Translating old Spanish birth, baptism, marriage, death documents into English - Genealogy, ancestry, family tree - by Mary Cummins

spanish, mexican, english, genealogy, mary cummins, los angeles, california, birth, death, marriage, certificate, document

I'm going to translate an old Spanish baptism and civil birth document for the same person to show you how to find the information you need. Ancestry and other registries at best will give you the person's name, their mother and father and the baptism date. There is a lot more very valuable information in the actual document including the actual birth date, paternal grandparents, maternal grandparents, which relatives are alive or dead, godparents, professions, ages, witnesses, locations, name of church, name of priest... You just have to dig a little for it. You don't need to read Spanish but it helps. 

Below is first the Spanish then English of the civil birth registration document for my great uncle Luis Trinidad Rivera Baz born 1894 in Mexico. 

spanish, mexican, english, genealogy, mary cummins, los angeles, california, birth, death, marriage, certificate, document

SPANISH

376. Tres cientos setenta y seis. Rivera y Baz Luis Trinidad Manuel

En la ciudad de Mexico a las 10 diez y 30 trienta minutos de la manana del dia 17 dies y siete de Diciembre de 1899, mil ochocientos noventa y neuve, ante mi Weneslas Briceno Juez del Estado Civil comparecio el ciudadano Manuel Severo Rivera de Mexico de 24 viente y cinco anos casado profesor que vive en la calla de ... numero 2 dos, y presento vivo el nino Luis Trinidad Manuel que nacio en la casa numero 11 once de la Cerca de Santo Domingo el dia 1st primero de Mayo de 1894 mil ochocientos noventa y cuatro a la una de la tarde hijo legitimo de suyo y de su esposa la Senora Maria Trinidad Baz de Mexico de 32 trienta y dos anos vive con su esposo. El nino presentado es nieto por linea paterna de los finados y ciudadano Jose Maria Rivera y Senora Felipe de Jesus Guerrero y por la materna del ciudadanos Enrique Baz y de su viuda la finada esposa la Senora Maria Rosas de Mexico, abogado viven en Tacubaya Distrito Federal. Fueron testigos los ciudadanos Vicente Garcia y Felipe Perez de Mexico solteros comerciantes viven en la calle de San Miguel numero 7 siete el primer de trienta y uno anos y el segundo de 25 viente y cinco. Estan ratificacaron y firmararon, W Briceno = Manuel Rivera = M Garcia = Felipe Perez

ENGLISH

376. Three hundred seventy six. (last name) Rivera and Baz, (first name) Luis Trinidad Manuel

In the city of Mexico at 10:30 in the morning of December 17, 1899 before me Weneslas Briceno Judge of the Civil state met with, came citizen Manuel Severo Rivera of Mexico 24 years old married professor who lives on  the *** street number 2, who presented alive a male child Luis Trinidad Manuel who was born in the home number 11 the street Circa of Santo Domingo the first day of May 1894 one thousand eight hundred ninety four at 1:00 in the night legitimate male child of his and his wife Mrs. Maria Trinidad Baz of Mexico of 32 years who lives with her spouse. The male child presented is the grandson for the paternal line of dead citizen Jose Maria Rivera and Mrs Felipe de Jesus Guerrero and for the maternal of (living) citizen Enrique Baz and his dead wife Mrs. Maria Rosas of Mexico, an attorney who lives in Tacubaya in the Federal District. Witnesses/testifiers were Vicente Garcia and Felipe Perez of Mexico, single businessmen who live on San Miguel St number 7, the first 30 years old and the second 24 years. This is ratified and signed by W Briceno, Manuel Rivera, M Garcia and Felipe Perez. 

Below is first the Spanish then English of the church baptism document for my great uncle Luis Trinidad Rivera Baz born 1894 in Mexico. This one is short. Many are up to two pages long. Most of the longer text deals with the holy sacraments of baptism, matrimony, godparents spiritual obligations... I chose these two documents because they are very clear and legible. Most documents are very difficult to read because of the condition of the documents, poor scanning or just sloppy cursive handwriting. 

spanish, mexican, english, genealogy, mary cummins, los angeles, california, birth, death, marriage, certificate, document

287. Luis Trinidad Manuel Felipe Santiago. Molina de en Media. 

En la Parroquia de Santo Domingo, Mixcoac, a veinticinco de Agosto del ano de mil ochocientos noventa y cinco, yo el Presbitero Di Aristeo Aguilar encargado de esta Parroquia bautize solomente a un nino de tres meses vienticinco dias de nacido a quien se le puso por nombre Luis Trinidad Manuel Felipe Santiago, hijo legitimo de Manuel S. Rivera y de Maria Trinidad Baz vecinos del Molino de en Medio, fueron sus padrinos Angel Anguiano y Matilde Acevedo de Anguiano a quienese adverte su obligacio y parentereo espiritual, y para que consete firme. Dr. Auguila.

