Have you reached a “brick wall” in your genealogy research? Onsite genealogy research in Spain may just be the key to extending your Spanish ancestry. We have genealogists in Spain that can help!
Challenges in Spanish Genealogy Research
Family history research in Spain relies primarily on civil registration and Catholic parish records. In many places, Catholic records in Spain can extend back to the 1500s. However, almost none of these records are online and while some have been microfilmed, most Spanish records are held only onsite—in diocesan archives, in little parish churches, and in government repositories. An exact hometown must therefore be known before research can proceed. In most cases, successful Spanish genealogy research will require a Legacy Tree researcher to visit in person but even when we arrive, record access restrictions can vary by location. If your ancestors migrated from Spain to Latin America, it will usually be necessary to complete research in that destination country first. Depending how early your ancestors arrived as immigrants in Latin America, this can take some time.
Our Team of Professional Genealogists Can Help
If you have Spanish ancestry, our professionals can help track down the town of origin of your ancestors, determine where that location is today, and identify where the records for that place are currently kept. We can also do the preliminary research in immigrant destination countries to learn the Spanish hometown, if necessary. For those areas that don’t have records available online or on microfilm, our onsite agents can visit that location to obtain any documents that are available.
Onsite Archive Access in Spain
Our onsite genealogy researchers have access to the following archives, repositories, and libraries in Spain to help track down the records you need to extend your Spanish family history:
- Archivo General de Indias
- Archivo General de Simancas
- Archivo Histórico Nacional
- Archivo de la Real Chancellería de Valladolid
- Arquivo Nacional
- Biblioteca Nacional de Espana
- Censo-guia de archivos
- National Archives of Spain
- PARES or Portal de Archivos Españoles
