El Salvador Quick Start Guide

El Salvador Quick Start Guide

Information about Records

 * All Records in El Salvador are in Spanish. If you are not familiar with Spanish, you should find someone who is. Another possibility is to use Internet translators, but they are difficult to get a good translation.
 * Most Records in El Salvador are written long hand. If you are not familiar with reading Spanish handwriting, click Here
 * Not all Records from El Salvador are online. To find the online El Salvador records, click Here
 * Not all the online Records from El Salvador are indexed. To find the online indexed El Salvador records, click Here
 * To find all El Salvador records on microfilm or microfiche, click Here

How to Search for ancestor if little information is known

 * Search for where your ancestor lived in El Salvador. Location is key to finding records in El Salvador.
 * Search for family records you might already have, such as deeds, marriage licenses, birth certificates, journals, etc.
 * Ask family members about your ancestor - cousins, aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents, etc.
 * Search records of immigration into the Unites States to learn where they came from and when they arrived.
 * Search records of emigration from El Salvador to learn where they left from and when.

How to Search for ancestors if some information is known

 * Search the online indexed records. Limit your search by country of El Salvador, this will eliminate similar records from other countries.
 * Search the El Salvador Civil Registration. It is mostly indexed. Try a variety of searches with the ancestor's name, with or without parents' names, or just the parents' names.
 * Search for Death records, then Marriage records and then Birth records. These records might lead to the names of their parents.
 * Do not assume it must be your ancestor just because they show up in the results. Check it out carefully. A result should substantially match the information you already know to be considered your ancestor.

How to Search for ancestors if none of the above works

 * Manually search the Image Only Historical Records. Some of these records were indexed in El Salvador. Look for that index first and save yourself time and effort. Otherwise, you will have to browse image by image through all the records, unless you can identify the locality or the time period to narrow down the search.
 * Manually search the records in the Family Search Catalog for El Salvador. Some of these El Salvador records are online, but most are only on microfilm or microfiche. They must be searched image by image, unless you can identify the locality or the time period to narrow down the search.
 * Very few of the El Salvador Catholic Church Records are indexed in Family Search, but they are online for an Image Only manual search. These records cover a large number of people and for a long period of time.

Additional Helps

 * The best advise in searching El Salvador records
 * El Salvador Research Outline
 * The Spanish Script Tutorial
 * Spanish Genealogy Word List