287. Luis Trinidad Manuel Felipe Santiago. Molina de en Media (old area in Mexico City).

In the parish of Santo Domingo (de Guzman), Mixcoac, (old city in the Federal District, Mexico which is now the Central District of Mexico or CDMX) the 25th of August of the year one thousand eight hundreds ninety five, I, the Presbitero (minister who gives religious rites) Di Aristeo Aguilar, in charge of this parish, solemnly baptize a male child of three months and 25 days upon whom the name is given Luis Trinidad Manuel Felipe Santiago (Rivera Baz), legitimate child of Manuel S. Rivera and Maria Trinidad Baz, citizens of Molino de en Medio. God parents are Angel Anguiano and Matilde Acevedo de Anguiano (most likely his wife) who take the obligation and spiritual guidance/kinship on the record. Dr. Auguila.

A good marriage or baptism document will list the paternal and maternal grandparents. It's generally written as "la linea paterna" or "materna" i.e. the "paternal or maternal line." It could also be written as "nieto de paterna de" i.e. grandson of the paternal..." I've even seen it written "abuelos paternos" i.e. paternal grandparents. 

The grandparents will generally be listed as "finido" i.e. dead, or "ya vive," they are still alive. You can then use the marriage, baptism dates to figure out when the grandparents died. It could be after 1877 or before 1901. This helps you pin down their death date. 

Sometimes the marriage documents list the ages of the parents and grandparents if they are alive. This helps you with their birth dates. You can see how the baptism of a child can give you lots of data for the parents and grandparents besides other relatives. Keep adding this data to your tree. Knowing someone died before 1855 will help you zone in on the date death making search easier and more targeted.

Another great thing is they generally list when the baby was born or how old the baby is in the baptism document. Generally it will say "un nino de tres dias," i.e. a male child of three days of age, or "haber nacido el dia catorce de Julio" i.e. was born the 14th of July or "nino nacio hoy" i.e. male child was born today. 

Back in the day healthy babies were baptized the same day they were born. Sometimes a very sick child would be rushed to be baptized in case he died so he wouldn't go to purgatory or hell. If a baby was just a little sick, they might wait a few days so they don't stress the baby. 

You should also note the witnesses and godparents on the documents. Link them to those people in your tree. Generally god parents were close family. You will see siblings, aunts, uncles and grandparents as the godparents. This gives you clues about when they were alive or dead. 

Death documents are another great resource. Most death docs list the parents and wife of the deceased. Sometimes you will see the children and other relatives in the death docs. This gives you information about other relatives. You can also see where they were buried. Generally families are buried in the same cemeteries. There are exceptions of course such as Panteon de Delores Civil. The cemetery has basically been oversold. You would need to have bought a plot in perpetuity before 1975 to be able to be buried there. If you look at the death docs, you will see different type of burial tickets. This is based on location and perpetuity. 

In later years they used pre-printed forms for marriage and death certificates. This made reading them much easier. Below are two death certificates and one marriage certificate forms with translations. You can click all the images to see much larger. With death certificates you may only see day of registration of death or buried. You need to read the document to see when they died, i.e. three days ago, on August 5...

Death certificates. Useful words:

Defuncion - death
Certificado - certificate
Medico - medical
Casado - married
Empleado - employee
Nacionalidad - nationality
Ocupacion - occupation, i.e. labores de hogar - housework ; agente de negocios - business agent ;
      ninguna - nothing
Origen - origen
Domicilio - home
Padres - parents
Conyuge - spouse
Emfermedad - illness
Dia y hora de la defunction - day and time of death
Lugar - location
Lugar de la inhumacion - place of burial
Medico que certifica - Doctor that certified death
Constar la defunction - cause of death
Son testigos de este acta - witnesses of this act
Departemento de salubridad - department of health
Fecha - date
Lugar - place
Causa de la muerte - cause of death
Declarantes - declarants
Testigos - witnesses
Firmas - signatures

Registro civil - civil registration
Fallecimiento - death
Finado - the dead person
Sexo - gender

Masculino - masculine
Feminino - feminine

spanish, mexican, english, genealogy, mary cummins, los angeles, california, birth, death, marriage, certificate, document

spanish, mexican, english, genealogy, mary cummins, los angeles, california, birth, death, marriage, certificate, document

spanish, mexican, english, genealogy, mary cummins, los angeles, california, birth, death, marriage, certificate, document

