New Mexico genealogy records

Birth and death certificates

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the New Mexico vital records office has records since 1920 and delayed records since 1880. New Mexico birth and death certificates are restricted access records. Until they become public, state law limits them to the registrant's immediate family or to people who show a tangible legal interest. For birth certificates, immediate family means mother, father, sibling, child, grandchild, current spouse, or maternal or paternal grandparent. The death certificate page lists mother, father, sibling, child, current spouse, or maternal or paternal grandparent. A paternal grandparent qualifies only if the father is listed on the record.

Birth certificates become public records 100 years after the date of birth, and death certificates 50 years after the date of death.

How to order a certificate

The Department of Health issues certificates only for births and deaths that happened in New Mexico. It does not accept credit cards or online orders itself; you mail an application or a letter with a copy of your government issued photo ID, or you order through VitalChek, its authorized expediting service. As of 2026, the non-refundable search fee is 10 dollars per birth certificate and 5 dollars per death certificate, paid by certified check or money order to New Mexico Vital Records.

Some public health offices can issue birth certificates, but death certificates can only be obtained through the Santa Fe office.

Church records

The State Records Center and Archives genealogy pathfinder (written in 2000 and revised in 2001) calls the sacramental records of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe perhaps the most important source of genealogical information. The records belong to the Archdiocese, and the Archives has a microfilm copy for patrons. They include baptisms, confirmations, marriages, burials, and diligencias matrimoniales, the pre-nuptial investigations, arranged by parish, record type, and date. Many of the diligencias are indexed in Fray Angelico Chavez's New Mexico Roots, Ltd.

The Archives also has microfilm of sacramental records of the Diocese of Gallup, covering western New Mexico and eastern Arizona from 1777 to 1920. Its genealogy room has published transcriptions of parish books such as Albuquerque baptisms from 1709 to 1850, Santa Fe marriages from 1728 to 1857, and Abiquiu baptisms from 1754 to 1866 and 1869 to 1900.

Marriages and divorces

Copies of marriage licenses come from the county clerk of the county where the license was issued, not from the state vital records office. Before civil records, look in the church marriage records and diligencias described above.

For divorces before 1912, the Library of Congress points to court dockets at the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives. From 1912 to the present, divorce records are with the county district court.

Census records

The State Records Center and Archives genealogy pathfinder, written in 2000 and revised in 2001, lists microfilm of the 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1885, 1900, 1910, and 1920 federal census records, with indexes for 1850, 1860, and 1870. The 1890 census was destroyed by fire, but a special schedule enumerating Civil War veterans and widows survives. The Archives also has some census records from the Spanish and Mexican periods on microfilm.

Land grants and deeds

During the Spanish period (1598 to 1821) and the Mexican period (1821 to 1846), land was granted to individuals and to communities. Because the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 destroyed nearly all Spanish documents in New Mexico, only grants made after the reconquest of 1693 can be known with certainty. In 1854 the United States created the office of the Surveyor General of New Mexico to examine these claims, and in 1891 it set up the Court of Private Land Claims, which considered 282 New Mexico claims and confirmed 82.

The State Archives holds the Land Records of New Mexico on microfilm, with the case files of the Surveyor General and the Court of Private Land Claims. These can list grantees, heirs, family names, and relationships. Most of the district court records at the Archives date from the territorial period (1851 to 1912). For deeds from 1850 to the present, go to the county clerk.

Courts, probate, and military

The Archives pathfinder (2000, revised 2001) lists county records, some on microfilm: clerk's records such as deeds, marriages, voter registration, and brands; assessor's tax records; and probate case files, wills, guardianships, and adoptions. District court records include docket books, case files, and naturalization papers. The Library of Congress lists probate today with the district court and naturalizations as generally held at the National Archives facility in Denver.

The same pathfinder lists military records at the State Archives, including muster rolls from the Spanish, Mexican, and territorial periods, the Adjutant General's collection, and World War I and World War II discharges and enlistments.