If you have Mexican ancestors and you want to learn their history, consider yourself fortunate.
Mexico has what are often referred to as the best genealogy records in the world. The extent, accessibility, and nature of certain record collections in particular provide those of us with Mexican ancestry a significant advantage over other genealogists. Many of the key record collections provide more genealogical information that what we find in U.S. records.
This research guide is very much a work in progress, so please check back often.
Do you have ancestors from another Hispanic country? Visit my Hispanic Genealogy Research Guide.
General Research
- Legacy Family Tree Webinar: “Finding Your Roots in Catholic Records”: Researching Hispanic ancestors involves a significant amount of time working with Catholic church records. Having a solid understanding of those records is essential to doing good genealogy. I highly recommend this webinar to anyone with Catholic ancestors.
- Documenting Padrinos (Godparents & Sponsors) in Your Ancestry Tree: Padrinos play an important role in Hispanic culture and family history. Identifying and tracking the names of padrinos found in the records of your ancestors can provide clues to help further trace your ancestral lines, and can help you develop a better understanding of the kinship ties in your ancestral hometown.
Researching Their Life in the U.S.
Immigration
- FamilySearch Webinar “Crossing the Frontera” Explains Mexico to U.S. Border Crossing Records: Finding your ancestors’ Mexican border crossing records and getting the most out of the data captured in those records can sometimes be a challenge. This excellent FREE webinar is an invaluable source for maximizing your time working with these border crossing records.
Occupations
- Watch this Free Video Course if Your Mexican Ancestors Worked on the U.S. Railroads: This course discusses the history of railroads in the U.S., the types of records that exist, the type of genealogical information you can get from those records, and where you might find those records in both online and physical repositories.
Social History
- (Book Review) “The Distance Between Us: A Memoir” by Reyna Grande: This book provides context; context to anyone whose Mexican ancestors came to the U.S. in the 20th or 21st centuries — whether documented or undocumented. If these eras apply to your family history, you will want to add this book to your personal library.
Researching Their Life In Mexico
Finding & Learning About Your Ancestral Hometown
- Identifying Your Mexican Immigrant Ancestor’s Hometown: Before you begin digging into Mexican records, you need to first narrow down the scope of your search by identifying you ancestor’s hometown in Mexico. The reason for this is twofold: it narrows down the focus of your search, and it helps you identify the right collections to use.
- Mexican Genealogy Reference Tools: The García Cubas Gazetteer: Becoming familiar with the place names referenced in your ancestors’ Mexican records can be challenging, particularly for those of us who are not from Mexico and who might not have visited the places where our ancestors lived. This work is one of my regular “go to” reference tools when doing Mexican research.
- Using Facebook Groups to Research Your Ancestral Hometown: During lectures I gave this past August at my local genealogy society and at a conference, I polled the audience asking how many who are on Facebook had checked if there is an existing Facebook Group for their ancestral hometowns, and few people raised their hands. When I showed them the kind of information that I have obtained from one of my ancestral hometown Groups, they were amazed.
Finding & Analyzing Mexican Record Collections
- The Two Main “Go-To” Record Types for Researching Mexican Genealogy: When researching Mexican family history, there are two main “go-to” types of records that you will consult daily, Mexican Catholic Church and Civil Registration records. Those of us with Mexican ancestors are particularly fortunate. First, we inherited the best food in the world. Second, we inherited what are often referred to as the best genealogy records in the world.
- My Three Go-To Help Tools for Working with Mexico Genealogy Records: These are the tools that I always have open and in front of me any time I work with Mexico civil registration and Catholic church parish records. And since I can only fudge my way through reading Spanish, these are the same tools I provide my Spanish-fluent father whenever he translates these records for me.
- FamilySearch Quietly Starts Releasing Indexed Mexican Civil Registration Collection: The digitized civil registration state collections have been available on FamilySearch for a long time, but not as an indexed collection. One had to browse through the unindexed (not searchable) collection. Being indexed means these collections should now be searchable, both through the Catalog search tool and through the Historical Records search tool.
- Don’t Give Up If You Can’t Find Your Ancestor When Searching for Mexico Records on FamilySearch: If you only use the Search feature to look for records on FamilySearch pertaining to your Mexican ancestors, you may be missing out on these very records. Examples from my own research show that the records are there, but just are not yet searchable.
