Uruguay introduced civil registration in 1879, following legal reforms that transferred responsibility for recording births, marriages, and deaths from the church to the state. Maintained by the Dirección General del Registro de Estado Civil, these records offer detailed genealogical data such as full names, parentage, occupations, and places of residence.
Earlier Catholic parish records, especially from Montevideo and colonial regions, remain essential for tracing pre-1879 ancestry. Civil records are generally well-preserved and indexed, with increasing digitization making access easier for researchers. For genealogists, civil registration provides the backbone of Uruguayan family history research, connecting generations through clear, centralized documentation.
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Birth, Marriage & Death
