How to Check the Status of Family in Puerto Rico

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Finding the Boondocks of Origin [edit | edit source]

In club to inquiry your family unit in Puerto Rico, it is essential that you lot have identified the place where they came from. Yous must know the urban center, town, or parish that they came from. it volition be hard to identify the identify of origin past going directly to dutch sources. Therefore, you will demand to search in U.s.a. (or other land of arrival) sources get-go.

Important Tips [edit | edit source]

Before you can begin to search in the records of Puerto Rico you must detect that i record that gives the name of his or her hometown. You must too know enough about the ancestor to positively place him in the records. Dates (even if they are judge), places, and familial connections are fundamental to helping you decide if a person y'all find, who has the same name as your antecedent, really is your ancestor.

Exercise you know the name of his/her parents?
Practice you know his/her birth, marriage, or expiry date or tin can y'all summate an approximate range of years to search for his/her nativity, union, or death?
Do you know the name of the spouse? Did they marry earlier or after coming to the Usa?
Practise yous know the names of any of his/her siblings?
Do you know the names of any children built-in in Puerto Rico?

Documents in the Home [edit | edit source]

Often the document you demand to pinpoint the identify of origin of your ancestor from Puerto Rico is already institute at dwelling house. These might include the following:

Nascence certificates
Marriage certificates or licenses
Death certificates
Obituaries
Funeral cards
Journals
Photographs
Letters
Family Bible
Naturalization papers
Citizenship papers
Armed services service records

Emigration Questions to Ask Relatives [edit | edit source]

Find the oldest living relatives that you tin can and ask them:

What practise you know almost our first ancestor to come up from Puerto Rico? (open up-ended)
Have you ever heard mention of towns in Puerto Rico where the family unit lived?
Practice you have contact with whatsoever relatives in Puerto Rico?
Practise you have contact with other branches of the family unit in the U.S.?
When _____________ came from Puerto Rico, did he travel with other family unit members?
Do you know when _________________ arrived and which port city?
Did _______________ever become a denizen?
Did_________________fight in World War I or Two?
When they first came, were there already family members here who they joined?
Did_______________ever mention their parents in Puerto Rico?
Were they Catholic?
Do y'all take any old letters or postcards from your Puerto Rico family unit?
Exercise you have any pictures of family members in Puerto Rico?

Search Genealogies Compiled past Others [edit | edit source]

Collecting Previous Enquiry by Others Part Two: Online Family unit Tree Collections
Collecting Previous Research by Others Part 3: Digitized Books
Collecting Previous Research by Others Role 4: FamilySearch Wiki Tools

Puerto Rico Records [edit | edit source]

Ceremonious Registration [edit | edit source]

Puerto Rico, Civil Registration, 1805-2001 - at FamilySearch. Fractional index, images, incomplete.

Births, marriages, deaths, indexes and other records created past civil registration offices in Puerto Rico. Some records may date prior to 1885 equally a few municipalities began civil registration before that engagement. Some of these records accept been indexed and are searchable every bit office of this collection.

Many names will be very common, so be conscientious almost accepting the first entry with the same proper noun. Look for other facts that bear witness the identity--the same birthdate of birthplace, the same parents, et.
If you don't see a keen match, don't accept a partial match. The exact record you demand may not have been indexed however.
If you know the town, you tin browse the actual images to discover the record, if it has non been indexed yet.

Example: Here is the information, both the index entry and the original record. The original record will requite more information, notably here the father's and grandfathers' names.

U.S. Census of Puerto Rico [edit | edit source]

At that place are indexed U. S. census records for Puerto Rico online from 1900 to 1940. The 1900 census, nevertheless, only lists U.South. military servicemen. If your ancestors were living in Puerto Rico during this fourth dimension, find them in every possible census. Y'all will thus place the exact boondocks they lived in at that time.

Censuses tin be accessed online. Links to both free and subscription websites are plant at United states Census Online Genealogy Records.

Example: This census entry for Maria Elena Cruz gives also her parents' names(Fernando Cruz and Guiliermina Rivera), and ii of her sisters (Hortensia and Alexandrina). It shows that in 1921 the family was living in Hato Puerco, Loiza, Puerto Rico.