Marriage certificates. Useful words:

Acta de matrimono - act of matrimony, marriage

Comparecen ante mi - appeared before me
Oficial de registro civil - officer of civil registration
Documentos - documents
Del contrayente - male spouse, husband
De la contrayente - female spouse, wife

Estado civil - current civil state i.e. soltero/soltera - single, viudo/viuda - widowed,
      divorciado/divorciada - divorced

It's nice knowing where they were married or baptized. Then you can add a photo of the church to your tree. Below is a photo of the church named Santo Domingo where my great uncle was baptized. The old Mexican churches are beautiful.

spanish, mexican, english, genealogy, mary cummins, los angeles, california, birth, death, marriage, certificate, document

You don't need to know Spanish to translate these documents. You just need to recognize a few words that will give you the names, dates and places that you need. Below are some Spanish words that are important to know translating these documents. 

*I leave the accents off letters in my genealogy documents. Some programs search words with accents as if they didn't have an accent and some don't. You'll be able to search more and use auto complete more easily without accents. The accents are just for proper oral pronunciation. 

Numbers

1 - uno un una primero primera

2 - dos

3 - tres

4 - cuatro

5 - cinco

6 - seis

7 - siete

8 - ocho

9 - nueve

10 - diez

11 - once

12 - doce

13 - trece

14 - catorce

15 - quince

16 - dieciséis

17 - diecisiete

18 - dieciocho

19 - diecinueve

20 - veinte

21 - veintiuno

22 - veintidós

23 - veintitrés

24 - veinticuatro

25 - veinticinco

26 - veintiséis

27 - veintisiete

28 - veintiocho

29 - veintinueve

30 - treinta

31 - treinta y uno

32 - treinta y dos

33 - treinta y tres

40 - cuarenta

41 - cuarenta y uno

42 - cuarenta y dos

50 - cincuenta

60 - sesenta

70 - setenta

80 - ochenta

90 - noventa

100 - cien

101 - ciento uno

Years

1853 - mil ochocientos cincuenta y tres

1729 - mil sietecientos vientinueve

1st - primero(a)

2nd - segundo

3rd - tercero

4th - cuarto

5th - quinto

6th - sexto

7th - séptimo

8th - octavo

9th - nono, noveno

10th - décimo

11th - undécimo

12th - duodécimo

13th - décimotercero

14th - décimocuarto

15th - décimoquinto

16th - décimosexto

17th - décimoséptimo

18th - décimooctavo

19th - décimonono

20th - vigésimo

Days of the week

Monday - Lunes
Tuesday - Martes

Wednesday - Miercoles
Thursday - Jueves
Friday - Viernes
Saturday - Sabado
Sunday - Domingo

Months

January enero enro, eno

February febrero febo

March marzo mzo

April abril abl

May mayo

June junio

July julio

August agosto ago, agto

September septiembre septe, 7bre

October octubre ote, otue, octue, 8bre

November noviembre novbre, 9bre

December diciembre

Common Words

afternoon - tarde

archive archivo

baptism bautismo, bauticé, bautizado (a), bautismo, crisma

birth nacimiento, nació, nacido (a)

burial entierro, sepultura, entierrado (a), sepultado (a)

Catholic church Iglesia Católica

census censo, padrón

child niño (a), hijo (a), párvulo (a), expósito

christening See baptism

church records registros parroquiales

church - inglesia

civil registry Registro Civil

confirmation confirmación, crisma

day día 

death muerte, defunción, fallecimiento, óbito, muerto(a), difunto(a), fallecido(a)

father padre

godparents - padrinos

grandchild - nieto

husband esposo, marido, cónyuge

index índice

indigenous - indigena

marriage matrimonio, casamiento, casé, casado (a)
maternal materno

mes - month

military militar, ejército

month mes

morning mañana

mother madre

name, given nombre de pila, nombre de bautismo

name, surname nombre, apellido
night - noche

parents padres

parish parroquia

paternal paterno

spanish - espanol

today - hoy

week - semana

wife - esposa, marida, mujer, cónyuge

year - año

yesterday - ayer

Just found this resource. No need for me to complete this list. 

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Spanish_Genealogical_Word_List

If you get stuck, try Google translate here.

https://translate.google.com/

If you're searching for Spanish names, most don't realize "Fernandez del Castillo" is one name. Search for "Fernandez del Castillo," "Fernandez" and "Castillo" in that order. Ancestry.com is the worst when it comes to Spanish research. Names, dates are all effed up. They don't even try to put things in proper Spanish pattern. 

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Mary Cummins Genealogist at Geneanet and Geneastar
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