Hispanic Genealogy Research 2026
This is an article I wrote in 2024, and I wanted to update it because Hispanic Genealogy Research in 2026 is so much easier and better!
Since 2024, FamilySearch has added the Full Text Search Option to see records on the internet that have not been fully "indexed." When a website or document is "indexed" it that means that a search engine or bot has scanned it and
has saved what kind of content it has in it.
When you type a question in Google or any other search engine, after a few seconds a list of websites or answers shows up for you to choose from out of the sites they have stored. Incidentally, this is why you such include the most important (key) words in "quotation marks" so those are the answers that come up first.
You can scan hand written documents and photos at FamilySearch for FREE in Spanish, Portuguese, and English by searching IN ENGLISH. Ancestry's full text search will also do Spanish, but you have to enter the exact word in Spanish that you want to find.
Flashback to 2024 begins now!
Happy National Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15 - October 15! For the last few weeks I have been doing genealogy research on two families of Hispanic descent. What are the odds of this?
One person is just starting out on their genealogy research and the second is diving back in after a few years off to see what new information might exist online for his family from Spain.
If you are lucky enough to be descended from family in Spain or Mexico, you will find that there are extensive family histories included on birth and marriage registrations. Some of these records are indexed as far as parents go on sites like Ancestry, but if you know Spanish you can learn even more! Below you can see the green dots for recording date (19th of April 1891!) father's name and age, birth date and time, the child's name, and then the mother's name and age.
The full record goes on to add that this was a legitimate birth, the couple's parents (including that both fathers were deceased), and which town the family lived in.
That handwriting is not too bad to read! However, if you go back to the 1500's, it's a whole different ballgame! This is picture of the page of permissions issued by the Spanish government to go to "The Indies" in 1562. You should be able to click on the image and zoom in on it a little more if you like!
If I am to keep on looking at documents this old I think I am going to have to look into the AI programs that translate really old script writing in Spanish!
Back to 2026 now!
Fall started this week, time to break out that pumpkin spice!
How's your genealogy research coming? I'd love to help! Send me an email for a free tree/brick wall evaluation.
Cozy regards,
Leslie Ryan
“World peace must develop from inner peace. Peace is not just mere absence of violence. Peace is, I think, the manifestation of human compassion.” ― Dalai Lama XIV
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