|
A Brief Look at the Spanish Civil Archival System
By Lynn Turner
Understanding
archival systems in your country of interest will help you become
a better genealogist. Knowing where records are archived can be
one of the biggest obstacles many researchers encounter. This
article will briefly explore the oft-confusing archival system of
Spain.
The civil
archival system in Spain can be divided into three levels:
1. Municipal Archives
2. Provincial
Historical Archives
3. National Archives
The first
level of archives in Spain is Municipal. Municipal archives house
local records. These records include, but are not limited to,
business licenses, town censuses, immigration records, draft
records or anything pertaining to the local city.
Included in
this same level are juzgados or courts of first instance. These
courts are important to know. They usually are found in larger
cities or a designated central town of several smaller
towns. If a town has a juzgado, the civil registers in the
town will be kept in the local courthouse. If the town does not
have a juzgado, the civil registers will be stored in the
ayuntamiento or city hall. Larger cities may be divided into
districts, which are in charge of keeping and maintaining their
own civil registers. Spain?s civil registers system began in 1870.
Each book should have an index in the back, making them easier to
search. Civil register records include birth, marriage, and death.
They have proved to be excellent alternatives when parish records
do not exist. They also act a verifying tool to church or oral
records.
The next
level is Provincial. Notary records demand the attention of the
genealogist at the provincial level. All notary records kept
within a particular province were ordered to be centralized in the
provincial archives located in the capitol of the province. The
records are organized chronologically under each notary. Notary
records include marriage contracts, wills, real property sales,
lawsuits, power of attorney and others. Our ancestors? lives
become more real with the help of these invaluable records. In
death inventories and wills an individual?s belongings are listed,
allowing us to peek into their world for a brief moment. Notary
records often serve as better gap fillers than civil registers.
Civil registers are often complete, but limit your search to after
1870; whereas notary records often date back into the 1500s.
The final
level of the Spanish archival system is that of National. Spain?s
national archival system is separated into different entities such
as geographical location or time period. National archives include
records pertaining to the national government, royal
chancelleries, military, and the American colonies. Some of these
archives have searchable indexes or inventories on the Internet,
making their repositories more accessible to the public and more
valuable to the genealogist. The best Web site for Spanish
provincial and national archives is www.mec.es
.
Lynn
Turner is a senior at Brigham Young University. He will graduate
with a bachelor?s degree. in genealogy and family history in
August 2004. His areas of specialty include Latin America, Spain,
and the United States. He provides research services and
consultations and can be reached at lynnturner@... .
Genealogy News & Events
Come
see us at the National Genealogical Society Conference May 19-22
in Booth #443!
New York City Death Index Online
Researchers
with roots in New York City will be pleased to learn that a death
index for the city from in online for the years 1891-1911. This
comprises more than 1,400,000 records of people of all
nationalities. The database may be used without cost at www.italiangen.org
. The
Italian Genealogical Group with their many volunteer hours deserve
thanks for the project. The database will grow as later years are
added periodically.
The
organization is also indexing brides for Brooklyn, Queens and the
Bronx and grooms for all boroughs of New York City.
Summit of African American Genealogy Held in San
Diego
San Diego
African American Genealogy Research Group is hosting The Fourth
Annual West Coast Summit on African American Genealogy.
Theme: "Looking to the Past to Create the
Future"
Date: Fri.Oct. 15 - Sat. Oct.
16, 2004, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Place: Marina Village
Conference Center on San Diego's Beautiful Mission Bay 1936
Quivira Way, San Diego, California 92109
Cost $60
for early registration
Deadline for
early registration is September 17, 2004 After September 17, 2004
the registration fee is $75 September 30, 2004 deadline to
register. No registration at the door.
Keynote
Speaker: Author William B. Gould IV
Topic: Diary of
Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor
The heart of
this book is the remarkable Civil War dairy of the author's
great-grandfather, William Benjamin Gould, an escaped slave who
served in the United States Navy from 1862 until the end of the
war. The diary records Gould's activity as part of the North
Atlantic Blockading Squadron.
For more information,
contact Marti Lewis at ibemarti@yahoo.com
Boston States Migration Weekend Next Month in
Waltham, MA
The Boston
States Migrations Family History Weekend will be held Friday, June
11 ? Sunday, June 13, 2004 in Waltham, Massachusetts.
The "Boston
States Migrations" includes more than 400 years of circular
migrations between eastern Canada, New York and New England for a
whole array of ethnic, religious, occupational and family groups.
Many folks went west only to return to this circle of families
that still go "over home", even if the homefolks say they are
"from away"!
The push/pull
factors for chain migrations included politics, war, trade,
famine, disease, shipping practices, land, rivers, turnpikes,
canals, railroads, timber, mining, the Industrial Revolution, and
the growth of both urban and farm
communities.
Space is
limited for the June 11 video replay of the 1999 Boston States
Fair migration patterns, ships and railroad resource talks, as
well as the June 13 Family and Group table reservations.
Visit
http://bostonstates.rootsweb.com/ and register on-line
at http://www.GenealogyFair.com/2004BSFHF.htm .
----------------------------------------------------------
If you
have any comments, questions, suggestions, or concerns, or if you
have an upcoming event or news item you?d like us to post, please
send it to newsline@... .
| 
by Date 
- 
