Guide to San Felipe Mission Church Records

Steven Perez
Apr 1
1 min read

Updated: Apr 7

The unindexed mission church records of San Felipe are available on FamilySearch. This guide provides a roadmap to how the microfilm records are arranged. The baptism book spans 1765 to 1829 but the first few pages are in reverse chronological order and the records are missing for the years 1780-1786 and 1789-1803. Some records can also be found in the Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe “Loose Documents” microfilm rolls for missions, and “Baptisms for Cochiti, San Felipe and Santo Domingo.” The Center for Southwest Research at UNM has copies of these microfilms.

The marriage book is complete from 1726-1814, with marriages of Spaniards beginning at the church in 1746. The first burial book is from 1726-1860, with burials of Spaniards beginning in 1746, but has several gaps. After 1827 there are only a few records from 1832, 1834 and one entry from 1840. There were a significant number of burials from February-March 1781, most likely due to the smallpox epidemic that afflicted communities throughout New Mexico. There were also an unusually high number of burials in 1816, likely due to the plague, as noted by Father Gerónimo Riega in the Santo Domingo burial book. The second burial book spans 1841-1860, with one entry from 1869 at the end.

Happy hunting!

Film 16999, FamilySearch Film # 007854392 (354 images)

Baptisms (1765-1779, 1787-1788, 1804-1829)