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New Mexico Public Records
| How
To Search Public and Vital Records -
Vital records are records of life events important enough that
some level of government acquires, organizes, and preserves
them. While the term "vital records" is often applied
to a wide variety of life events... Read
more |
New Mexico Vital Records
Statewide vital records registration officially began in 1920, although
there are some records as early as 1889. Births and deaths are now
housed at the Bureau of Vital Records, while marriages have always
been the responsibility of the county clerk.
For birth and death records from 1889 to the present, write:
New Mexico Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Records & Health
Statistics, 1190 St. Francis Drive, P.O. Box 26110, Santa Fe, NM 87504-6110
For marriage records from early to present, write to the clerk of
the county in question
New Mexico Land Records
New Mexico is a federal-land state. Lands were generally acquired
from the Spanish or Mexican governments, the federal government,
or from other individuals. The New Mexico State Records Center and
Archives has large holdings of land records dating back to 1693.
Spanish land grants date from that time and continue to 1821. Mexican
land holdings begin in 1821 and go to 1845. These original records
are in Spanish but some have been transcribed. Case files for most
private land claims (the settling of property ownership by the government
of the United States for lands previously acquired under a different
sovereign) are housed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
Information regarding homestead lands and other acquisitions from
the federal government for New Mexico is located at the Bureau of
Land Management, Department of the Interior, Field Office, South
Federal Place, P.O. Box 1449, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-1449.
For transactions between individuals, consult the local county recorder's
office. There are deed books from 1850 to 1912 for most of the counties.
There are also numerous mining deeds from 1850 to 1920. Both sets
of deeds are indexed. For further information about land and property,
consult:
Hone, E. Wade. Land and Property Research in the United States.
Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1997.
New Mexico Court Records
Court records include probate records (which include wills), guardianship,
naturalization, and a wide variety of other sources, ranging from
criminal trials to simple road orders. All contain information about
individuals within the area. It should be remembered that there
are different levels of jurisdiction for courts in the United States,
all of which should be considered for research under various circumstances.
Court of Common Pleas, Orphan's Court, Probate Court, District Court,
Superior Court, Supreme Court, and other titles are among those
encountered. To study more about court records in general, see "Research
in Court Records," by Arlene H. Eakle, in:
Szucs, Loretto Dennis, and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking, eds. The
Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy. Rev. ed. Salt Lake City:
Ancestry, 1997.
New Mexico Military Records
The New Mexico State Records Center and Archives' holdings of the
Spanish and Mexican Archives includes military records for New Mexico
when under Spanish and Mexican sovereignty. Territorial records
from 1847–97 in this repository also include the Indian Wars
of the 1850s, Union militia muster rolls and some records for Confederate
soldiers, and the Spanish American War. For a roster of men involved
in the Spanish-American War and information about their regiment,
see Ralph Emerson Twitchell's The Leading Facts of New Mexican History,
vol. 2, 530–43.
The New Mexico Records Center and Archives has Union militia muster
rolls for the Civil War period as well as some Spanish-American
records and information for World War I and World War II. It also
has thirteen folders of Confederate data. The Confederate Research
Center at Hill Junior College, P.O. Box 619, Hillsboro, TX 76645,
has microfilm copies of the National Archives holdings for New Mexicans
who served the Confederate cause. For Union records of the Civil
War, consult the federal archives records which have been microfilmed.
There are four rolls of indexes for New Mexico volunteers. The reference
number is M242. For the compiled military service records, there
are forty-six rolls available, and the number is M427. For any soldier
and/or veteran who was buried in New Mexico under federal jurisdiction,
write the Cemetery Service of the National Cemetery System, Veterans
Administration, 810 Vermont Avenue, Washington, DC 20420. These
records begin in 1861. For further information, consult:
Neagles, James C. U.S. Military Records: A Guide to Federal and
State Sources. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1994.
Additional Sources
Bancroft, Hubert Howe. Arizona and New Mexico, 1530–1888. San
Francisco: History Publishing, 1888.
Beck, Warren A. New Mexico: A History of Four Centuries. Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press, 1962.
Myers, Christine. New Mexico Local and County Histories: A Bibliography.
Albuquerque: New Mexico Library Association, 1983.
Roberts, Calvin A., and Susan A. Roberts. A History of New Mexico.
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1986.
Twitchell, Ralph Emerson. The Spanish Archives of New Mexico. 2
vols. 1914. Reprint. New York: Arno Press, 1976.
Ryskamp, George R. Tracing Your Hispanic Heritage. Riverside, Calif:
Hispanic Family History Research, 1984.
Chavez, Fray Angelico. Origins of New Mexico Families in the Spanish
Colonial Period. 1954. Reprint. Santa Fe, N.M.: William Gannon,
1975.
New Mexico Vital Records:
Event: Birth
Cost of copy: $10.00
Address:
Vital Statistics
New Mexico Health Services Division
P.O. Box 26110
Santa Fe, NM 87502
Remarks: State office has had records since 1920
and delayed records since 1880.
Check or money order should be made payable to Vital
Statistics. Personal checks are accepted. To verify current fees,
the telephone number is (505) 827-2338. This will be a recorded
message.
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Event: Death
Cost of copy: $5.00
Address:
Vital Statistics
New Mexico Health Services Division
P.O. Box 26110
Santa Fe, NM 87502
Remarks: State office has had records since 1920
and delayed records since 1880.
Check or money order should be made payable to Vital
Statistics. Personal checks are accepted. To verify current fees,
the telephone number is (505) 827-2338. This will be a recorded
message.
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Event: Marriage (county)
Cost of copy: Varies
Address: See remarks
Remarks: County Clerk in county where license was
issued.
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Event: Divorce (court)
Cost of copy: Varies
Address: See remarks
Remarks: Clerk of Superior Court where divorce
was granted.
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