South America Genealogy Records

Below is a list and description of the most recent genealogy records for South American countries (see list of most recent records for other countries). Many of these records can be searched using our free Genealogy Search Engine.

2016

South America – Vanderbilt University has established a website devoted to digitizing and preserving documents related to enslaved Africans and Afro-descended peoples in the Americas. The website is called Ecclesiastical & Secular Sources for Slave Societies. Most of the documents on the website relate to Brazil and Columbia, with some additions covering Cuba and Spanish Florida.

The database currently contains nearly 400,000 documents from an incredibly diverse range of sources. Many are from various ecclesiastical sources and contain such things as baptism records.
At the moment, the documents do not appear to have not been transcribed. The images are organized by country and then by type of document. Access is free. [Ecclesiastical & Secular Sources for Slave Societies]

Paraguay – FamilySearch.org continues to expand their collection of family records from South America. The latest addition is from Paraguay. These are Catholic Church records from 1754 to 2015. The records can be searched by first name and last name. Included are the usual baptism, confirmation, marriage and death records. Also included are some parish census records and pre-marriage investigation records. Access is free. [Paraguay Parish Records]

Colombia – FamilySearch.org has added 1.4 million more indexed records from Colombia. These are Catholic Church records that span the years from 1576 to 2014. These records include primarily baptisms, confirmations, marriages and deaths. This is a very large collection consisting of some 12.6 million images. The records that have been indexed can be searched by first name and last name. Access is free. [Historic Colombia Church Records]

If you know of new online genealogy records that we may have missed then please send us an email at letusknow@genealogyintime.com This can include genealogy records from anywhere in the world and in any language. Please include a link to the new records in your email.

2015

Brazil – FamilySearch.org has indexed an additional 350,000 civil registration records from the state of Pernambuco. These are birth, marriage and death records that span the years from 1804 to 2014. The birth records list the mother and father’s occupation and place of origin. Also (unusual for a birth record) the names of the maternal and paternal grandparents are often also listed. These records are in Portuguese (see example below). The records can be searched by first name and last name. Access is free. [Pernambuco Birth Records]

This is a sample of a historic Brazilian birth certificate. FamilySearch provides helpful advice on how to read these documents, which are in Portuguese. Source: FamilySearch.org

Colombia – FamilySearch.org has added a million new images to their collection of Colombian Catholic Church records bringing the total size of the collection to an astonishing 10.5 million images. These images span a vast time period from 1600 to 2012. Included are baptisms, confirmations, pre-marriage investigations, marriages, marriage dispensations and deaths. Some of these records have been indexed and can be searched by first and last name. Access is free. [Colombia Catholic Church Records]

2014

Colombia – FamilySearch.org has added close to 1 million new images to its collection of Catholic Church records from Colombia. These records cover a wide period from 1600 to 2012. The collection consists of some 8.6 million images in total. Included are the usual baptism, confirmation, marriage and death records. Much of the collection can be searched by first and last name. Access is free. [Historic Columbia Catholic Church Records]

Argentina – FamilySearch.org has added an additional 400,000 indexed records to their existing collection of parish records from Tucumán, Argentina. These are Catholic Church records that date from 1727 to 1955 and include baptisms, confirmations, marriages and deaths. The collection can be searched by first and last name. Access is free. [Tucumán Parish Records]

Peru – FamilySearch.org has indexed some 51,000 civil registration records from Cusco, Peru. Cusco is the ancestral capital of the Incan empire and the modern-day launching point for trips to Machu Picchu (see image below). The records in this collection span the years from 1889 to 1997 and consist primarily of births, marriages and deaths. Also included in the collection are some baptism records. The collection can be searched by first and last name. Access is free. [Historic Cusco Birth Records]

This image of modern-day Cusco Peru was taken from the remains of the Qurikancha, or “golden place” temple dedicated to the Incan sun god. It was perhaps the most important sanctuary in the Incan empire. The temple was thought to once hold massive sheets of decorative wrought gold inlaid with precious stones containing images representing the Incan sun god. The gold sheets were hung on the walls of the temple, which was eventually plundered and destroyed by Spanish invaders. Jesuit priests built a church on the foundations of the ruin. The grass lawn visible in the foreground of the picture was once thought to hold hidden passages leading to natural underground springs, a rarity in the dry region.

