Paleographic Analysis Request: Colonial Philippine Marriage Register (1881-1889)

Mike Molinos

Greetings FamilySearch Asia Community,

I am conducting genealogical research on Fr. Mariano Granja, O.F.M., founder of Lucena parish in Quezon, Philippines (1879-1889).

I have analyzed 603 marriages across 96 months from the St. Ferdinand Parish Marriage Register (FamilySearch Film #007773901) and identified:

1. Signature quality changes (January → March 1889)
2. Unprecedented marginalia placement (February 1889)
3. Three corrections in March 1889 (date error, name correction, scribe change)
4. April 1889: Only zero-marriage month in entire 8-year career
5. May 18, 1889: Abrupt succession (new priest, exact secondary-source death date)

QUESTION: Can anyone recommend a paleographer experienced in:
- Colonial Spanish handwriting analysis?
- Philippine ecclesiastical documents?
- Health decline markers in historical handwriting?

Ideally someone with expertise in 19th-century Philippine records or Spanish colonial paleography.

Any recommendations or contacts greatly appreciated. Research materials available for analysis.

Pax et bonum,

Mike
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shecorwe

@Mike Molinos

Mod note: This discussion was edited to remove personal information for privacy reasons. Please see the Community Code of Conduct for more details.

MazyPutnam

@Mike Molinos You might want to try googling or using an AI to search for experienced paleographer. I

put your QUESTION with bullets into CoPilot and received four names. Due to Code of Conduct/privacy rules, I cannot enter them in here.

Hopes this helps!

Mike Molinos

@ShelleWells, thanks for the reminders.

@MazyPutnam, thanks for the reply and suggestions. I learned that paleography analysis is not cheap. Do you know if Family History Library or the Church History Library in downtown SLC offer paleography analysis since both are repositories of documents, old and current?

MazyPutnam

@Mike Molinos Neither the Family History Library (FHL) nor the Church History Library currently provides formal paleography analysis as a service, and I wasn’t able to locate anyone with specific expertise in the area you’re researching. The FHL’s main focus is on supporting genealogical research. While our archivists are highly skilled in document preservation and contextual interpretation, their role is more custodial.

It could be worth reaching out to BYU’s paleography section. They work with a wide range of languages, and there’s a good possibility someone there might have experience with Philippine languages.