Introduction - Gurulé Family 2024

Introduction

This page describes all the links that are located under the “Vital Records” tab on the dropdown menu. Where did these records come from?

Background: Church records are the best source of information for researching your ancestors. Colorado did not start keeping vital records until 1900, California in 1905, and New Mexico not until 1920. In order to research further back, you’ll need to rely on church records.

The majority of the early Gurulé families were Catholic, and then by the late 1800’s, other Gurulé records are found in the Presbyterian Church. The churches kept records documenting births, marriages, and deaths. The church priests wrote the early records in Spanish and sometimes Latin. The priests were familiar with the geography of the area. However, not all churches had a priest, and often a priest would travel from one parish to another and then perform the baptism and marriage ceremonies all within a few days while at the visited town. The priest was then supposed to go back and ensure the records were posted in the right parish. Unfortunately, this did not always happen.

BAPTISMS – MARRIAGES – DEATH RECORDS

BAPTISMS – This link contains many of the Gurulé baptism records, but not all by any means, and they’re from both the Catholic church and the Presbyterian church.

MARRIAGES – This link contains many of the Gurulé marriage records, but not all by any means, and they’re from both the Catholic church and the Presbyterian church. Along with the couple and their parents, other valuable information (such as where they were living, previous spouses and adoption notes) can be found in the marriage records. Researchers should also use the NM ROOTS link when researching marriages.

DEATH RECORDS – This link contains death records from various sources.

CENSUS RECORDS –This link contains all Gurulé families that appeared in census records, starting with the first Spanish and Mexican census of 1750 and the last federal census in 1940. View the below link to find out what kind of information was extracted whenever a census was taken.

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/United_States_Census_Forms

Note: The next census, for the 1950 families, will be released in 2022. The website will be updated at that time.

SOURCE MATERIAL – This link contains information about the microfilms and published books used to research the Gurulé families.

Microfilms – With today’s technology, you can now view many of the original church records on-line, and for free! You will need to join www.FamilySearch.org to access the records. How do you know what film has the record you need?

The New Mexico Genealogical Society (NMGS) provides a great tool “Finding Aids for Church Records” which is sorted by county (New Mexico and Colorado) and then identifies all the churches within that county that had their records microfilmed. NMGS also provided live links in the document, so you can go to the microfilm once you find the church you need.

Published Books – Thanks to many volunteers over the years, many books have been published. These volunteers have worked hard to extract records from the microfilms, and then make indexes and publish.

Books – New Mexico Genealogical Society

https://www.nmgs.org/amazon-book-list

Books – Hispanic Genealogical Research Center of New Mexico

https://www.hgrc-nm.org/store.html

NM ROOTS – Published by Fray Angelico Chavez, these are prenuptial investigations (aka "Diligencias Matrimoniales") of the Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. These records cover the years 1678–1869 and only people with the Gurulé surname were extracted.

NMGS also provides a link to Fray Angelico Chavez’ documents, along with the Durango marriage investigations. Visit Marriage & Prenuptial Investigations

OTHER RECORDS – This page contains a variety of Gurulé records found, from WWI Civilian draft registrations, to pioneers of the Santa Fe Trail, etc.