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= Puerto Rico Getting Started =

Where to Start

 * Write down what you know
 * Pedigree Chart
 * Family group sheet


 * Gather records you may already have
 * Gather Family Information


 * Organize what you know
 * Organize and file materials

Probably the most important piece of information you will need to begin research in Puerto Rico is the name of a specific town in Puerto Rico where your ancestor lived.
 * Contact family for any useful information, stories, and records they may have.
 * Know the town of origin:
 * Puerto Rico Locating Place of Origin


 * Ask for help
 * Help from Family History Centers

= Puerto Rico Finding Records =

Online Records
*ONLINE RECORDS BUTTON

Online Civil Registration
Births, marriages, deaths, indexes and other records created by civil registration offices in Puerto Rico. Some records may date prior to 1885 as a few municipalities began civil registration before that date. Some of these records have been indexed and are searchable as part of this collection. Additional indexed records will be published as they become available.
 * - at FamilySearch. Partial index, images, incomplete.

To search the same collection by municipality, use: A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:
 * - at FamilySearch. Images, incomplete.


 * Puerto Rico Civil Registration Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

The same collection is available on Ancestry.com. If you do not have a membership, you can search these records for free at a Family History Center:
 * Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001, index and images, ($)

Online Church Records
FamilySearch has Catholic Church records from the Archdiocese of San Juan Historical Archive available online in its collection. They include records from the municipalities of:

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

Puerto Rico Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Municipality
To find church, civil or other records for your ancestor in Puerto Rico using the FamilySearch catalog, you will need to know the various levels of jurisdictions (government or religious administrative divisions) in Puerto Rico. Only two locality levels are normally used. The country of Puerto Rico is divided into municipalities (municipios), and cities, towns, villages, etc.

Under the municipality level you will find civil registration records. In large cities there may be several offices. Some small towns may not be their own municipality and therefore their records will not be kept in the town. You will need to determine the correct municipality or municipio in order to locate the civil registration records. Municipality records will be located in the FamilySearch catalog under the name of the municipio.

Church
Church records are listed in the catalog under the city or town where the parish is located. A parish is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction where a Catholic priest serves and keeps records. The parish is usually named for a Saint and is located in the largest town in the parish jurisdiction. Large cities may have many parishes while a small town usually only have one.

Place Levels (Jurisdictions)
Places are usually written from smallest to largest on a family group record:

Bayamón, Bayamón, Puerto Rico

City/town, County, Country

The Civil Registration records are located a the county level, and you will need to know this to find the civil registration records in the FamilySearch Catalog.

When you want to include the parish, which is especially important in large cities, in your locality field you would write it in the following manner:

San Mateo, Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Parish, City/town, County, Country

The parish of San Mateo is located in the city of Santurce in the county of San Juan.

To find your localities, see the following sources:

 * A great resource is the Spanish Wikipedia page. It has a page for most of the municipalities of Puerto Rico, which tell you the history of the municipality and information about its creation.
 * Google Maps is a great place to figure out distances between towns.

To find your Catholic parish, see the following sources:

 * You can learn if your ancestor’s town or city had an established parish by checking a Catholic church directory. It will list the archdiocese officials and the dioceses with their parishes, so you can easily determine all nearby parishes. It may include historical information about each parish, and sometimes it provides addresses for parishes, the diocese headquarters, and the diocese archives where additional records may be kept.

If your ancestor came from a large city that had several parishes, you will need to know what section of the city he or she lived in to determine what parish he or she belonged to. However, in a large city such as San Juan, you may find that even if you know the closest parish, sometimes the family went to the cathedral or the parish of a relative in the same city for the baptism of a child. If you do not find the complete family in the home parish, search the surrounding parishes of the city.

If your family lived in a very small village that did not have an established parish, you will need to check a map, church directory, or gazetteer to determine which nearby town had a parish.

Records from FamilySearch
Once you have identified the name and jurisdiction of the town of your ancestors you will want to check the FamilySearch Catalog and FamilySearch Record Collections for records about your ancestors. For more information about how to search the FamilySearch catalog you will want to read Using the FamilySearch Catalog.

To search the catalog, as well as indexed records and images available online from FamilySearch, you will need to visit FamilySearch.org. To find the record collections for Puerto Rico, scroll down the page and click on Caribbean, Central and South America.

= Puerto Rico Quick Start Guide =

Puerto Rico: Ancestor's birth, marriage, or death location unknown
US Census Records, 1910-1940: For those living in Puerto Rico during this time period the US Census is essential. The census forms are in Spanish but they are the same as their English counterparts. Follow the same rules that you would use for US Census research. Use the option to limit the locality by the country "United States" and the state as "Other."

FamilySearch Indexed records: Try searching first in indexed records. Try a variety of searches with ancestor’s name, or with parent’s names, or just by parent’s surnames AND using the option to limit locality by country Puerto Rico.

Contact family members: If they do not have even a minimal of information AND have no idea of where and when to look, encourage them to contact family members who might have that information. This could be older aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc.

Puerto Rico: Ancestor's birth, marriage or death location and names of parents, children, or spouse are known
FamilySearch Indexed records: Try searching first in indexed records. Try a variety of searches with ancestor’s name, or with parent’s names, or just by parent’s surnames AND using the option to limit locality by country Puerto Rico.

FamilySearch Browse Images: If no results from previous search for the ancestor or any siblings, you will have to browse images for the locality. Civil Registration began in 1885 in Puerto Rico. Catholic Church records are also a good choice as they cover all time periods. If you can find the ancestor in both record types, that is best as you will get more information to advance the pedigree.

FamilySearch Catalog: Not all records for Puerto Rico are online, be sure to check the catalog before giving up on finding records.

Research Strategies
Who to search for? If you don’t know the names of the parents, but you know the name of the spouse and/or the names of some of his children, begin with a marriage search (if the married in Puerto Rico and you know the place). Or begin with a search for the birth/baptism record for one of their children (if you have an approximate birth date and place).

Finding a locality

 * Google
 * Wikipedia (Spanish version works the best)
 * Try a keyword search in the FamilySearch Catalog for Puerto Rico Gazetteers

Online resources
For other online resources please review the Wiki article Hispanic Genealogy Resources Online. Also check the Firefox Bookmarks on the reference counter computer. Puerto Rico Online Genealogy Records

Online Civil Registration
Births, marriages, deaths, indexes and other records created by civil registration offices in Puerto Rico. Some records may date prior to 1885 as a few municipalities began civil registration before that date. Some of these records have been indexed and are searchable as part of this collection. Additional indexed records will be published as they become available.
 * - at FamilySearch. Partial index, images, incomplete.

To search the same collection by municipality, use: A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:
 * - at FamilySearch. Images, incomplete.


 * Puerto Rico Civil Registration Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

The same collection is available on Ancestry.com. Their search engine is more powerful. If you do not have a membership, you. can search these records for free at a Family History Center:
 * Puerto Rico, Civil Registrations, 1885-2001, index and images, ($)

Online Church Records
FamilySearch has Catholic Church records from the Archdiocese of San Juan Historical Archive available online in its collection. They include records from the municipalities of:

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

Immigration resources
If you’re looking for immigrants who arrived in Puerto Rico, there are several good books and films in the FamilySearch catalog under the subject Puerto Rico emigration and immigration.