Puerto Rican Slave Record Research
A four-module beginner-to-intermediate course on locating, extracting, and using the 1872 Registro Central de Esclavos and related slave registers to trace enslaved ancestors in Puerto Rico.
BeginnerA Note Before You Begin
This course deals directly with the history of slavery in Puerto Rico. The records you will encounter name enslaved people, document their origins, describe their physical appearance, and record the names of those who enslaved them.
For many researchers, this material connects to their own family history. You may discover ancestors who were enslaved, ancestors who were enslavers, or both. These discoveries can be meaningful, difficult, or both at once. Proceed at your own pace and with care for yourself.
Who Is This Course For?
This course is for you if you:
- Suspect your Puerto Rican ancestors were enslaved or were slaveholders
- Need a structured way to search the 1872 central registry by town
- Want to extract usable genealogical details from Spanish-language schedules
- Are ready to connect slave registry data to civil, church, and notarial records
New to Puerto Rican genealogy? Start with Getting Started first to build familiarity with FamilySearch and Puerto Rican naming conventions.
What You Will Walk Away With
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Identify the correct district and municipality to search in the 1872 registry
- Browse digitized images efficiently to locate entries
- Extract key identifiers: parents, origin, owner, residence
- Create a short next-steps plan connecting slave registry data to civil, church, and notarial records
Course Modules
Module 1 — Understanding the Registro Central de Esclavos (1872)
What the registry is, why it was created, what fields it contains, and the key dates of 1872 and 1873 that define its historical context.
Module 2 — Finding and Navigating the Records
How the 1872 registry is organized by district and municipality, which films cover which towns, and how to browse unindexed digitized images efficiently.
Module 3 — Extracting and Preserving Evidence
How to transcribe, interpret, and cite entries from the registry, build a cluster of individuals linked to the same owner, and apply the GPS Three-Layer Framework.
Module 4 — Building the Research Bridge
How to use registry data to move into church, civil, and notarial records, and how formerly enslaved people appear in records after abolition in 1873.
Worksheets and Downloads
| Resource | Download |
|---|---|
| Course Overview | |
| Module 1 — Understanding the Registry | |
| Module 2 — Finding and Navigating | |
| Module 3 — Extracting and Preserving Evidence | |
| Module 4 — Building the Research Bridge | |
| Spanish Glossary — Key Slave Record Terms | |
| WS 01 — Registry Extraction Form | |
| ES Descripción del Curso | PDF (ES) |
| ES Módulo 1 — Comprendiendo el Registro | PDF (ES) |
| ES Módulo 2 — Encontrando y Navegando | PDF (ES) |
| ES Módulo 3 — Extrayendo y Preservando | PDF (ES) |
| ES Módulo 4 — Construyendo el Puente | PDF (ES) |
| ES Glosario — Términos de Registros de Esclavitud | PDF (ES) |
| ES HT 01 — Formulario de Extracción del Registro | PDF (ES) |
Key Resources
| Resource | What It Offers |
|---|---|
| Puerto Rico, Slave Registers, 1859–1880 (FamilySearch) | Partially indexed collection; searchable starting point overlapping with 1872 |
| Puerto Rico Catholic Church Records, 1645–2021 (FamilySearch) | Church records for pre-civil registration research |
| Puerto Rico Civil Registration, 1885–2001 (FamilySearch) | Post-abolition civil records for tracking surnames and descendants |
| Archivo General de Puerto Rico (AGPR) | Notarial records, property documents, and estate inventories |
© 2026 Sylvia Vargas. Teaching Genealogists AI™. All rights reserved.
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