A Starter’s Guide to Discovering Your Mexican Ancestry

Could you be Pancho Villa’s great granddaughter or a descendant of Spanish royalty? After all, where do you get your taste for the finer things in life or your passion for activism?

Well, it’s time to find out, so you can finally put those far-fetched family legends to the test. You might feel overwhelmed and a little lost, but that’s why I’m here to help you get started. When I finally decided to start working on my family tree, I was skeptical about how much I would be able to find online: I ignorantly assumed my family, who lived in rural Mexico, wouldn’t be recorded or searchable. I’m happy to tell you I was very wrong.

Whether your family owned a hacienda or no home at all, Mexico has a treasure trove of records: from census records, civil records, church records–to legal documents and memoirs. And now, more than ever, they are becoming more accessible thanks to the internet.

Knowing your family history isn’t just about knowing the names of your ancestors: it’s also about knowing where you come from and your family’s history. So without further ado, below, I give you advice on how to begin researching your ancestry and tips for navigating through Mexico’s records

*Special note: click on highlighted words for links and forms

1. Gather all the information you can get your hands on: family records, pictures, memorabilia, stories—they will make your search easier. 

Interview your living oldest relatives: the most important information to gather are your ancestors full names and dates and locations for births, baptisms, marriages and deaths. Don’t forget to also get this information for the person you are interviewing.  

When recording the names of married women, make sure to note their maiden name as well—you will need it when searching their records prior to marriage.

Tips for obtaining information and recording it:

• The best people to ask for info are your grandparents.  If they’re no longer living, ask your parents, aunts and uncles (the older the relative the better).  Also, don’t overlook distant relatives. I ended up finding tons of information from my mother’s half sibling, who unknown to me, had been raised by my great grandmother. His ex-wife also ended up having old family pictures that no one had ever seen before.
• Also, be sensitive to your relative’s feelings about their past when interviewing them. Try not to be pushy; sometimes people just don’t want to talk about their past for personal reasons.
• Write down or, even better, record what your relatives have to say and get copies of all the records and pictures they may have. When borrowing items, be respectful and careful to not lose or destroy documents: get your copies and return these precious mementoes as soon as you can.
• While gathering your information try to stay organized: start by using a pedigree chart,  family group sheet  and interview sheet.
  

2. With the above information in hand (however little you have), you are now ready to start your search online. There are dozens of online website to choose from—some are free, others are not.  Below you’ll find my list of favorites and my reasons for favoring them. You can decide which to use for your genealogy research. 

My Absolute Favorite: familysearch.com

It’s FREE, FREE, FREE. So, yes, this website is free of charge! You can search without signing in, but if you want to use all its services, I recommend you create an account.

This website is run by the LDS church. The website may not have all the bells and whistles others have, but they have just as many records. It’s also easy to use and navigate and is continually being improved upon.

I use this website mainly for its searchable records and scanned microfilms of birth, baptism, marriage, and death records. They do offer other services like image, story databases and pedigree charts, but I have not used them.  About 85% of all the information I have gathered is from this website alone.

In addition, the LDS Church also runs Family History Centers throughout the U.S., and you can visit these places for assistance in your search.

Runner Up: ancestry.com

Ancestry.com is an amazing website, but you have to pay to search their records: they have monthly and yearly subscriptions. Because searching for your family history is not a one day or even a one week project, this can be a pricey service to continue paying for.

I’m three years into researching my Mexican ancestry, and I still have a long way to go. I don’t work on my genealogy every day: I tend to spend a weekend on it every few months, so economically, this website just doesn’t work for me. Further, they charge you extra if you want to search international records (Mexico and Spain).

I encourage you to determine for yourself if it would be a good fit for you. Even for me, there are a few reasons that I still like the site: there are still plenty of other free services on the website. To access their free services, you have to sign up for an account, which is separate from paying a monthly subscription to access their records.

I mainly use ancestry.com for their family tree organizer and forums. The online Family Tree Organizer is a handy tool. Paying users can search your family tree and they even give you “hints” that recommend records you might have missed based on your ancestors information.

Also, they have an app version that is user friendly and convenient if you want to work on your genealogy on the go (maybe while you wait for an apt etc.). Of course, you need to have an internet connection.

Finally, if you’re looking to find long lost relatives or connect with others, than this is the place to hang out. Ancestry.com has excellent forums about many different topics. My favorite forum topics are the message boards for surnames and towns where my family lived. Overall, the website is a great place to find information about genealogy research.

Note: Ancestry.com offers a 14-day trial that I highly recommend. They do ask for your credit/debit card, so if you try the trial service, make sure you cancel your subscription before it renews itself and they charge you for the next month—unless, of course, you enjoyed their services and can afford to continue  your subscription. 

3. Other Sources: So now that you know where to start your research online, I want to provide you with more websites that can help you in your search.

Search Online: When you come across a new ancestor, try googling their name: you never know what you might find. As I was trying to find more information on a specific family name, I stumbled across a scholarly book in google documents that just so happened to mention my family surname and its origin. Other things you might find are obituaries, news articles, grave/cemetery images, or others looking for the same person.

The Genealogy of Mexico: Gateway to the Past from Our Ancestors Forward: This website is a little hard to navigate, but I like it because it includes a compilation of names that otherwise may be hard to find individually. This site is useful only if you have reached the end of your line in Mexico. It consists of the first Spanish settlers, soldiers, and conquistadors who came to Mexico. The site also includes suggested readings and a DNA project.

Spanish Script Tutorial: This website is a recent find—boy, was I happy to find it! I sure could have used this website in the early days of my genealogy research. This site is great for non-fluent Spanish speakers and really anyone who wasn’t born in the 1800’s (all of us I hope—unless you’re a vampire…) It’s your go to guide when translating and deciphering old Spanish records (that are practically unreadable). The website  has alphabet charts, Spanish surname lists, a genealogy dictionary, abbreviation and word lists, and the list goes on and on—so, definitely check this one out.

Nuestros Ranchos: Genealogy of Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Aquacalietnes: Don’t let the title deceive you, this website isn’t just for those searching for their lineages in Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Aguascalientes. I found help on this site when I was trying to translate a document. The website can be hard to navigate, but I like it because the site includes forums where you can ask for help or information. I highly recommend their extensive links page to other notable websites that can help you in your search.

4. Tips and Tricks to Remember 

So now you know where to look and where to get help, I would now like to finish off with some tips and tricks that you should remember and try when you’re in the thick of genealogy research.

• When you find new records or images, make sure to cite where you got them. This is a general rule with all genealogists.
• Not all names and dates are correct. You’ll often find that the searchable records on Family Search and other websites were created by volunteers who despite their diligence and hard work,  don’t always enter the correct information.  For example, it took me almost a year to find a great grandmother in the 1930’s census because her year of birth was listed 60 years prior.
• It is also common to find mistyped information: sometimes names are spelled wrong or just different on the actual paper record. It’s possible that your ancestor changed their last name or decided they wanted to go by their mother’s maiden name.  Keep this in mind when searching.
• Lastly, if you get stuck and can’t go any further, find a different avenue or a different relative (like a person’s sibling). Census records can help you to determine sibling names (because a family will be listed as one entry, all listed under a head of household), so if you can’t find a record for your direct ancestor, see if you can find records for their siblings.

Conducting genealogy research has impacted my life in ways I never imagined it would. Aside from the knowledge I have gained, what I appreciate the most is that I now have a deep understanding of who I am, where I come from, and my place in the world. I’ve also gained a new appreciation for my native land, its culture and its history: It’s something that I wish everyone could experience.

Happy genealogy research!

 

Monica