Records to Search Created in the United States [edit | edit source]

Vital Records [edit | edit source]

Vital records, or civil birth, spousal relationship, and decease records document important events in an ancestor'due south life. Many states have posted statewide indexes on the Cyberspace. Understand that whatever birth, spousal relationship, or expiry certificate gives information near other people also the primary person it is about

1. It is important to remember that a nascency certificate for a child might tell it's parents' birthplaces.
ii. Marriage certificates might proper name birth dates and places of the bride and groom. They might also give the names and nascence places of the parents of the bride and groom.
3. Death certificates are very of import. Birth and union certificates might not take kept by a state during the earlier years of your antecedent's life. There is a greater chance that your ancestor died after detailed record-keeping began. Death certificates frequently country nascence appointment and identify. They also state the names of parents and their nascency places.

Mainland U.S. Records [edit | edit source]

In that location are wiki articles giving details on how to find vital records of each land.

You can select the land of interest and the record (birth, marriage, or death) from this list: How-To Articles.
Many records may be online. See U.S. Online Genealogy Records by State, for online vital tape databases.

Example: This death tape shows the birthdate, the Puerto Rico birthplace, and the parents' names of the deceased:

Example: This marriage record gives the Puerto Rico birthplace of the groom, the names of his parents, and their Puerto Rico birthplace.

Cemetery Records [edit | edit source]

Websites such as FindAGrave and Billion Graves are making it easier to go data from headstones, which frequently requite birth dates, and occasionally give nascency places. Each state has additional collections of cemetery records. See U.Southward. Online Genealogy Records past State for links to other online cemetery records. Every state besides has a Cemetery topic page you can search, for instance, California Cemeteries, Washington Cemeteries. etc.

Example: This FindAGrave record gives the Puerto Rico birth date and place. The attached obituary names his wife and children.

Obituaries [edit | edit source]

Obituaries are an excellent source of biographical information about immigrants. In addition to names and death dates, yous can learn well-nigh surviving family members, church building affiliations, spouses, parents, occupations, burying places, and hometowns in the one-time country. Even if a identify of origin is non given, an obituary may provide additional research clues, such as the appointment or ship of clearing or traveling companions. Much of this information cannot be found in other sources. For many immigrants, an obituary is the but "biographical sketch" always written almost them. See U.S. Online Genealogy Records by State for links to online obituary collections. If the boondocks of death is known, Google newspapers in that town and contact them to meet if they kept archives of their obituaries.

U.Due south. Obituary Drove, 1930-2017
U.S. Online Genealogy Records by State
ObitsIndex, Puerto Rico

Case

[edit | edit source]

The application for the Social Security carte du jour may besides contain a boondocks of birth. These records are bachelor for deceased individuals who died after 1935 when Social Security began.
- United states of america Social Security Expiry Index
- U.Due south., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ($)
- U.Southward., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, Incomplete, ($).
The Social Security Applications and Claims Index does non cover every application--it has sort of an eclectic mix of what got included. If you find your ancestor in the Social Security Death Index but not in the Social Security Applications and Claims Index, you lot can send abroad for a re-create of the application.

Instance

Armed services Records [edit | edit source]

Draft records for World War I and II ask for birth place, which can be listed as but Puerto Rico or in greater detail.

U.S. WW I Typhoon Registration Cards, 1917-1918 Alphabetize and images.
U.S. WW I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 Indexes and images. ($)
U.Due south., Globe War Two Draft Registration Cards, 1942, ($), index and images
U.s., World War 2 Draft Registration Cards, 1942 Images with partial alphabetize.
U.Southward., Conflicting Draft Registrations, Selected States, 1940-1946,($), index and images.

Example: World War I Draft Registration:

Example: World War Ii Draft Registration:

Passport Applications [edit | edit source]

U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925, ($), alphabetize and images

Example: This passport application gives the birthdate, the Puerto Rico birthplace, the begetter'southward name, and the father'south birthplace.