By CarolGalvan |

Hello Everyone! I have a couple of questions. First, is it possible for babies not to be baptised? I'm looking everywhere for my 4x & 5x grandfathers, with approxmiate dates of 1787 and 1807. Up to that point, all births in my family are in the Aquascalientes area. I've searched all the records in Aquas., and I'm well into the Zacateca records. Their names are found on marriage records but that's all I've been able to find. Secondly, when the church records "no conocidos" are written, I am assuming the baby is illegitimate and godparents will raise the child, or is he/she given to an orphanage? Thanks in advance. I've learned a lot from this website. Carol

victorianonavarro (not verified)

13 years 2 months ago

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I have seen civil and religious records form Oaxaca in the late 1800's in which I believe the parents were not married and the children were registered as from "padres no conocidos" (although the child was actually brought by the father), or it has only the name of the mother and the father appears as "no conocido" even though apparently their parents actually raised them. I figured this out when for one of the siblings I found her baptism with "padres no conocidos", yet in her civil birth and later in her marriage she registered with both parents. I think in some cities they preferred to list the parents as "no conocidos" rather than accepting they were not married. This makes it very difficult to search further back on those lines.

Victoriano Navarro

Victoriano,

 

Do you know if married couples were given a duplicate copy of their marriage record?

 

Then when baptizing their children was it required to show proof of their marriage, in order for the child to be registered as "hijo legitima" ?

 

Pat Silva Corbera

Tracy CA

 

 

 
----- Original Message -----
From: mnavarrovillalobos@yahoo.com.mx
To: research@lists.nuestrosranchos.org
Sent: Friday, February 24, 2012 10:03:51 AM
Subject: [Nuestros Ranchos] "padres no conocidos"

I have seen civil and religious records form Oaxaca in the late 1800's in which I believe the parents were not married and the children were registered as from "padres no conocidos" (although the child was actually brought by the father), or it has only the name of the mother and the father appears as "no conocido" even though apparently their parents actually raised them. I figured this out when for one of the siblings I found her baptism with "padres no conocidos", yet in her civil birth and later in her marriage she registered with both parents. I think in some cities they preferred to list the parents as "no conocidos" rather than accepting they were not married. This makes it very difficult to search further back on those lines.

Victoriano Navarro

Hi Pat,
I don't know if couples were given a copy of their wedding certificate nor if they had to show it when baptizing a child. I have never seen a baptism record where they mention such proof was shown.

Hi Paul,
Indeed, by searching for siblings you may find missing information in other records, like names of grandparents or the "casta" of the parents. I've found several connections this way.

Best regards,

Victoriano Navarro

You point out the importance of siblings in our family research. Importantly, too, is maternal research. Both can help us get beyond "walls".

Paul J. Gomez

Sent from my iPhone
paul.gomez@verizon.net

On Feb 24, 2012, at 10:03 AM, mnavarrovillalobos@yahoo.com.mx wrote:

> I have seen civil and religious records form Oaxaca in the late 1800's in which I believe the parents were not married and the children were registered as from "padres no conocidos" (although the child was actually brought by the father), or it has only the name of the mother and the father appears as "no conocido" even though apparently their parents actually raised them. I figured this out when for one of the siblings I found her baptism with "padres no conocidos", yet in her civil birth and later in her marriage she registered with both parents. I think in some cities they preferred to list the parents as "no conocidos" rather than accepting they were not married. This makes it very difficult to search further back on those lines.
>
> Victoriano Navarro

Yes, it's possible. Very early death or being non-Catholic (unlikely in early Mexico. However, If they died at childbirth, you wouldn't have grandfathers. More than likely they were baptised later in life or elswhere from their birth place. My GGPs were married in the Catholic Church in 1866 in Huejucar, Mexico. Even though their parents and older and younger siblings were baptised there, I've never been able to find my GGPs baptism record. I even tried all the other Catholic Church records within a 100-mile radius. I suspect that perhaps those specific birth years the Church Records were lost oe destroyed.

Jose Carlos de Leon

Genealogy Research