The document provides guidance on researching Hispanic ancestry through U.S. records by starting with family interviews, pedigree charts, and sources within the home, then discusses common countries of origin, immigration trends, and recommended genealogical databases and record types to explore such as census, vital, military, and naturalization documents before searching records in countries of origin. Naturalization records, Spanish naming conventions, and the history of Spanish colonization in the Americas are also overviewed.

1. Hispanic-American Genealogy
Finding your Hispanic/Latino
Ancestors in U.S. Records.
Presented by Elaine Hayes
Laramie County Library System
Cheyenne, WY
February 2014

2. How do I start searching
for my ancestors?
• Talk to relatives to get as much first hand
information as possible.
• Use sources that may already be in your own
home or the home of a relative.
• Start with yourself and work backwards in time.
• Record the information you find on pedigree
charts and family group sheets and/or in a
genealogy computer program.
• Find all the information you can in U.S. records
before you try to find information/records in
the country of origin.

3. Recording the Information
• Paper forms may be found at:
– www.cyndislist.com/supplies.htm
– www.laramiecountylibrary.org/specialcollections/gettingst
arted
– www.familytreemagazine.com/FREEFORMS
• Free genealogy software can be found at:
– Legacy Family Tree – Standard edition
www.legacyfamilytree.com
– Gramps gramps-project.org
– Family Tree Legends www.familytreelegends.com

4. Hispanic/Latino Countries of Origin

5. Common History of Colonization
• Fifteen century Spanish explorers discovered what we
know today as Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and
Haiti. In the following years, Spanish culture spread
from Mexico to Central and South America, and over
what is now the southwest United States. Early
Spanish settlements were established in what
became Florida, New Mexico and California.
• The term Mestizos represents intermarriage of
Spaniards and indigenous.
• Conquistadores claimed treasures for the Spanish
crown and brought Catholic missionaries to forcibly
convert indigenous inhabitants. Some indigenous
populations became extinct during this period.

6. Reasons for Immigration into the US
• Immigration to the United States can be understood in
terms of pull and push factors.
• Pull Factors:
• Higher living standards
• Push Factors:
• Shortage of jobs, unemployment, low wages, poverty
• Political conflicts, wars
• Violation of human rights, corruption, high crime indices
• Insufficient lands (especially in Central American countries)
• Chain Migration: Those who migrated first would help their
family and friends come to US, who would then help others,
and so on.

7. Hispanic/Latino American
Immigration History
• 1521-Cortes destroys Aztec city of Tenochtitlan
• 1840s-Texas Annexation and Mexican Cession
• 1859-Cubans find employment in Cuban cigar factories in U.S. (FL, LA, NY)
• 1880s-Latinos immigrate to the U.S. to help build railroads
• 1910-Mexican Revolution causes immigration to Southwestern U.S.
• 1917-Latino farmers, railroad laborers & miners allowed to enter U.S. for temporary
work
• 1921-Limits on number of immigrants allowed to enter the United States each year
are imposed
• 1925-Congress creates Border Patrol to stop illegal immigration
• 1930s-Great Depression in U.S. causes sharp decline in Immigration of all ethnic
groups.
• 1942 to 1964-Farm Labor Supply Program brings 350,000 Mexicans into the U.S.
each year
• 1954 to 1958-U.S. government deports undocumented Mexican workers (thousands
of U.S. citizens with Mexican heritage also arrested and detained)
• 1959-Cubans migrate to U.S. after Fidel Castro assumes power in Cuba
• 2012-U.S. Hispanic population at 53 million

8. Growth of U.S. territory
after Mexican-American War

9. Requirements to jump into records
of country of origin:
• Full name of ancestor
• Name of town and country
• Approximate date(s) of birth, marriage or
death.
• Enough information to identify the ancestor
such as:
– Parent’s names
– Spouse’s name
– Children’s names
Do all your research as far back as you can go in
the US first!

