Search for Hispanic roots.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Byline: Jane Wooldridge

Whether looking for family from Latin America, Cuba or Spain, the parish church is probably the key, says Utah-based genealogist Mayra F. Sanchez- Johnson, author of ``Research Guide for Cuba.''

``The first thing, you have to ask the family what information they have. Then you go to the parish records or civil records and find the documents themselves,'' she said in a phone interview. For those whose records lie in Cuba, a family member there can look up records, or they can hire a documents searcher via the Web.

Finding the generation that came from Spain usually isn't difficult, said Sanchez-Johnson. When men married in the New World, she explained, the church took care to be sure they were actually single, even contacting the parish in Spain and including the name of the parish in the church records.

Spain offers a particularly rich trove of documents, she said, including parish records dating to 1542, notary records dating from the 1300s, Hidalguia records used to prove noble descent and military documents.

Several Web sites offer information on Hispanic genealogy. Some are commercial sites that charge a fee; others are government sites or others that simply offer ...