Locating Those Non-Searchable Browsable-Only Digitized Mexico Records on FamilySearch

Last week I explained why you shouldn’t give up if you don’t find records pertaining to your Mexican ancestors when using the Search feature on FamilySearch. It is very likely that those particular records just have not yet been indexed and made searchable. This requires that you get your elbows dirty by rolling up your sleeves and digging in to the actual digitized collections-browsing image-by-image, page-by-page, like we still have to do when using microfilm.

This post demonstrates how to quickly and directly find the digitized collections available online for your Mexican ancestors’ home state(s).

Step One: From the FamilySearch home page, or any web page on their site, click on the Search menu link at the top of the website.

Step Two: From the Search menu, select the Records option. These two links actually go to the same exact page, so you can bypass this two-step process by hovering over the Search menu and simply clicking on the Records option.

Step Three: Once on the main Search page, ignore the actual Search Historical Records feature on the left side of the page. This is due to what I discussed in my last post…not all of the digitized Mexico records collections on FamilySearch are indexed and searchable. Instead, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click on the link to Browse All Published Collections.

Step Four: That Browse All link will bring up a page that filters on a list of all available FamilySearch record collections. Look in the left sidebar for the Place menu, and select Mexico from that list of geographic collections.

Step Five: This filters on all Mexico collections available on FamilySearch. Now choose a particular state, or the Federal District, from the Place menu in the left sidebar.

Step Six: This example displays the digitized collections available for my ancestral state, the state of San Luis Potosí. You will see whichever state, or the federal district, you selected. From here, access the type of records that you want to browse.

Upcoming blog posts will explain Mexico Catholic church records and civil registrations: their significance, typical information reported, how to find records for a specific locality, and how to navigate around within the record collections.

Research Tip
Mexican Genealogy Research Methodology

Follow my personal family history blog at  www.cjroots.com to see working examples of my methodology and strategies.

My father—despite being raised by his Mexican-immigrant grandmother—never knew anything about his family history, other than that his father's family came from the State of San Luis Potosí and fled to the U.S. during the violent Mexican Revolution. For 13 years, I tried and failed to trace his lines back to Mexico. In early 2015, I started busting down those brick walls, and have continued to experience a landslide of success.