Guatemala Department, Guatemala Genealogy

Central America Guatemala

Guatemala (Department) is the home of the national capital, Guatemala City. The capital was moved to the Valle de la Ermita after earthquakes partially destroyed its previous location in what is now known as "Antigua Guatemala"

Historically, Guatemala was the capital of Central America, then known as Capitanía General de Guatemala or General Capitancy of Guatemala and part of the Virreinato de la Nueva España (Viceroyalty of New Spain or Mexico). This is where many of the records of the nation are held, many going back to the 1500's, soon after the Spanish colonization and include some from other Central American countries.

Civil Registration and Church Records
Most of the research you will do will be in these two records.
 * 1877-1994 -
 * 1877-1994 - Guatemala, Guatemala, Civil Registration, 1877-1994. Additional towns.
 * 1581-1977 - Guatemala, Guatemala, Catholic Church Records, 1581-1977

Additional online records may be listed in the Family History Library Catalog for places within Guatemala, Guatemala.

Building a Family Record with a Search Strategy
Many articles on strategy are available on the Wiki, but here is a simple set of steps to guide you
 * Search for the relative or ancestor you selected. When you find his birth/baptism/christening record, then search for the births of his brothers and sisters.
 * Next, search for the marriage of his parents. The marriage record will have information that will often help you find the birth records of the parents, and even the names of their parents.
 * You can estimate the ages of the parents and determine a birth year to search for their birth records.
 * Search the death registers for all known family members.
 * Repeat this process for both the father and the mother, starting with their birth records, then their siblings' births, then their parents' marriages, and so on.
 * If earlier generations (parents, grandparents, etc.) do not appear in the records, search neighboring parishes.

FamilySearch Historical Record Collections
An online collection containing this record is located in FamilySearch.org.

A wiki article describing this collection found at:


 * Guatemala, Guatemala City 1877 General Census (FamilySearch Historical Records)