Using Marriage Dispensations to Find Ancestors in Mexico

Many families in Mexico and beyond descend from the first Spanish conquerors and settlers of New Spain. This webinar will guide you through key sources and strategies to identify conquistador ancestors in the 1500s. Learn how to navigate both Spanish and colonial archives, and to connect names across centuries from books, contemporary chronicles, petitions to the Spanish government, and more.

Overview of the history of the Guadalajara archdiocese and its changing boundaries, which impact research throughout many regions of Mexico. We will also review the collections held by the Archdiocese archives and what is available online and in-person.

This presentation uncovers the genealogical treasures hidden within Spanish colonial wills and testaments. Far more than simple legal documents, these records provide rare insights into family relationships, inheritance patterns, and extended kinship networks that shaped colonial communities. Detailed inventories of clothing, household goods, livestock, and personal possessions offer intimate glimpses into the daily lives of our colonial ancestors — revealing their values, cultural traditions, devotion to faith, and resilience on the far edges of the Spanish frontier. Attendees will also learn where to locate these records, how to analyze their contents, and effective strategies for integrating them into personal research to build richer, more accurate family histories.

Los mapas históricos son herramientas indispensables para comprender el contexto en el que vivieron nuestros antepasados. Este webinar ofrecerá una introducción clara y práctica al uso de la cartografía mexicana—desde la época colonial hasta el siglo XX—como apoyo para la investigación genealógica. Se presentarán distintos tipos de mapas, incluyendo cartas topográficas, mapas municipales, planos de haciendas y ciudades, mapas censales, delimitaciones de pueblos de indios y documentos agrarios del periodo posrevolucionario. A través de ejemplos reales, los asistentes aprenderán a identificar cambios en nombres de localidades, límites jurisdiccionales y estructuras territoriales que frecuentemente complican la búsqueda de registros. Además, se mostrarán recursos digitales y archivos mexicanos que conservan colecciones cartográficas de acceso público.

Listen to the powerful and fascinating story of Mexican revolutionaries as we examine records from both sides of the border to trace the movements (and confirm the identity) of Ramón Treviño, who was surveilled by Mexican and U.S. authorities in the lead-up to the revolution.

Karen will illustrate the genetic confirmation of a Mexican ancestral line that goes back four generations to a small town in Guanajuato, Mexico. Integration of evidence from DNA tests and original records meets the Genealogical Proof Standard. Lecture in English using Mexican records.

The documents found in the U.S. border crossing record collections are packed with valuable information often missed when researching Mexican immigrants. This webinar covers historical legal context pertaining to record keeping at the Mexican border, examines the most common types of documents in these collections, and highlights situations specific to researching Mexican families. Learn how to decipher clues found in these records that lead to other important immigration records and how to obtain those.