Chile – FamilySearch.org has indexed another 318,000 records in their collection of Chilean civil registration records. This record set spans the years from 1885 to 1903 and consists of birth, marriage and death records. These records can be searched by first and last name. Alternatively, users can browse through the some 1.6 million images that comprise the collection. The information contained in each record varies depending on the year of the record. Access is free. [Historic Chilean Birth Records]

Peru – FamilySearch.org has added an additional 900,000 records to its civil registration collection from Lima, Peru. This collection spans the years from 1874 to 1996 and covers births, marriages and deaths that were recorded by civil registration offices in Lima. The collection can be searched by first and last name. Access to this collection is free. [Historic Lima Birth Records]

2013

Brazil – FamilySearch.org has created a new collection of images of cemetery records from the four municipal cemeteries in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. The collection consists of some 151,000 images organized by cemetery and then by family name. The collection spans the years from 1897 to 2012. A typical record is shown below. Access is free. [Minas Gerais Cemetery Records]

This is a typical cemetery record from Brazil. The information content of each record does vary somewhat depending on the cemetery and the time period.

Brazil – FamilySearch.org has added an additional 1.2 million images of immigration cards from Brazil. The latest additions come from São Paulo and cover the years 1902 to 1980. This brings the total number of immigration cards from the region to some 1.6 million. These images are not yet indexed, but they are organized alphabetically by last name. Below is a sample image. Access is free. [São Paulo Immigration Cards]

A sample immigration card from Brazil.

Peru – FamilySearch.org has added some 390,000 records of civil registration records from Peru. The vast majority of the new additions are from the capital of Lima. These records can be searched by name and span the years from 1874 to 1996. They cover primarily birth, marriage and death records. Access is free. [Peruvian Birth, Marriage, Death Records]

2012

Brazil – FamilySearch has added 356,000 new browsable images to its collection of civil registrations from Brazil. This collection spans the years from 1870 to 2012 and now consists of a total of 11.2 million digitized images of civil registrations of births, marriages and deaths. This collection can be partially searched by name. Access is free. [Brazilian Birth Marriage Death Registrations] FamilySearch has also added an additional 526,000 Brazilian immigration cards in a separate collection. These are cards filled out by foreigners either visiting or immigrating to Brazil. This collection spans the years from 1900 to 1965 and now consists of some 2.6 million records. These records contain a wealth of information (see image below) and can be searched by name. Access is free. [Historic Brazilian Immigration Cards]

Colombia – FamilySearch has started a new collection of Colombian military records. The collection consists of some 400,000 scanned images of military service records, lists of military promotions, veteran benefit files and general correspondence from the army, navy and national guard. This collection is browsable only. Access is free. [Colombian Military Records]

Brazil – FamilySearch.org has indexed some 336,000 records of Brazilian immigration cards spanning the years 1900 to 1965. These are cards presented by foreigners either visiting or immigrating to Brazil. As shown in the image below, these cards very much resemble the information contained on passports and provide a wealth of information, including a photograph of the individual. Access is free. [Historic Brazilian Immigration Cards]

Example of a Brazilian Immigration Card

South America – 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 now 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).

2010

Argentina and Brazil – The table below is a synopsis of some of the key record sets that became available last week in the massive new 300 million-record database at the new FamilySearch website fsbeta.FamilySearch.org. Access is free.

Country	Record Type	Date Range	Number of Records

Argentina	baptism	1645-1930	4.2 million
	marriage	1722-1911	151,000
Brazil	baptism	1688-1935	3.6 million
	marriage	1730-1955	475,000

Argentina – FamilySearch has put online the complete 1869 Argentinean national census. Over 1 million records have been indexed. Access is free. [free Argentina 1899 Census]

2009

Brazil: FamilySearch has digitized almost 600,000 Catholic Church records in Brazil from 1805 to 1979 (birth, baptism, marriage, etc.). This is an ongoing project where the digital images will be indexed over time. [Historic Brazilian Parish Church Records 1805-1979]

Argentina: FamilySearch has completed indexing the 1895 Argentina census and has updated the indexing and images for the 1869 Argentina census. Access is free. [free Argentina 1869 and 1895 Census Records]

Brazil: FamilySearch.org has added about 4.5 million digital images of birth, marriage and death records from the state of Rio de Janeiro. The records are from 1889 to 2006 and cover about 18 million names. Access is free. [free Historic Rio de Janeiro Birth, Marriage, Death Records 1889-2006]