- Locating Those Non-Searchable Browsable-Only Digitized Mexico Records on FamilySearch: Last week I explained why you shouldn’t give up if you don’t find records pertaining to your Mexican ancestors when using the Search feature on FamilySearch. This post demonstrates how to quickly and directly find the digitized collections available online for your Mexican ancestors’ home state(s).
Social History
- (Book Review) “The Distance Between Us: A Memoir” by Reyna Grande: This book provides context; context to anyone whose Mexican ancestors came to the U.S. in the 20th or 21st centuries — whether documented or undocumented. If these eras apply to your family history, you will want to add this book to your personal library.
Researching Their Life in the Spanish or Mexican-Era U.S.
- Using the Early California Population Project Database to Research Your Spanish & Mexican Era California Ancestors: Do you have ancestors who lived in pre-statehood California? If so, there is a good chance you might find them in the Early California Population Project.
- Hispanic Texas: Locating Mexican Revolution-Era Texas Border Crossing Records: These records are critical for those of us with ancestors and collateral relatives who immigrated from Mexico during the early-to-mid 20th century, and particularly during the violent Mexican Revolution.
Learning More
Archived Webinars & Video Courses
- Hispanic Genealogy Research Study Group with DearMYRTLE
(recorded 14 and 21 March 2018)
I am on Ancestry.com but I can’t read Spanish so I’m at a stand still. Do you know of any Spanish/Mexican genealogist you can recommend?
Hi Jen,
Thanks for stopping by. I have not ever used a professional genealogist or translator for my Mexican research, so I cannot recommend someone for hire. I suggest watching my blog for any upcoming presentations I give on working with Spanish-language documents. But in the meantime, I recommend you consult BYU’s Spanish Script Tutorial website to get familiar with Spanish phrases and terminology that are common in the records.
I’m also a subscriber to Ancestry.com and through them I have made good use of their access to Registro Civil’s documentation for my ancestor’s information. However, i have hit walls recently because no matter how refine I try my research I can’t find basic information, such as birth, death and marriage information, for my maternal grandfather’s side of the family. I have also thought of hiring a genealogist’s services to do the finer method of research and come up with the information I’m looking for. Why wouldn’t hiring somebody who is familiar with research of Mexican families background be useful?
Hi Alfredo. Thanks for stopping by. I did not state that hiring another professional researcher or translator would not be useful. I stated I have not done so, so I cannot personally recommend someone. There is a difference. If you look through my blog, you will find a post that describes a situation where I hired another professional researcher to help me on my Irish line.
Hi Cousin Colleen, Nice to meet you. Cousin Mike Robledo told me to contact you. Please contact
me.
Oops I meant cousin Roberto Robledo told me to contact you not his brother Mike.
Colleen can you suggest any books or sites that deal with the history of San Jose de los Marquez, Jalisco?
I’ve been researching my family’s genealogy since 2012. The goal was to find my grandmother’s birth certificate because her mother died young in a city that was not her home and she was orphaned. I have successfully found my great-grandmother all the way to my 8th great grandmother (maternal line is important to me), but not my grandmothers. Her birth certificate is from Guadalajara circa 1934-1935. I am stuck. Family Search only had records for Guadalajara births until 1930. I’ve been stuck for years. Is my only recourse to visit Guadalajara and request birth certificates? What do you suggest?
Hello,
I’m trying to understand specific entries I’m finding in death registration for Veracruz in 1897 and 1898 as I research the years my great grandparents lived there during Cuba’s War for Independence.
Of the 3,742 deaths registered during those two years, 202 were children who died at birth and listed as “sin nombre.” That’s straightforward enough. But of those 202, 69 were listed as “sin nombre” and hijo/hija “de padres no conosido.”
Typically, in those instances, a declarant asserts before a judge that according to a doctor’s certificate, at a given day, time and address, a child was born dead and that was the child of unknown parents. Typically, other witnesses are then listed.
Is there any reason based on the way deaths were registered then that the parents would be unknown?
The family story is that my great grandparents had twins who died at birth in Mexico, along with two other children as well. I found a death registration for one child who died at five months old in 1897, with their names and the child’s name list.
I’m trying to figure out if perhaps any of these 69 children “sin nombre” might have been the other children who are supposed to have died in Mexico. Thanks in advance for any insight you might be able to provide.