Finding Aid
Marriage Dispensation Archives
Colonial marriage dispensations from two diocesan archives — a combined index of 38,642 records spanning 1555 to 1899.
A dispensa de matrimonio was required when a couple seeking to marry faced a canonical impediment — most commonly consanguinity (shared blood) or affinity (relation through a prior marriage). The bishop's office reviewed the petition and, if granted, issued the dispensation. These proceedings were preserved as bound registers in diocesan archives.
The original documents typically record both parties by full name, their parents, their grandparents, and the degree of kinship requiring the dispensation — making a single dispensa a source of three or more generations of family data. This index is a finding aid only: it identifies which microfilm and image holds the record. The full document — with the genealogical detail — is on FamilySearch.
Source collections
| Archive | Period | Marriages | Geographic coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archdiocese of Guadalajara | 1635–1899 | 11,613 | Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, Nayarit, Colima, Nuevo León, Coahuila |
| Diocese of Michoacán (Valladolid) | 1555–1830 | 27,029 | Michoacán, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, Querétaro |
How to use this index
- Search by the groom or bride surname. Accent marks are optional.
- Each result shows the parish, approximate date, and image number on the microfilm.
- Click the FHL film number to open the FamilySearch catalog entry for that microfilm.
- Navigate to the image number shown — the full dispensa document is there.