El Salvador Civil Registration - FamilySearch Historical Records

Foreign Language Title
Registro Civil de San Salvador, El Salvador

Collection Time Period
The microfilm collection of civil registration records at the Family History Library for El Salvador covers the years 1836-2000. However, the current records available through FamilySearch Historical Records include only births of the city of San Salvador, El Salvador for the years 1867-1910.

Record History
The civil registration was not instituted until about 1859; however some church records were used as civil records prior to this time. The birth records were issued in municipal offices of the civil registration and a copy of the registers was sent to be archived in the Central Archives. This collection also includes the individual indexes. Copies of the registers were archived in the Central Archive in San Salvador. Many of these records appear to have some damage.

Why This Collection Was Created
The civil registration was necessary in order to keep an official record of the civil events and acts related to the civil state of the citizens.

Record Reliability
The civil registration records are a great source for genealogical research.

Record Description
Some of the records appear to have some damage, which have caused some loss of information. The text is in Spanish in a narrative style.

Record Content
The key genealogical facts found on most birth or birth records include:

• Names and surnames • Date and place of birth • Parent's names and surnames • Parent's age and place or origin • Nationality • Date of inscription

How to Use the Record
Begin your search by finding your ancestors in indexes; this will help access a specific record quickly. Remember that these indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned. When searching the index it is helpful to know the following: • The county where the birth, marriage, or death occurred. • The name of the person at the time of the event. • The approximate event date. • The event place. Use the locator information found in the index (such as page, entry, or certificate number) to locate your ancestors in the records. Compare the information in the record to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination. When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family. For example: • 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. • Occupations listed can lead you to employment records or other types of records such as military records. • Use the parent’s birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family. • The name of the 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 marriage number 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. Keep in mind: • The information in marriage 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 1900. • There is also some variation in the information given from one marriage record to another record. If you are unable to find the ancestors you are looking for, try the following: • Check for variant spellings of the surnames. • Search for the marriage record of the marriage partner if known. • Check for a different index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. • Search the indexes and records of nearby counties.

Related Websites
This section of the article is incomplete. You can help FamilySearch Wiki by supplying links to related websites here.

Sources of This Collection
“El Salvador, San Salvador, San Salvador, Civil Registration”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org), 2010; from Ministerio del Interior de El Salvador. “Registro Civil de San Salvador, San Salvador, El Salvador, 1867-1910." Archivo Civil de la Alcaldia Municipal de San Salvador, El Salvador. FHL microfilm. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

Digital copies of originals are also housed at local offices of the civil registry archives throughout El Salvador.

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should also 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: How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Examples of Source Citations for a Record in This Collection
“El Salvador Civil Registration”, database and images, FamilySearch (https:// www.familysearch.org : accessed 21 March 2011), entry for Jose Maria Antonio del Carmen, born, 9 April 1880; citing La Libertad, San Juan Opico, Nacimientos 1879-1893, image 50, Ministerio Archivo Civil de la Alcaldia Municipal de San Salvador.