These records were originally transcribed and translated by Fray Angelico Chavez under the title...
New Mexico Roots Ltd: a Demographic Prespective from Genealogical, Historical, and Geographical Data Found in the Diligencias Matrimoniales or Pre-nuptial Investigations (1678-1869) of the Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe (Santa Fe, New Mexico: [A. Chavez], 1982, 11 volumes). Known commonly as "DMs," these are essentially Catholic records giving a couple permission to marry. Some couples were denied permission based on being too closely related. For more information on these records and where to find them see: New Mexico Prenuptial Investigations (Diligencias Matrimoniales) I am extracting some of these records for the town of Belen (now in Valencia County) from the mid 1700s to about 1815. You can search these records online in the... Belen, New Mexico Genealogy Records Database The database entries are arranged in this format: prospective groom, notes : prospective bride, notes : date, location (usually Belen), volume and page number. For many of the entries you can find more information (such as names of witnesses) in the books. Entries marked "CR" include the complete transcribed entry from the books. Here is a transcription of an unusual DM from the Belen database: Baca-Rael Diligencias Matrimoniales (from Roots Ltd.) 1778 A small number of Durango DMs are also indexed in the database. As with any transcription of old records there may errors. This word list may be helpful when reading these records: Spanish Terms Used in New Mexico Catholic Church Records |