As many of us who have tried to do genealogy research for the Taos area have learned, on a few occasions, the priests who traveled to various towns/villages in the parish countryside sometimes mixed baptism, marriage, and death records into one or two books instead of keeping three separate books like they were supposed too.
In a few FHL film church record books in the 1800s there are death records in databases labeled baptisms, marriage records in databases labeled baptism records and baptism records in any of the three. Last year I was searching in an FHL database named ‘Baptisms’ and I accidentally found a death record of an ancestor.
Recently I stumbled upon a nice website that will definitely help end some of the aggravation of trying to work with these mixed record Taos Church Books. As a great bonus, I also discovered that it will also help with genealogy search and research in EVERY COUNTY of New Mexico.
For Taos researchers, a person named Louanna Gortarez has gone through the Church records books of DEATHS for an incredible 100 years (1850 – 1950) and has provided a snippet of information on each record much like an FHL record. You can find the record you are seeking much easier in the Gortarez database of death records, and use it to find the full original record faster. She also notates and includes the different records when the priest mixes them in one book. Here is the link to her databases of 100 years of death records (snippets) specific to Taos: https://nmahgp.genealogyvillage.com/taos/taosdeaths.htm
The Taos page and database is segment of a larger, more comprehensive genealogy website that covers ALL of New Mexico. Genealogy and historical information on EVERY COUNTY in the entire state is provided on the New Mexico American History and Genealogy Project (AHGP) webpage.
From what I could tell on a brief glance through the website it contains numerous County databases similar to the one on Taos, and other relevant genealogy records that will definitely help people with their New Mexico research. Here is the link to the larger New Mexico genealogy page. https://nmahgp.genealogyvillage.com/
I hope that this information will be of value to anyone/everyone who is doing genealogy work in Taos or any other area of New Mexico.