10. Sources that may indicate
place of origin:
• Birth, marriage or death certificates (vital records).
• Obituaries and cemetery/burial records
• Journals, diaries, letters, family lore
• Photographs
• Family Bibles or other family history information.
• Immigration, naturalization or citizenship papers.
• Military records.
• Many of these sources may already be in your
home or the home of a relative.

11. Naturalization Records
• Very helpful in finding place of origin.
• Ancestry.com, Ancestry Library Edition
and FamilySearch.org are good sources of
Naturalization Records.
• Or you may need to contact the U.S.
National Archives (pre 1906) or the U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Service (post
1906).

12. Good places to start looking
for this information:
• Ancestry.com and Ancestry Library Edition.
• Heritage Quest (search from home through LCLS
library website).
• FamilySearch.org
• US GenWeb
• Findagrave.com
• www.archives.gov U.S. National Archives
• See other websites in handouts
• You may also need to contact county or state
archives, Catholic Church diocese offices, etc. to
order vital records. This is usually NOT free.

13. More about remote access to LCLS
Genealogy Resources
• Go to the Laramie County Library website at
www.laramiecountylibrary.org. Click on the
WYLD catalog.
• Click on Genealogy under GoWYLD. You can
search the Heritage Quest database from
home.
• Enter your library card number, just the
number (no letters, no spaces) and your PIN.
The default PIN is wyld.

14. Spanish Surnames
• “Double” Surnames (Apellidos)
– Example Gabriel García Marquez
– García is from his fathers family; Marquez is his
mother’s father’s family.
– Sometimes they are hyphenated or reversed.
• Women’s surnames
– Traditionally if Maria Padilla Falto marries Manual
Pérez Quiñones she becomes Maria Padilla Perez.
But she may choose in the U.S. to be known as
Maria Perez (or any other variation of her choice).

15. Study history
• Knowing the history of the places that
your ancestor lived will help you find
clues and put their lives in context.

16. Ancestry Library Edition
• The library version of Ancestry.com. Which
you would have to pay for to access at home.
• Largest genealogy database. Consists of
scanned original vital records, census reports,
published information, etc. from all over the
world.
• You must be in the library building to search
Ancestry Library Edition.

23. • Examples of Ancestry Searches here

33. Don’t Forget to Just “Google it”
• Use all the resources of the Internet to find more
about your family. There are thousands of
websites about family history and many
thousands of genealogists posting family trees,
hints, queries, etc. Be creative!
• Be wary of incorrect information. Double check
everything, try to find the original source of the
information. Check references.
• Find a favorite search engine. I use
www.google.com and mocavo.com is genealogy
specific.

38. FamilySearch.org
• The LDS (Mormon) church’s genealogy
website.
• Another huge genealogy website with
scanned original documents, vital
records, census, and family histories from
families worldwide.
• You must register to search but access is
completely free.

44. • Examples of FamilySearch Searches here.

49. Hispanic Genealogy Websites
Colorado Society of Hispanic Genealogy www.hispanicgen.org
Hispanic Genealogical Research Center of New Mexico www.hgrc-nm.org
Hispanic Genealogical Society of Houston www.hispanicgs.org
Hispanic Genealogical Society of New York www.hispanicgenealogy.com
Library of Congress Hispanic Reading Room www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic
Mexican Genealogy http://mexicangenealogy.info
New Mexico Ancestors www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nma
Somos Primos www.somosprimos.com
Nuestros Ranchos: the genealogy of Jalisco, Zacatecas and Aguascalientes,
Mexico www.nuestrosranchos.com

50. www.uscis.gov/genealogy

52. Genealogy Research in Spain
WorldGenWeb –Spain
www.genealogia-es.com
Spanish Genealogy Association
www.hispagen.org
Archives of Spain
en.www.mcu.es/archivos/MC/AGI/index.html
Translation? Try translate.google.com.

53. Special Collections at LCLS
• The Genealogy Room (3rd Floor) is open:
– Monday – Thursday
• 10:00 to 9:00
– Friday –Saturday
• 10:00 to 6:00
– Sundays
• 1:00-5:00
• If no volunteer or staff person is available, ask for
help at the 3rd Floor “Ask Here” Desk.