The records of many Hispanic countries are unmatched in their quality, quantity, and availability. In most cultures, church records are the beginning point of research for the genealogist, and this is especially true of Hispanic countries; the parish records of Spain, Mexico, and Peru are the oldest and most complete of any in the world.
A brief survey of the Guía de la Iglesia en España (Oficina de Estadística: Madrid, 1954), which lists more than 90 percent of the parishes of Spain, offers proof of the antiquity of recordkeeping in the Spanish parish. The oldest known parish records are found in Solsona, Spain and date from the year 1394. At least 37 parishes have records before 1500. Nearly one third antedate the year 1600, and nearly one-half antedate the year 1650. As early as the end of the 15th century, Cardinal Cisneros, in the first synod of Alcala, ordered that records of baptisms, marriages, and deaths be kept throughout Castile. Latin American parish records (at least of baptisms and marriages) were kept with equal faithfulness. When the Americas were colonized, Spanish record systems were immediately transferred to the New World, where the earliest records in Lima, Peru begin in the year 1537.
Hispanic parishes were not only the principal units of ecclesiastical organization, but also the main social unit for much of the rural life in Hispanic countries. Because of the intimate daily role the parish played (and in many areas still plays), its registers usually provide the most extensive and accurate glimpse into the lives of historical people. For centuries, the registers of Hispanic parishes have reflected the lives of even the poorest laborers in tiny villages throughout Spain and Latin America. Baptisms soon after birth, marriages, deaths, local occurrences, and national events are all found in these registers.
Spanish records are also the best records in terms of quality. While in most countries, baptismal records contain only the name of the child baptized and the name of one or both parents, generally after 1790 (and in many cases before), Hispanic baptismal certificates contain the name of the child, both parents, and all four grandparents, and some provide the locality where each was born. Although they generally only begin in the late 1800s, the civil registers of most Hispanic countries are even more detailed.
¡Sí, se puede!
Saul Vela, chairman of the 15th Annual Texas Hispanic Genealogical Association Conference in 1994, adopted the motto "Si, se puede" ("yes, we can") in doing Hispanic family history research. In Hispanic countries, most families can trace their ancestors into the 17th century; in Spain, many can find lines back to the 16th century and even earlier.
Two factors inhibit the availability of Spanish-language records: many Latin countries have experienced many wars, and the Catholic Church has frequently been the target of passionate outbursts of destruction. Where records have been destroyed, gaps can usually be bridged with other records, such as civil registers, notarial records, military records, tax lists, and censuses. Nearly every family can achieve success even in areas where records have been devastated by wars and revolutions.
Spanish surname systems also favor successful family history research. Surnames were regularly used in Spain for centuries before the colonial period, even before the advent of parish records; naturally, this facilitates the tracing of a family. By the end of the 19th century, Spain and most Hispanic countries had adopted a unique system wherein every person has two surnames. Both are used on all official documents, as well as in referring to oneself and being referred to by others. The first surname is paternal, and the second is maternal. Therefore, if Juan Gomez Jimenez and Maria Vega Fernandez marry and have a son, Jose, he would be named Jose Gomez Vega.
Of equal importance to the Hispanic family researcher is the fact that most Hispanic women don't change their names. Even though Maria Vega Fernandez is married, her death certificate will list her as Maria Vega Fernandez, probably adding the comment that she was the wife of Juan Gomez Jimenez. This custom eliminates the problem frequently encountered in American or British research of trying to find the mother's maiden name.
Notarial Records: Key to Enriching the Family History
Hispanic parish records are so exceptional, and the government records so complete, that many family historians tend to overlook another even richer source: notarial records. Unlike most other record sources, which are limited in scope, notary records cover the full breadth and depth of life. A mere summary of the kinds of documents that appear in notarial archives includes: wills, adoptions, emancipations, sales of rural and urban land, construction of buildings, proof of purity of blood, nobility records, transfers of titles, dowries, rescue of captives, sale of slaves, marriage contracts, sale of cloth, sale of horses, printing of books, commissioning of famous works of art, apprenticeship papers, proofs of origin for emigrants, and contracts with teachers. Significant family history is to be found in the records of the notary "because it would be difficult to find any human act in private or public life in which the pen of the notary did not intervene to give faith and testimony [to that act]."
Unfortunately, some people did not make use of the notary to provide legal validation of transactions, but for the many whose ancestors had sufficient social or financial status to use notarial services (often only having a small farm was enough), these records will provide a great amount of human interest and daily life information about ancestors. Certainly, as Gonzalez de Anezua, a noted Spanish historian, has said:
"[Looking] in a notarial register is like observing from a high hill . . . the panorama of Spanish life and [coming away with] its people, famous and humble, who, confiding in professional secrecy, laid before us their weaknesses and . . . their beautiful virtues."
The Diversity in Hispanic Research
A dictionary definition of the word "Hispanic"—such as "Of or relating to the people, speech, or culture of Spain, Portugal, or Latin America"—cannot convey the diversity of the Hispanic peoples, Indigenous in areas from the southwestern United States to the southern tip of South America and from Spain to the Philippines. Through colonization that began a century before the earliest Anglo-American colonies were established and lasted 50 to 100 years longer, Spanish characteristics, language, and institutions combined—sometimes peacefully, oftentimes violently—with Indigenous peoples to form new nations and cultures. Wherever early Spanish colonizers traveled, they brought with them the language, culture, institutions, and record systems of their homeland.
Most Hispanic people will also find that their ancestors come from more than just Spanish and Native American lines, and that they could be French, German, Eastern European, Italian, African, or Portuguese as well. The countries of Central and South America have been a melting pot of many cultures.
The statistics of immigration to Latin America show the diversity of that heritage. Before the end of the colonial period around 1820, an estimated 12 million Spaniards had emigrated to Latin America. The immigration that followed in the next century, however, was even more extensive. Of the 54 million people coming from Europe to the American continents between 1820 and 1920, 20 million went to Latin America, primarily to Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, and Uruguay. Large numbers of those came from Italy, Spain, and Portugal. However, English, Irish, French, and German surnames are also found in Central and South America.
George R. Ryskamp is an associate professor of history at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah and an accredited genealogist specializing in Spanish language research and United States probate and legal systems.
