FamilySearch update about upcoming records (Latin America)
FamilySearch says; “Fill in blanks in your family tree this week on FamilySearch with over 300,000 new, searchable, indexed records from the United States Bureau of Land Management Tract Books (1800 – 1955) and expanded archives for Benin, Chili, France, Mexico, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, S Africa, and Ukraine.
Review additional United States records from Florida, Kentucky, New York, and Virginia. Follow the links below to begin searching for these new records.”
Familysearch September 12, 2022
Researching your Ancestors on FamilySearch (Latin America)
Latin American records are available online. FamilySearch has been instrumental in my research, as I am sure it has been for all of us. As a Genealogist and Historical Researcher for over 30 years, locating my ancestor’s documents was easier than I initially thought. Although my focus was always on Puerto Rico, I never discounted where someone’s ancestors may have been at one point before entering the island of Puerto Rico. Remember, only your indigenous ancestors were here first. African ancestors were brought over in the slave trade, and Europeans arrived here in the last 500 years. Many of us can trace our ancestors to the late 1600s, and a few fortunate ones can trace their lines even further.
I know this too well when investigating one line that took me from Puerto Rico to France to Venezuela and its final origin in Spain. When researching, you need to think outside of the box. It’s not just going to one town and looking at civil and church records. It would help if you focused on the surrounding towns and those other areas you never imagined.
There are many records available to researchers. Records include wills, tax records, land records, marriage contracts, newspapers of the time, government documents, research papers, articles, historical books, etc. Don’t just rely on the parish or civil records. It is also imperative that you research siblings. Doing so will assist you in breaking down brick walls.
Latin American Countries Indexed
Below are records from Latin Countries that FamilySearch indexed and available online for free. Some of these films have been recently indexed. In addition, there are some new records available to researchers.