Guayanilla, Puerto Rico Church Indexes

Early History

Puerto Rican criollos founded Guayanilla in 1830, but church records began in 1841. Its church is the Immaculada Concepcion Roman Catholic Church. The original name was Guadianilla, in memory of a river and town of the same name in Spain. However, it became known today as Guayanilla to resemble a native word in the Taíno language. Guayanilla is derived from a combination of Guaynia and Santa Maria de Guadianilla.

Personal Observations of Guayanilla

The town is on the southwestern coast, sandwiched between Yauco to the left, Adjuntas to the north, and Peñuelas to the right. It consists of 15 barrios. If you are having trouble advancing your research, think about researching the nearest towns to the Barrios where your family resided, unfortunately, except for Adjuntas, which is not available. Remember, our families relocated for work, but most times, they didn’t go too far from where they were born. Unfortunately, the terrain made it difficult to travel.

Guayanilla Baptisms

Baptism Books for Freed Pardos and the Enslaved

Book	Year	Image	Index	Notes
1A	1841-1847	122
2	1847-1850	311
5	1850-1859	560
6	1860-1870	631	Index	Enslaved only.

Baptism Books, Whites, and Pardos

Book	Year	Image	Index	Notes
1	1841-1850	6		Whites
2	1850-1854	393		Whites and Pardos. The book is labeled as book 4 for Whites.
7	1854-1861	760	Index	Whites and Pardos.
8	1861-1865	1024	Index	Whites and Pardos.
9	1865-1870	1362	Index	Whites and Pardos.

Baptisms For All Races

Book	Year	Image	Index	Notes
10	1869-1874	1698	Index
11	1874-1878	5	Index
12	1878-1882	343	Index
13	1882-1885	671	Index
14	1885-1889	911	Index
15	1889-1892	1225	Index
16	1892-1895	1561	Index
17	1895-1901	1899	Index
18	1901-1903	2284	See Below.	This book (18) continues below.
18	1903-1908	4	Index	A continuation of the above book.
19	1908-1913	371	Index
20	1913-1919	658	Index
21	1919-1925	1047	Index

Confirmations

Book	Year	Image
1	1850-1904	124
2	1904-1941	268

Marriages

Book	Year	Image	Index	Race/Notes
1	1841-1868	1334		For Whites
2	1841-1858	1377		Pardos, Enslaved, (Whites)
3	1858-1876	1556	Index
4	1876-1893	1772	Index	Although not indicated, it appears to be Whites and Pardos.
5	1893-1917	2087
5	1917	5	Index	This is a continuation of the above book.
6	1917-1927	52	Index

Burials

Unfortunately, these books do not have indexes, so you will have to go through them page by page. If anyone would like to volunteer, let me know.

Book	Year	Image	Index	Race/Notes
	1841-1852	1437-1661
	1852-1855	1664-1820
	1856-1866	1824-2122		Whites, Pardos, Enslaved
4	1866-1875	2125-2432
5	1875-1882	5-288
6	1882-1887	292-497
7	1887-1892	501-778
8	1892-1898	781-1085
9	1898-1901	1088-1331		See note below.