Exploring MexicanRoots.com
“It’s All There” by Mimi Lozano Holtzman
mimilozano@aol.com
www.SHHAR.net www.SomosPrimos.com
MexicanRoots.com site is dedicated to helping family historians trace their Mexican ancestry
and build their Hispanic family trees. Mexico has an incredible amount of genealogical records
because of records kept by the Catholic Church, but finding those records can be difficult if you
don't know where to look. This website is a resource which brings all this different information
together onto one site.
Homepage
Genealogy of Mexico
Genealogy of Hispanic United States
Catholic Church Records
History of Mexico
Geography of Mexico
Links
Sitemap
Booklist
Genealogy & DNA
Blog
Genealogy of Mexico
FamilySearch.org is a FREE website run by the Church of Later Day Saints in Utah. They have
scanned thousands of copies of original Catholic Church Records from Mexico. Records can be
found using their Search tool, but many of the records are viewable only.
Genealogy of Hispanic United States: Tracing your Mexican ancestors in the U.S.
Ancestry.com has one of the largest database of North American genealogical records on the
web. In the past few years they have added more records related to Mexico. You can find
records of U.S.-Mexico border crossings, ship manifests, passport applications, and census
records for the southwest United States. They will give you a 2 week FREE trial - you can start
creating your family tree by entering your ancestor's name below (will take you to
Ancestry.com):
Border Crossings: From Mexico to U.S., 1903-1957
This database contains an index of aliens and some citizens crossing into the U.S. from Mexico
via various ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexican border between 1903 and 1957.
For more information about these Familysearch collections, click on these links to the Vital
Records of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas. For more history on the old Spanish southwest read
these articles about Spanish California, New Mexico, Texas, and The Southwest's Mexican
Roots.
Catholic Church Records Guide
Individual registries were used for baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and burial/ death
records. Entries were usually made in chronological order, by date.
Catholic Church records from Mexico are mostly in good condition, except for some of the
oldest records that were damaged or deteriorated, making them difficult to read or having
missing information. Some pages will be marked 'Paginas rotas' or Paginas 'manchadas',
meaning torn or stained pages.
The older records (pre-1900) are handwritten in narrative style and follow a common text with
some variations depending on the style used by the priest. Handwriting changes can be seen
between older and more recent registries, as well as between different parishes. More recent
records are handwritten in formatted registers, and some are even written in ledger style
registers.
Read our pages on Spanish Names, Spanish Terminology, and Spanish Missions to learn more or
open the PDF files at the bottom of the page to learn about reading Spanish Catholic Church
records.
SPANISH RECORDS EXTRACTION GUIDE (WWW.FAMILYHISTORY.BYU.EDU)
Chapter One: Old Spanish Records – Introduction
Section Three - Given Names and Surnames
Chapter Two: Christening, Marriage and Other Entries
Section One - Christening Entries
Sections Two - Marriage Entries
Section Three - Other Entries
Chapter Five: Gender
Chapter Three: Spanish Handwriting and Spelling
Section One - Easily Confused Letters
Sections Two - Spanish Handwriting Style
Section Three - Variations in Word Spelling
Chapter Four: Name Identification
Section One - Identifying Names
Section Two - Deciphering Personal Names
Chapter Six: Dates
Section One - Months, Days, Years
Section Two - Variations in Dates
Glossary:
Section One - Spanish and Latin Terms
Section Two - Christening and Marriage Phrases
History of Mexico: Important Events in Mexican History
Mexico was conquered and ruled by Spain from 1519 until Mexican Independence in 1821.
Click here to read the Mexican Declaration of Independence. Independence led to important
cultural and governmental changes. Benito Juárez, an indigenous Zapotec and the President of
Mexico from 1858 to 1872 was the first president with indigenous roots in the Americas.
Geography of Mexico
To locate your ancestors in Mexico, you first need to know where they lived. Looking at maps
and studying the geography of Mexico is a good way to familiarize yourself with your ancestor's
homeland. Mexico is divided onto 31 separate states: Baja California Sur, Baja California Norte,
Sonora, Chihuahua, Caohuila, Nuevo Leon, Sinaloa, Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potasi,
Tamaulipas, Nayarit, Veracruz, Jalisco, Guanajuato, Michoacan, Guerrero, Queretara, Hidalgo,
Oaxaca, Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan, Qintana Roo, Puebla, Colima, Aguascalientes,
and the Districto de Mexico.
These states have have mostly remained unchanged for several hundred years. One change
was the separation of Sinaloa and Sonora in 1833 (previously known as Sonora y Sinaloa). The
state of Coahuila was once part of Coahuila y Tejas, until Texas succeeded from Mexico. Click
here to read the 1790 Census statistics for New Spain.
Each state has a capital city and is divided into districts (similar to counties). Each district has
also has a capital. For example, the state of Sinaloa is divided into districts. One of those
districts is Rosario, with the city of El Rosario being the capital of the district. The capital of
Sinaloa State is the city of Culiacan.
