What ever happened to the missing 1719-1733 baptismal records from Aguascalientes?

To: all members of Nuestros Ranchos

Te following excerpts are from a letter I sent to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, UT in August of 2008. It contains important information for those focusing their research in Aguascalientes. Since I didn't get a reply or noticed any corrective action taken, I decided to post it in this forum for the benefit of all members of Nuestros Ranchos.

"For several years I had been trying to find the baptismal record of my 4th great grandfather Vicente Ruiz de Esparza, but soon realized that it was missing. As a matter of fact, all the baptisms of “Españoles” from 1719-1733 from “Parroquia de la Asunción de Aguascalientes” seemed to be missing. I searched over and over for these records, carefully combing through a number of microfilms, to no avail. Finally, in desperation, I decided to take a trip to Aguascalientes in central Mexico (I live in Texas) to find out if the book had been lost or never filmed by the LDS."

"The original records are kept by the Catholic Church in a building adjacent to the Cathedral. Unfortunately, these records are not accessible to the public, as the Church is trying to preserve them for future generations. An exception was made in my case, considering that I had embarqued in such a long journey to look for a specific record. It took the librarian less than 30 minutes to locate the record, which he found in an “insert” with records for the 1781-1786 time period. The following paragraphs will explain what happened."

"Sometime during the late 19th or early 20th century the Catholic Church in Aguascalientes decided to organize hundreds of records by rebinding them with new hardcovers. The number on the original volumes, numbered sequentially #1 thru ?? was displayed on the spine of the new books. It is important to mention that in colonial times the records for descendants of Spaniards or “Españoles” were kept in separate books from those of “Indios, Negros, Mulatos, Mestizos, Castizos...etc.” Record Book #12 consisted of baptisms for “Españoles” for the years 1719-1733. This book was inadvertedly left out and later bound with books #39-43 which were for baptisms for the years 1781-1786. This book covers the periods 1781-1733 and 1719-1733 as shown on the enclosed pictures." (not included here)

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints’ crew that microfilmed these records in the 1970s must have realized that they were out of order because they kept them separate. The records for 1781-1786 are included in microfilm #299445. The baptisms for “Españoles” for 1719-1733 ended up in microfilm #299530, erroneously identified as being from La Cieneguilla. La Cieneguilla is a rural community and farming area some 20 miles SW of Aguascalientes."

"The baptismal records for 1719-1733 have been extracted and recently included in the new FamilySearch Pilot site, improperly identifying each record as being from La Cieneguilla instead of Aguascalientes. This is very confusing and should be corrected."

"I have found other errors that I plan to report separately, but do not include them in this letter to keep it simple. If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me."

Regards,

BILL FIGUEROA