Central American Genealogy Records
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Below is a list and description of the most recent genealogy records for Central American countries (see list of most recent records for other countries). Many of these records can be searched using our free Genealogy Search Engine.
2015
Honduras – FamilySearch.org has indexed an additional 179,000 civil registration records from Honduras. These are birth, marriage and death records spanning the years from 1841 to 1968. The collection can be searched by first name and last name. Access is free. [Historic Honduras Birth Records]
Mexico – FamilySearch.org has indexed over 12 million Mexican Catholic Church records. These are baptisms, confirmations, marriages, death and burial records. Some of the records go back as far as the 1600s and as recent as 1994. The link will take you to an article that provides an overview of the Mexican church records held by FamilySearch. Near the bottom of the article are all the links to the various collections. The records can be searched by first name and last name. Access is free. [Mexican Catholic Church Records]
Mexico – FamilySearch has indexed some 411,000 civil registration records from the state of Coahuila, Mexico. These are standard birth, marriage and death records and span the period from 1861 to 1998. The records can be searched by first name and last name. Access is free. [Historic Coahuila Birth Records]
2014
Costa Rica – FamilySearch has indexed some 2.6 million civil registration records from Costa Rica. These consist primarily of birth, marriage and death records from 1860 to 1975. The collection can be searched by first and last name. This is the largest collection of genealogy records from Costa Rica that we have ever seen. Access is free. [Historic Costa Rica Birth Records]
2013
El Salvador – FamilySearch.org has added civil registration records from El Salvador. The collection spans the years from 1704 to 1977. These are primarily birth, marriage and death records. Access is free. [El Salvador Birth Records]
2012
South Africa – GenealogyInTime Magazine has added 400 million new records to their two free search engines. The Genealogy Search Engine (which covers ancestral records) now searches an additional 100 million more records, while the Family Tree Search Engine (which covers genealogy forums and online family trees) searches approximately 300 million more records.
In total, the two search engines now cover 5.7 billion records across more than 1,000 different websites (split between the Genealogy Search Engine covering 1.9 billion records and the Family Tree Search Engine covering 3.8 billion records – there is no overlap of records between the two search engines).
GenealogyInTime Magazine now gets over 40,000 queries per month for the two search engines. This makes them one of the most popular alternatives to the FamilySearch website for people wanting to look for free ancestral records. Significant holdings exist for the United States, Canada, England/Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Continental Europe, Australia and New Zealand with minor holdings for the Caribbean, South America and South Africa.
Some of the highlights of the latest addition to the Genealogy Search Engine include:
• 55 million new records for the United States and 6 million new records for Canada. These are primarily ancestral records held in digital archives of public libraries and universities across North America. Many of these new records are historic photographs.
• 23 million new records for England, Ireland and Scotland. These are primarily twentieth century obituaries.
• 14 million new records for Europe. These are primarily birth/marriage/death records from Central and Eastern Europe.
• 2 million more ship passenger records.
In this latest release, the search routines for both search engines have also been strengthened to provide better results. In addition, the number of returned records for a search query has been increased from 8 pages to 10 pages. Finally, results are delivered even faster than before.
Access to both search engines is free and the underlying records are also free. [Genealogy Search Engine] [Family Tree Search Engine] GenealogyInTime Magazine also has a number of genealogy articles to help you become better at online genealogy searches.
GenealogyInTime Magazine is the world’s most popular online genealogy magazine. It is also now the fifth largest free genealogy website in the world (according to Alexa, the internet traffic people, the largest free genealogy websites in order are FamilySearch, Find A Grave, Geni, GeneaNet and GenealogyInTime Magazine).
