Chile Civil Registration - FamilySearch Historical Records

This wiki article describes a collection that is scheduled to become available for free online at FamilySearch Record Search – Pilot Site.

Foreign Language Title
Registros Civiles de la Provincia de Concepción, Chile

Collection Time Period
The Family History Library’s collection of the civil records from the municipalities of Lota and Santa Juana, in the Province of Concepcion, covers the years of 1885 through 1932. For the municipality of Lota, it covers births, marriages, and deaths from 1889 to 1901, with separate indexes for the records from 1885-1932. For the municipality of Santa Juana, it covers births from 1885-1903, marriages from 1887-1901, and deaths from 1885-1901.

Collection History


The law of the civil registry in Chile was enacted in July of 1884. The office of a civil registrar was then created, whose responsibility was and is to keep in duplicate the registers of birth, marriage, and death. These registers keep all the fundamental information for these events, which relate to the legal make up of the family. The greatest purposes of the state are to legally organize the family, preserve the identity of individuals, and provide secure citizenship.

This collection of the civil registry from the province of Concepcion covers the births, marriages, and deaths from the municipalities of Santa Juana and Lota. About 90 to 95% of the population was registered for these localities.

Why This Collection Was Created
The civil registration is a public service under the supervision of the Justice Department, responsible to superintend the legal constitution of the family. Through civil registration, it is possible to exercise the people’s rights related to civil status, identity, real estate, and other specific acts guarded by the law.

Collection Reliability
The civil records of birth, marriage, and death in Chile are absolutely reliable for obtaining important genealogical data of ancestors.

Collection Description
The majority of the records have been well-preserved. Some may be faded but are still readable if the image is enlarged. Some earlier records were written in narrative form; however, the majority of the records were handwritten in registers with a similar style as to a ledger.

Collection Content
The key genealogical facts found in most birth records are: • Date of registration • Name and sex of the child • Date and place of the birth • Parents’ names, nationality, occupation, and residence • Name, age, occupation, and residence of the registrant • Witnesses’ names

The key genealogical facts found in most marriage records are: • Date and place of the marriage • Names and nationality of the betrothed • Ages of the betrothed • Marital statuses of the betrothed before the marriage • Residences of the betrothed at time of marriage • The names of the betrothed parents • Occupations of the betrothed • Witnesses’ names

The key genealogical facts found in most death records: • Date of the registration • Name of the deceased • Deceased’s sex, nationality, age, occupation, and marital status • Deceased’s residence • Names of the deceased’s parents • Date and place of death • Cause of death • Burial place • Name of the registrant • Registrant’s age, occupation, and residence • Witnesses’ names

How to Use the Collection
Civil records are important documents for genealogical research after 1884. One can also find additional information of related ancestors to further their genealogical research. In order to find an entry in these records, it is necessary to know the name of an ancestor, a date of an event (birth, marriage or death), and a place where the ancestor lived.

Bibliographic Information
• Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación. Oficina de Lota (Lota, Concepción) • Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación. Oficina de Santa Juana (Santa Juana, Concepción) • Archivo General del Registro Civil de Chile (Santiago, Santiago)

Related Articles
Chile Civil Registration

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