For a complete list of Mexican villages/towns/cities/pueblos/ranchos, by State and Municipality
(County), try pueblosamerica.com (this site is in Spanish). This site also has satellite
photographs and satellite maps of each town (many of which you won't find on most maps).
Click on the map and it will take you to a clickable version to find out more about each state.
Included is a list of the postal abbreviations and Capital cities of the States of Mexico, and a link
to Google maps.
Links
Mexican Genealogy Research:
FamilySearch.org Records Search Pilot
FamilySearch.org Catholic Church Records – Mexico
Search U.S. Mexico-Border Crossing Records
Search 1930 Mexican Census
California Naturalization Records: Northern, Southern
Mexican-American Genealogy Research:
Arizona Births and Christenings, 1909-1917
Arizona Deaths and Burials, 1910-1911, 1933-1994
Arizona Deaths, 1870-1951
Arizona Marriages, 1888-1908
New Mexico Births and Christenings, 1726-1918
New Mexico Deaths and Burials, 1788-1798, 1838-1955
New Mexico Deaths, 1889-1945
New Mexico Marriages, 1751-1918
Texas Births and Christenings, 1840-1981
Texas Deaths and Burials, 1903-1973
Texas Deaths, 1890-1976
Texas Marriages, 1837-1973
California Death Records
Social Security Death Index
Western States Marriage Search (pre-1930)
Genealogy Software:
FamilySearch.org Genealogy Software
MyHeritage FamilyTree Builder
Microsoft Excel Family Tree Template
Microsoft Office 'How to Create a Family Tree' DEMO Video
U.S. Southwest Hispanic Genealogy:
California Spanish Genealogy
Genealogy of Pio Pico Last Governor of Mexican California
Texas Genealogy
Hispanic Genealogy Society
New Mexico Genealogy Society (includes So. Colorado)
Kiva, Cross, and Crown - History of Spanish New Mexico
Forgotten Frontier: Spanish New Mexico and Colorado
Spanish Language & Text:
Google Translator - Spanish to English
BYU Spanish Script Tutorial
BYU Spanish Script Tutor – Surnames
BYU Spanish Script Tutor - First Names
Maps & Geography:
Pueblos America - Satellite Maps of Mexico by state/district/city
Google Maps – Mexico
Clickable Map of Mexico
Atlas of Historical New Mexico Maps
World Index – Mexico
Mexico Travel and History
General Hispanic Genealogy:
Genealogy of Mexico - Gary Felix
History and Genealogy of South Texas and Northeast Mexico
SomosPromos - Hispanic Heritage & Diversity
Hispanic Organization for Genealogy & Research (HOGAR)New Spain Genealogy
History and Research by John P. Schmal
MexicanRoots.com Book List
Click on a book to purchase at Amazon.com:
DNA
Read Gary Felix's page about the DNA Surname Project, which aims to trace the genetic origins
of specific Spanish surnames in Mexico and the U.S. southwest (Texas, Colorado, New Mexico,
Arizona, California, Utah prior to 1848). Early result from this project show that male genetic
origins are: 49% Western European, 23% Semitic (Jewish), 13% Native American, 7% Nordic,
and 8% miscellaneous.
According to recent studies done on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Mexicans have a NativeAmerican female "eve" 85% of the time, while only 15% of the tests show a European "eve".
Thus suggests that most of the early unions in post-Conquest Mexico were between NativeAmerican women and Spanish males. It has been estimated that 50% of the male population of
Spain came to the Americas as conquistadors or settlers, while large number of NativeAmericans died of disease.
ON THE BLOG
Featured Posts
Clickable Map of Mexican States
Mexico Municipalities Map
Browse 1930 Mexico Census
Browse Familysearch Church Records
Indigenous Jalisco: Living in a New Era
Ancestry.com Mexico Church Records
Ancestry.com Border Crossing Records
Native Zacatecas
Spanish Terminology
Spanish Names
Mexico: The Best Records in the World
Mexican Americans Finding Their Roots
Pueblo Revolt of 1680
Yaqui Resistance
1912 Census of Mexico
Native Mexico
Recent Posts . . just a few examples
George Lopez DNA
Spanish Surnames of Texas and NE Mexico
Mario Lopez Mexican Roots
Native Zacatecas
Juan Bautista de Anza
Oscar De La Hoya
Salena Quintanilla Perez
Spanish Terminology
Penelope Cruz Sanchez
Pancho Villa's Roots
Joe Kapps, Mexican Roots
Richard "Cheech" Marin
La Malinche El Mestizo
Salma Hayek's Roots
Jim Plunkett's Mexican Roots
Carlos Santana's Mexican Roots
Browse Familysearch Church Records
Pueblo Revolt of 1680
Joe Kapp's Mexican Roots
Joseph Robert Kapp (born March 19, 1938 in Santa Fe, New Mexico) is a former professional
American and Canadian football quarterback. He is also a former college football head coach of
the University of California, Berkeley. His mother, Florence Garcia Kapp, is Mexican-American,
but his father is of German descent. Kapp was born in New Mexico and grew up in California.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1083841/index.htm#ixzz11zzOu3
tH
Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research
P.O. Box 490 Midway City, CA 92655
714-894-8161