Finding
Life in Latin American Death Records
By Lynn Turner
Catholic burial records from Latin
America are the least consistent of all the sacramental
books. One parish priest may have recorded only one or two lines, while
other records may be more extensive. Death and burial records served
not only as a recording of the time and place of the event, but also as
account books for the masses known as colecturías.
This article will explore the world of Catholic burial records in Latin
America and Spain.
Some genealogists tend to
consider death records only as a last option, claiming that they do not
give valuable genealogical information to quickly trace your family
history, unlike baptismal and marriage records. The importance of death
records should not be overlooked, and in reality can speed up your
research process. Burial records can help you with the following:
·
Verify information already known/found
·
Confirm relationships of parents to children
·
Verify assumptions made previously
·
Fill gaps between children
·
Tie up any possible loose ends
·
Lead you to other records
Besides providing the place and
time of death, Catholic death records usually specify relationships,
and sometimes nativity. If the deceased is a young child, the record
generally states the names of the parents. When an adult dies, the
record usually will tell you if the person was single, married, or
widowed. All of this data can be valuable in your research.
One of the biggest advantages of
death records is that they can lead you to other valuable records. If
the deceased made a will, his/her death record will read hizo
testamento ante, meaning “made will before.” Following this phrase,
a notary will be named. The notary’s name is very important because the
wills will be filed under his name. Wills, and other civil documents,
are usually kept at the provincial, state, department, or regional
level. Most notary records have not been microfilmed, so a letter to
the archivist or a trip to the area may be necessary.
If not indexed, death records
may take some patience to search. Although time-consuming, and
sometimes not as consistent as baptismal and marriage records, death
records should not be overlooked. They may be the only way to fill in
any gaps, and find other very important documents that could help you
discover more of your ancestors.
Lynn Turner is a
senior at Brigham Young University. He expects to graduate in August 2004 with a Bachelor of
Arts. in family history and genealogy, specializing in Southern
European and Latin American research. Other areas of interests include
the southern United
States. He provides
research services for Latin America and Spain, and can be contacted at lynnturner428@...
Genealogy News &
Events
Come see us at the National
Genealogical Society Conference in Sacramento; May 19-22 in Booth #443!
Conference for Quaker
Historians Held in Newberg, OR
The 15th Biennial
Conference of Quaker Historians and Archivists will be held June 25 to
27th, 2004. The setting this year will be George
Fox University
in Newberg, Oregon.
The conference is being sponsored by the Friends Historical
Association. A registration form and program can be downloaded from
their website at http://www.haverford.edu/library/fha/fha.html.
Internet Genealogy
Workshop in Oxford, England
The Center for Oxfordshire Studies and
the Oxfordshire Family History Society are hosting a hands on internet
workshop on Wednesday, May 19th. All those who are
interested in learning how to do internet genealogy are invited to
attend between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the Center for Oxfordshire
studies. For more information and a map to the center visit oxfordshire.gov.uk/index/libraries_heritage_countryside/cos/cosnews.htm.
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