2011
Mexico – FamilySearch has added a massive collection of about 11.1 million new images of historic civil registrations from various states in Mexico. These are primarily government-issued birth, marriage and death certificates. Most of the records are from the states of Guerrero (1833 to 1996), Hidalgo (1861 to 1967), Oaxaca (1861 to 2002), Tamaulipas (1800 to 2002), Veracruz (1821 to 1949) and Yucatan (1860 to 1926). Access is free. [Historic Mexico Birth Certificates]
Guatemala – The University of Texas has put online 13 million pages from the Guatemalan national police archive. These documents date from 1882 to 1997, but primarily cover the counterinsurgency war in the country that occurred from 1960 to 1996. The 36-year conflict left an estimated 250,000 dead. The online police records include arrest warrants, surveillance reports, identification documents, interrogation records, photographs of detainees and fingerprint files as well as more routine police records such as traffic tickets, driver’s license applications and police personnel files. There are records on hundreds of thousands of people. Access is free. [Guatemala National Police Archive]
Mexico – FamilySearch has added a massive 14.1 million image collection of civil registrations from Guanajuato, Mexico. The collection spans the years 1862 to 1939 and consists of birth, marriage and death records. Access is free. [Guanajuato, Mexico Birth Records]
El Salvador – FamilySearch has added a large collection of some 590,000 Catholic parish records covering the years 1655 to 1977. This includes baptisms, marriages and burials. The records are all written in Spanish. The baptism records are generally fairly complete and list the name of the child, place and date of baptism, place of birth, age or date of birth, name of parents, name of godparents and name of witnesses. Access is free. [El Salvador Baptism Records]
Mexico – Ancestry.com has put online the 1930 Mexico census. This is generally considered to be the best available census for people tracing their Mexican ancestors because it had the highest participation rate – about 90% of the population participated in the census. There are 13 million records in this collection. A typical record lists name, age, gender, birthplace, address, marital status, nationality, religion, occupation, literacy, physical/mental conditions and real estate holdings. Ancestry has kindly put this collection on the internet for free, although you do have to register to view the records. [Mexico 1930 Census Records]
Ecuador – FamilySearch has added about 1.2 million browsable images of Catholic parish records from Ecuador. The images cover a broad time period from 1565 to 1996 and consist of baptism, marriage and death records. Access is free. [Historic Ecuador Baptism Records
Mexico – FamilySearch has added about 4 million new civil registration records from various Mexican states. Most of the records are from 1858 to as recent as 2005. These are official birth, marriage and death certificates issued by the government. Access is free. [Historic Mexico Birth Records]
Mexico – FamilySearch has added 5.8 million browseable images of civil registration records for the states of Jalisco (1832 to 2000) and San Luis Potosi (1860 to 2000). These are birth, marriage and death records. Access is free. [Historic Jalisco Birth Records] [Historic San Luis Potosi Birth Records]
Panama – FamilySearch has added about 241,000 Catholic Church parish images (baptisms, marriages and deaths) spanning the years 1707 to 1973. Access is free. [Historic Panama Genealogy Records]
Mexico – FamilySearch has completed a major milestone by putting the entire 1930 Mexico census online. Comprised of almost 13 million records, the 1930 Mexico census provides a valuable asset for anyone researching their Mexican ancestry. Access is free. [1930 Mexico Census Records]
Mexico – FamilySearch has added about 1 million new records from the 1930 census in Mexico from the state of Oaxaca. Access is free. [Mexico 1930 census records]
Nicaragua – FamilySearch has added 1.3 million new images from the Managua civil registration dating from 1879 to 2007. Access is free. [Nicaragua Genealogy Records]
Guatemala – FamilySearch has strengthened their collection of 2 million civil registration records for the country dating from 1877 to 1934. Access is free. [Guatemala Genealogy Records]
Mexico – FamilySearch has added about 4 million Catholic Church records for the states of Guerrero, Mexico(Estada), Morelos, Puebla, Tlaxcala and Zacatecas. Access is free. [Historic Mexico Catholic Church Records]
2010
Mexico – FamilySearch has added an additional 6 million images from Catholic Church records spanning the years 1546 to 1989. Most of the new records come from the regions of Geurrero, Hidalgo, Estado and Tlaxcala. Access is free. [Mexico Catholic Church Records]
Nicaragua – FamilySearch has put online a rare collection of about 425,000 civil records from Nicaragua covering the period 1879 to the present. This is the first time we have seen a large collection of Nicaraguan genealogy records go online. Access is free. [Nicaragua Genealogy Records]
Mexico – FamilySearch has updated the indexes for many regions of the 1930 Mexican census to make it easier to find people. Access is free. [Mexico 1930 Census Records]
