Out Of Stock! Do Not Order!------------------------------- Finding Your Mexican Ancestors: A Beginner's Guide, by George and Peggy Ryskamp; 224 pg; Paperback; 8.5x11; ISBN: 1-593313-07-1; 2007; Item TP071

Finding Your Mexican Ancestors is essential to any researcher looking to trace their heritage across the Rio Grande. In it, authors George and Peggy Ryskamp show how easy Mexican American research can be by providing detailed descriptions of parish records, civil records, and other types of records common in Mexico.

This book makes it clear that Mexicans kept very good records, and outlines where to find such resources, and how to use them. In addition, it provides a basic introduction to the Spanish vocabulary researchers are likely to encounter in their research, and includes useful Mexican historical and geographical context as well.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Notes
• 1. Getting Started: Home, Family, and Internet Searches
• The Home Search
• Talk to Family Members
• Internet Searches
• What Next?
• 2. Finding and Working with Mexican Records
• The Family History Library Catalog
• No Matching Places found
• Working with Mexican Records
• Reading Spanish-Language Documents
• 3. Civil Registration Records
• Indexes
• Civil Registration Birth Records
• The Civil Registration Marriage Process
• Civil Registration Death Records
• 4. Parish Records
• Reading Parish Records
• Parish Record Format
• Parish Baptismal Records
• Parish Confirmation Records
• Parish Marriage Records
• Parish Death Records
• Parish Research Using the International Genealogical Index and Mexican Vital Records Index
• Notes
• 5. Finding the Place in Mexico
• Political Division of Mexico
• Catholic Church Divisions
• Historical Changes
• Looking for Jurisdictional Information in the FHLC
• Geographical Dictionaries, Atlases, and Gazetteers
• Church Guides and Directories
• Where Do I Go from Here?
• Notes
• 6. Beyond the Parish: Church and Government Records
• Archives: The Place to Find Original Records
• Records Types Within Mexican Archives
• Notes
• 7. Beyond the Parish: Notarial Records
• Organization, Indexing, and Formatting of Protocolos
• Where Can I Find Notarial Documents?
• Notes
• 8. Searching For Your Mexican Surnames
• Searching for Individuals
• Searching for Family Histories and Biographies Online
• Searching for Histories or Description of Your Surname and Its Origin
• 9. Searching For Your Ancestors in United States Records
• Border Crossing Records
• United States Federal Censuses
• Social Security Records
• World War I Military Draft Registration
• Alien Registrations of 1940
• Military Service Records
• Railroad Pension Records
• Catholic Church Parish Records in the United States
• Untied States Vital Registration Records
• Other United States Record Sources
• Notes
• 10. Research in Mexican Colonial Records
• Mexican Colonial Records and Jurisdictions
• Catholic Church Records
• Using Government Records
• Civil Legal Documents
• Military Records
• Race in Colonial Times
• Locating Other Colonial Records of Genealogical Value
• Notes
• Appendix A: Glossary
• Appendix B: Timeline of Mexican History
• Appendix C: Research Forms
• Research Log
• Appendix D: Archives of the State of Mexico
• Appendix E: Researching in the Archivo General de la Nacion From the United States
• Published Indexes
• Appendix F: Internet Sites for Mexican Genealogy
• General Hispanic Genealogy Websites
• General Archives and History Websites
• Mexican and Mexican American Websites
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Authors

"Finding Your Mexican Ancestors" Book Review

More Books by Ryskamp:

• Finding Your Hispanic Roots

More Books on Mexico:

• Mexican-American Genealogical Research
• Hispanic Surnames and Family History