Asturian-American Migration Forum

Can anyone tell me where the Registro Civil for western Cantabria is located?

My grandparents were born in the towns of Potes and Lebena about 10 km from the border with Asturias. I am trying to obtain birth certificates for them and need to know where the document repository for these towns is located. I've tried to find this information online with no luck. Is there a Ministerio de Justicia page that has this info nationwide?

I realize that this is not strictly Asturiano but ayudeme. Thanks.

Welcome, Julian!

I don't know about Cantabria, but in Asturias, the Registros Civiles are usually located in every concejo (county) or municipality. So I would look in the towns that are the capitals of the concejos.

Liébana seems to be a comarca (region). Potes is a concejo or municipality within that comarca. There are several municipalities containing the name Liébana. Do you know where exactly they were from?

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¡Bienvenido, Julián!

No sé como se hace en Cantabria, pero en Asturias los Registros Civiles se encuentran normalmente en cada concejo (condado) o municipio. Así que se podría ver en las pueblos que son las capitales de los concejos.

Liébana parece ser una comarca (región). Potes es un concejo o municipio dentro de esa comarca. Hay varios municipios que contiene el nombre de "Liébana". ¿Sabes de dónde exactamente estaban?

Te puedes dirigir al Ayuntamiento de Vega de Liebana, Codigo Postal 39577 - La Vega, Cantabria telef. (942) 736001. O tambien: Ayuntamiento de Potes, Torre del Infantado, 39570 Potes, Cantabria telef. (942) 730006, 732128. En cualquiera de los dos te pueden informar la direccion o telef. del registro civil, ambos lugares estan muy proximos y pertenecen al Valle de Liebana, seguramente sera el mismo para ambos. Suerte!

Art and Hilda,

Thanks for the information and advice. I will write the town council in Potes.

I don't believe that Lebena, the town where my grandmother was born, is the same as Liebana, the larger region or administrative jurisdiction that you both mentioned. Lebena(the "n" is really an "enye", but i can't type that character) is about 10 km north of Potes, and on the same highway(N-621) as Potes.

I guess that my confusion arises from being told that there were centralized repositories for entire regions, as in Bilbao or Oviedo or Santender. As I said, I will write to both and continue my search for any larger, regional cache of documents.

Any other thoughts either of you might have would be appreciated. And forgive me for not writing in Spanish. It would be almost as painful for me to post in Spanish as it would be for you to read my posts in Spanish.

For those born in Lebeña:Registro Civil de Cillorigo de Liebana, Cantabria.

For those born in Potes: Registro Civil de Potes , 39570 Potes, Cantabria. There are data from 1870.

Saludos