Dominican Republic Civil Registration - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Records
Registro Civil de la República Dominicana

Record Description
These records are in Spanish. This collection will eventually include civil records from 1801 to 2006. The records include birth, marriage and death certificates from various localities in the Dominican Republic.

This is an ongoing active collection. Additional records may be added to this collection. Check the wiki or browse the collection to determine current coverage.

For a complete list of all the provinces contained in this collection, see the Provinces of the Dominican Republic - Civil Registration coverage table.

The civil records in this collection cover several municipalities (municipios) throughout the country and may include approximately 370,000 names. These registrations include birth, marriage, and death records. The birth of a child must be registered within 30 days of the birth. After that, it is considered a late registration and has penalties. Therefore, if parents knew they wouldn't meet the deadline, then to avoid the penalties, many children were not registered.

The civil registration in the Dominican Republic is considered a great and reliable source for genealogical research. The records are written both in narrative style and in formatted records. Some records appear damaged, however, genealogical information may still be extracted.

For a list of records by date or locality currently published in the Dominican Republic Civil Births collection, select the Browse link from the collection landing page

Record Content
Birth records may contain the following information:


 * Name and gender of child
 * Date, place, and time of birth
 * Child’s legitimacy
 * Parents’ names and ages
 * Parents’ occupations and residence
 * Grandparents' names
 * Date, place, and time of registration
 * Registrant's occupation and residence

Marriage records usually contain the following information:


 * Date and place of marriage
 * Names and ages of groom and bride
 * Marital status of groom and bride
 * Legitimacy of groom and bride
 * Parents' names and ages
 * Groom's residence
 * Bride’s legitimacy
 * Date of betrothal promise
 * Witnesses’ names
 * Witnesses’ age, marital status, and occupation
 * Name of civil official and/or marriage officiator

Death records may contain the following information:


 * Name and age of deceased (keep in mind that death records for women may be filed under their married name)
 * Marital status/spouse's name of deceased
 * Date, place, and time of death
 * Cause of death
 * Date and place of birth
 * Parents of deceased
 * Parents' origin and residence
 * Witnesses' names
 * Informant's name and age
 * Date, place, and time of registration
 * Informant's marital status, occupation, origin, and residence

How to Use the Records
To begin your search you should know the following:
 * The person’s name.
 * The approximate location of an event.
 * An approximate time frame of an event.
 * Indexes are available on some of these groups of images. If indexes are available, check these for the name first. Indexes are usually located at the beginning or end of a group of images. Find your ancestor’s name and look for the locator information next to the name (such as page, entry, or certificate number). This will help you find the record you are looking for in the collection.
 * Some record sets have indexes; these indexes were created at the end of the year. Copy errors could have been made in the index, so you want to find the actual record to verify the information is correct.

Keep in mind:
 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * The information in records is usually reliable, but depends upon the knowledge of the informant.
 * Regarding marriage and death records, name changes, shortened names, or nicknames may have been used by your ancestors, so pay attention to other relationships (parents, spouse, siblings, children, etc.) that can confirm whether you have the right person/record.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

Search the Collection
To browse the Dominican Republic, Civil Registration, 1801-2010 collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒Select the "Province" ⇒Select the "Locality" ⇒Select the "Record Type and Years" which takes you to the images. To browse the Dominican Republic, Births collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒ Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒ Select the "Province" ⇒ Select the "Locality" ⇒ Select the "Volume and Year Range" which takes you to the images.

Look at the images and compare the information with what you already know about your ancestor to determine which one is your ancestor. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

Using the Information

 * Use the marriage date and place as the basis for compiling a new family group or for verifying existing information.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth of each partner to find a couple's birth records and parents' names.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth to find the family in census records.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records.
 * Use the parents' birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * The name of a marriage officiator is a clue to their religion or area of residence in the county. However, ministers may have reported marriages performed in other counties.
 * Compile the marriage entries for every person who has the same surname as the bride or groom; this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.
 * Continue to search the marriage records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives of the bride and groom who may have married in the same county or nearby. This can help you identify other generations of your family or even the second marriage of a parent. Repeat this process for each new generation you identify.
 * Use the marital status/marriage number (how many times a person was married) to identify previous marriages.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.
 * Witnesses often were relatives of the parents.
 * Continue to search the indexes and records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives who may have lived in the same area or a nearby area.

Unable to Find Your Ancestor?
A boundary change could have occurred and the record of you ancestor is now in a neighboring state or region, or your ancestor immigrated to another country. Search the records of nearby areas or immigration/emigration records.

For Help Reading These Records
These records are in Spanish. For help reading the records, see the following wiki articles:


 * Spanish Genealogical Word List
 * Reading Spanish handwritten records
 * Script tutorial for Spanish

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached Wiki article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Unable to Find your Ancestor?
A boundary change could have occurred and the record of you ancestor is now in a neighboring locality.

Church records are also a good substitute when birth, marriage, and death records can’t be found or are unavailable.

Related Websites

 * Online maps of the Dominican Republic
 * Online history of the Dominican Republic
 * Online genealogical resources for Dominican Republic research

Related Wiki Articles

 * Dominican Republic
 * Dominican Republic Genealogy
 * Dominican Republic Civil Registration

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
Citations for individual image records are available for this collection. Browse through images in this collection and click on the "Show Citation" box: Dominican Republic, Births

When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.

A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the wiki article Help:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Record collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher and archive for the original records.