Havana Cathedral Records 1584 – 1874

Cuba is one of the most difficult Caribbean islands to research. This has to do with the lack of access due to embargoes and the fact that is a communist country. Currently the Cuban people are under severe oppression based on what we see on social media. Many of us realize that we have ancestors that came from the island and many genetic cousins. So far many Haitians, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, and Jamaicans have plenty of genetic cousins on and from Cuba. Many of us have been lucky enough to trace via scare records to Cuba. Then I realized that there were Havana Cathedral records available for review.

Francisco Xavier de Santa Cruz y Mallen

Some may be familiar with Francisco Xavier de Santa Cruz y Mallen but many are not. He is a known Cuban genealogist from the 1940s that documented and did plenty of research. His research is well known to many from that era and Familysearch was able to obtain some of his work. His books now appear in reprints this year so Google Search and you should be able to find information on him. He is known for the book series called Historia de familias cubanas. If you rather skip buying them, they are also available for you to review online. He released six volumes. You can access the volumes by clicking on each: Historia de familias cubanas #1, Historia de familias cubanas #2, Historia de familias cubanas #3, Historia de familias cubanas #4, Historia de familias cubanas #5, and Historia de familias cubanas #6. This 6th book ends on image 203.

Based on the information I found, Santa Cruz y Mallen donated his research to the LDS which we all know as Familysearch. In his donation, he points out the church records he reviewed and provides what he extracted from those books. The records are a combination of baptism, marriage, and death records with some going back as far as 250 years. While it is an extract, it is better than nothing. Hopefully there are many that can use this information to their benefit.

Havana Cathedral Records 1584 – 1874

To help understand what Santa Cruz y Mallen reviewed, he provided the information for the baptism records. For the baptism books, there are 11 volumes that begin in 1705 and end in 1800. That is nearly a century of baptism records available. Recall that like Puerto Rico, Cuba was controlled by a Catholic Spanish government. Many of us that have traced back can put these records to great use.

So why share the information on the books? Well because one day the oppression will end on the island of Cuba. When this happens, it will allow us to have scholarly access to these historical books. This is critical as we now know what has survived over time. Hopefully the books are still being preserved and continue to exist.

Now as far as reviewing what he has extracted and documented, you can review the following images that covers from 1705 to 1715 (Image 6) and the extractions from 1716 to 1744 (Image 63) for the baptism books.

The Marriages in Havana

When it comes to marriage records, Santa Cruz y Mallen provides what books are available. The 12 books covers from 1622 to1874. This is over 250 years worth of marriage records! An impressive collection.

The first extractions from those book are between 1622 to 1648 begin on image 103. These individuals

Now to add a little more information. There is this book, “Libro de Barajas de la Catredral de la Habana“, which contains marriages from 1584 to 1622. The book also contains baptisms from 1590 to 1600. This is quite impactful as some of the ancestors from Puerto Rico may appear in the book.

If you want to review the original images from the Libro de Barajas for marriages, review the digital collection found on this site and also look at this collection with 400 images!

Looking for the baptism records from 1590 to 1600, review the digital collection found on this site.

The Deaths in Havana

When it comes to the death records, Santa Cruz y Mallen decided to not document accurately. He starts with providing books one and two completely but then leaves book 3 incomplete. To add to it, he provides entries going up to 1871. These entries are not listed in chronological order but in an alphabetic order. Book 1 goes from 1619 to 1649, Book 2 is from 1649 – 1679, and then finally Book 3 starts with 1679. What he captures for deaths begins with image 214.

While this post contains a lot of content, ensure that you take your time and come back often. I don’t recommend you skip reading as you may miss something I provided in the test. As always, happy searching and if you want to find other posting on Cuba, check out the Cuba Genealogy page.