schedule a consultation here.
hola, me llamo wendy, soy cubana. tengo a mi pareja de apellido Sarabasa que me dice que el padre de su padre era español. El padre legitimo de el nunca ha echo ninguna investigación, ningún tramite con fin de buscar una nacionalidad o residencia en España, pero su hijo si esta interesado en saber que tiene que hacer para buscar los datos pertinentes para la ley de nietos en España. pueden ustedes informarme con dichos documentos que debe de buscar el para presentarse en la embajada. gracias de antemanos. bendiciones.
¡Hola, Wendy! Nos encantaría ayudarte con tu investigación. Puedes programar una consulta aquí:https://www.legacytree.com/genealogy-consultation
Looking my Father, Father birth place my Father birth place in Mexico in 1893 was my Grandfather born in Spain?? My Mother before getting married name Doll and Grandma name Catarina Doll . Thank you my phone number 817-266-4364 please Text me, God bless you
Hello Francisco! We’d love to help you with this. One of our team members will reach out to you if they haven’t already.
Hi my father retired in Spain somewhere and I would like help in finding him ,he is from the UK and moved to Spain some years ago. Would be great full if u can help
Kind regards
Roy craven
Hi, Roy! Someone on our team will reach out to you to discuss how we can help you.
Hola, estoy casada con descendiente de Español pero el registro civil cubano difulta encontrar encontrar a su bisabuelo natural de Remedios en Sevilla. Tenemos la fe de bautizo de su hijo nacido en Cuba que nos aportó información de su padre y de los padres de estos( nombres y lugar de procedencia) buscamos en el cementerio año de fallecimiento 1965 a los 62 años , pero el registro civil nos da un certificado con el dato que falleció con 72. No podemos encontrar su fecha real .
Nombre del bisabuelo:
Ramiro izquierdo juliá hijo de Ángel y Narcisa naturales de Remedios en Sevilla.