Ecuador, Catholic Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Ecuador

What is in the Collection?
These records are in Spanish. This collection of Catholic Church parish records includes the years 1565 to 2011. It includes baptism, confirmation, marriage and death records from several parishes in dioceses and archdioceses of Ecuador. For a complete list all the parishes contained in this collection, see the Parishes of Ecuador coverage table.

All the records of the sacramental ordinances were created, registered, and kept by the priest in authority of his parish jurisdiction. The parish jurisdiction may have included sub-parishes in nearby localities. One register was generally kept at the parish archive and another copy sent to the diocesan archive for preservation.

Catholic Church parish registers are the primary source for finding genealogical information of birth, death, and marriage in Ecuador prior to 1900, when the civil registration was implemented. For the most part, the records are handwritten in narrative form; only in later years are the records handwritten in formatted registers. The text is in Spanish.

Sample Images
Baptism records may contain the following information:


 * Date and place of baptism
 * Name of child
 * Birth date of child
 * Gender of child
 * Parents’ names
 * Godparents’ names

Confirmation records may contain the following information:


 * Date and place of confirmation
 * Name
 * Parents' names
 * Godparents

Marriage records may contain the following information:


 * Date and place of marriage
 * Names of the groom and bride
 * Groom’s age
 * Bride’s age
 * Marital status of the groom and bride
 * Groom’s parents' names
 * Bride’s parents' names
 * Witnesses' names

Death and burial records may contain the following information:


 * Date and place of death
 * Name of deceased
 * Age and residence of deceased
 * Cause of death
 * Parents' names of deceased

How Do I Search the Collection?
As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’s given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships.

There are indexes available in these collections. The indexes are located at the beginning of a group of images. Each year has it's own index. Find your ancestor's name and look for the year, certificate number and page number. This will help you find the record you are looking for in the collection.

These may be the only records available before the implementation of civil registration (about 1900).

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. 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.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: Follow this series of links: ⇒Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒Select the "Province" ⇒Select the "City or Town" ⇒Select the "Parish" ⇒Select the "Record Type and Years" which takes you to the images.

Search the collection by image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. 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.

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

Spanish Genealogical Word List

What Do I Do Next?

 * The information in church records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant.
 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after the late 1800's.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from one record to another.
 * Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.

What if I Can't Find Who I'm Looking For?

 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Check for a different year in the index.

Citing This Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection citation:

Record citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image citation:

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.