MEXICAN GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH OUTLINE
by John P. Schmal
1. STARTING OUT -- SOURCES OF INFORMATION
A. Collect information from family members. Questions
to ask:
1. Dates of birth, marriage, places where ancestors
lived.
2. Where did our ancestors live in 1920 (for the 1920
census).
3. Did our ancestors become citizens?
(Naturalization records)
4. Did we have non-citizen immigrant ancestors
living inthe United States in 1940? (Alien
Registration
forms).
5. Do we have passports or visas for our ancestors?
(Using such numbers, we can get additional info from
the INS.)
B. Naturalization records
C. Birth, marriage, death certificates (civil or
church).
D. Obituaries or cemetery records
2. CREATE A PEDIGREE CHART TO UNDERSTAND CHRONOLOGY
AND FAMILIAL RELATIONSHIPS.
3. LOCATION ANALYSIS (Once you have found out what
municipio, city, or estado your family came from):
A. Locate your ancestral town on a large-scale map.
1. Which municipio is the town in?
2. What church did they attend? (Remember that church
records and civil records may be in different
locations).
3. Is the town near the boundary of another
jurisdiction (municipio, estado)?
4. If your ancestral town was a small hacienda,
locate the geographic coordinates in a Gazeteer of
Mexico,
then go to a large-scale map and note the municipio in
which it lies.
4. DETERMINE THE AVAILABILITY OF RECORDS
A. Search for the town or municipio in the Family
History Catalog.
1. Civil records (Municipio).
2. Church records.
3. Other (census, padrones, military, family
histories).
B. Search the International Genealogical Index (IGI).
C. Write to the Catholic Archdiocese office for
records.
D. Write to the State Civil Registers for records.
"Mexican-American Genealogical Research: Following
the Paper Trail" has several chapters that assist
readers with many of these categories of research.
Are you trying to learn more about your ancestors that
came from Mexico? Trying to figure out how to find
key information so you can trace your Mexican roots?
Do you know the name of the hacienda or villa or city
they came from? You can purchase "Mexican-American
Genealogical Research: Following the Paper Trail to
Mexico" by going to the Heritage Books website:
http://marketplacesolutions.net/secure/heritagebooks/merchant2/merchant.m...
The book includes a whole chapter on border crossing
records: non-resident alien identification cards,
temporary permits, manifests, etc., as used in
previous
years.
Good luck.
John Schmal
SOURCE: John Schmal
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