Mexico, Baja California and Baja California Sur, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records: Difference between revisions

= Foreign Language Title =

<span id="fck_dom_range_temp_1245445616483_54" />México, Baja California y Baja California Sur, registros parroquiales de la Iglesia Católica  

= Mexico, Baja California and Baja California Sur, Catholic Church Parish Records =

This wiki article describes a collection of records that is available for free online at FamilySearch Record Search – Pilot Site. To access the collection, see [[http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=collectionDetails;c=1506640;t=browsable;w=0 Mexico, Baja California and Baja California Sur, Catholic Records, 1750-1983]]  

This collection covers church records from parishes in Baja California and Baja California Sur from the dates 1750 to 1983.  

This collection covers the Catholic Church population living in parishes in the states of Baja California and Baja California Sur. The majority of the population of these two states was Roman Catholic, and entries for them are found in parish registers. Only in the late 19th century did other religious groups begin to be established in the area.  

In 1527 the Roman Catholic Church was established in Mexico with the creation of the Tlaxcala and Mexico dioceses. Parish registers were kept by the priest at the parish level. Parishes were local congregations that may have included smaller villages within their boundaries. A large city may have contained several parishes. The parishes had jurisdiction over both vice parishes (vice parroquias) and chapelries (capillar foraneas). Multiple parishes (parroquias) were under the jurisdiction of a diocese. The highest level of government in the Catholic Church was the archdiocese (arquidiócesis), which was made up of several dioceses. In 1995 the Catholic Church in Mexico had 14 archdioceses; 58 dioceses; 5,345 parishes; and 1,611 chapelries (subparishes).  

Mexican Catholic parish registers were created to record the church sacraments of baptism, confirmation, marriage, and burial.  

Catholic Church parish registers are the primary source for birth, death, and marriage records in Mexico prior to 1859. After 1859 parish records can be used as another source verifying information found in civil registers.  

Separate books were kept for baptisms, confirmations, marriage information documents, marriages, and burials. The entries were normally made in chronological order. Confirmations were not consistently recorded. In larger parishes a separate book was usually maintained for confirmations, while in smaller parishes the confirmations may have been included with the baptisms. Similarly, marriage information documents may have been included with marriages. [[Image:Mexico_Baja_California_Catholic_Church_Records_Baptism.jpg|thumb|right|Sample image of a baptism record from Baja California, Mexico.]]

Through the years the information found in Mexican Catholic parish registers may vary, however the most common genealogical information found are: [[Image:Mexico_Baja_California_Catholic_Church_Records_Marriage.jpg|thumb|right|Sample image of a marriage record from Baja California, Mexico]]

• Date of baptism, confirmation, marriage, and burial<br>• Event place is the parish unless noted otherwise<br>• Name of the person being baptized, confirmed, married, or buried and sometimes the names of the parents, spouse, and other relatives<br>• Age of the person being baptized, confirmed, married, or buried<br>• Sex of the participants except for witnesses (sex can be inferred from the given name[[Image:Mexico_Baja_California_Catholic_Church_Records_Death.jpg|thumb|right|Sample image of a death/burial record from Baja California, Mexico.]]<br>• Place of residence of the family, marriage partners, or the deceased<br>• Legitimacy of the child in baptismal entries<br>• Social class of the parents in baptismal entries prior to 1820<br>• Marital status of the individuals  

 

 

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