How do I get a marriage and a birth certificate from Monevideo, Uruguay?

Question

Hampered by the fact that I don't speak Spanish, I have been trying to find a way of ordering an old (mid 1800's) marriage and birth certificate from Montevideo, Uruguay. I have tried to find geneologists there, but without any success. E-mails to the U.S. Embassy go unanswered. LDS doesn't have these records. Any idea on who to contact?

Answer 1

I will check for a company that offer any kind of paperwork in Uruguay, they will do what you are asking to.

Sorry for my bad english.

I will post it tomorrow.

Answer 2

You're looking for something that wasn't kept. All records in the former Spanish lands were kept by the Catholic Church. My suggestion is to contact an Hispanic Cultural Center in your area and ask them if they have a volunteer who can transcribe a simple letter for you. Write the letter to the Archdiocese of Uruguay:

Official Web Site: http://www.arquidiocesis.net/

Mailing Address: Calle Treinta y Tres 1368, Casilla de Correo entral 356, 11000 Montevideo, Uruguay

Telephone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

What you want to ask is that the archivist of the Archdiocese help you locate the sacramental records for (name/date of birth). Explain that you are researching your family and are trying to find the baptismal, marriage and last rites sacramental records, the names of the parents and godparents, and the name of the parish where the sacramets were given.

Keep the letter short and sweet. Make sure you list each person individually and don't get generic with something like "I'd like all of the information on the Garcia family". Anything too broad won't be answered. Explain that if they can find the records, you will send an international money order to cover their costs and have a mass said at the family's parish in their honor. Dates are extremely helpful because they need to figure out which parishes were open when these people lived. Also, the records have no index and you can't just skim one page to see where the records are. The records were handwritten and are in order by the dates the sacraments were given...and each sacrament has its own book. So the more information you have on each person, the more success you'll get.

Once you get that generation's records, then you contact the parish and ask for the next generation. Keep going back until the parish runs out of records. Then ask them for the name of the parish that would have covered that area before them. It sounds tedious, but the Catholic Church in Spain and Spanish colonies kept meticulous records since the 13th century...and they never got hidden away or destroyed. Following Church records is a very effective research method with a high degree of accuracy.