Locating Catholic Church Records in New Mexico
Sierra County

Film Codes:
AASF: Archives of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.
FHL: Catholic church records filmed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints (LDS).
 (For locations of the research facilities, see Records.)

County:
Sierra County was created April 3, 1884 from Socorro, Grant and Doña Ana Counties. The county seat, Truth or Consequences, was formerly known as Hot Springs. Sierra County was named for the Sierra de los Caballos range of mountains in the county. The Sierra county courthouse is at 300 Date Street, Truth or Consequences, NM 87901. Phone (505) 894-6280; FAX (505) 894-9548.

Diocese: Sierra county is now in the Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces. Records over 100 years old are housed at the Archives of the Diocese in Las Cruces, and almost all of the more current records are in the individual parishes. See Records for the addresses and sources known to date.

Keep in mind that the records were kept in varying locations over the years, so widen your search into neighboring counties if necessary. For instance, San Ygnacio, listed above as a mission of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, at other time periods also covered a much wider area, including Pinos Altos and as Tularosa in Catron County.

Published records:
New Mexico Genealogist: Since its first issue in 1962, the Genealogist has been publishing a continuous stream of county, state, and church records as well as other informative articles. Available:
1) a CD containing every issue published in the first forty years of publication:  See NMG-CD.
2) a printed topic index 1962-1999: Book #E4b at NMGS Press.
3) An index for each current year is provided within the Genealogist in that year's December issue.
4) There are also some articles from the Genealogist being published on this web site. For a list, see Genealogist online.

Most Catholic church records are available on microfilm, and volunteers have extracted, translated, and published many of those records with indexes. Click on the links below to see which other books are already available from these two societies:

 
Assistance:
Due to the volume of incoming mail, this webmaster is not able to answer online research questions. Instead, please try our extensive link section. Two other volunteer groups are New Mexico GenWeb and New Mexico Ancestors. Both are linked to larger networks of sites covering the entire state of New Mexico.

To the best of our knowledge, the information presented here is accurate and up to date. If you have corrections or additions to contribute, please add the words "Catholic Church Project" in the subject line, include your source reference, and email to: info@nmgs.org.  Locating Catholic Church Records in New Mexico is a work-in-progress and the pages will be updated as additional information is received.

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