Ancestry 5 - vital records research

(Part of the monthly series: Ancestry & who we are)

                Now that you have explored the many how-to books and guides for researching and writing family history described in last month's lesson, let us find vital records. Vital records such as births, marriages, and deaths are a major source for genealogical information. Birth records in modern times usually list the names, residence, and perhaps the ages and birthplaces of the parents. Death records may include birth information, cause of death, names of parents, and the name of a relative or friend who was the informant. Ideally, we will be looking for original records for the births, marriages, and deaths of our ancestors. These records are an important source of genealogical evidence.

                In Colonial America, vital records were kept at the town level. Later the counties took over this function, and more recently vital records are kept at the state level. Some large cities keep their own records. There is no set date when the records began to be kept at any level. In the United States, we have over three thousand counties and each had its own policies and procedures about keeping records. It wasn't until 1879 in the United State, when the government formed the National Bureau of Health, which all states were ordered to keep their vital statistics. But the states did not all comply, so in 1906 a federal law was passed that mandated each state to keep vital records. Even then, it was a long time before all states complied with this law. Alabama's statewide registration began in 1908, Alaska's started in 1913 but complete records were not kept until after World War II, Arizona in 1909, Arkansas in 1914, California in 1905 and the story go on down the alphabet of states.  Some of the New England states did not need a law to tell them to keep vital records, they started on their own. Massachusetts began keeping records as early as 1639. Southern states started vital records keeping a bit later; Virginia, in 1853, passed a law to keep vital statistics statewide. Some of the much later adopters of vital record keeping were New Mexico in 1920, Georgia in 1919; Texas started statewide registration in 1903 but it was not until 1933 that all counties complied. Many of the states have indexes to their vital records; some indexes have been microfilmed and are available at their state archives to borrow on Interlibrary Loan. Microfilms of county courthouse vital records can be borrowed at your nearest Family History Center. Books and articles have also been published on the vital records of particular areas and there are databases on the Internet that contain vital records information.

As time progresses, more and more states are publishing their earlier vital records on the Internet. Arizona was the first state to digitize its birth and death records and has its birth records available for free, online, for anyone born in that state 75 years ago or more and death records for people who died 50 years ago or more.  Other states having digitized vital records online include: Missouri, Utah, Georgia, Illinois, and Ohio, to name a few. Just search the Internet using terms like digitized vital records.

Birth records for living people are confidential. You can send for your own birth record or the birth records of your children by writing to the vital records office in the state where you or your children were born. To obtain birth records for deceased parents or grandparents you may be asked to show your relationship to these people. Most states have a cut-off date for when vital records become public records and you do not have to be a direct descendant to receive copies of these documents.

Countries outside the United States have different years for when they started keeping vital records. Some Scandinavian and British records go back to the time when surnames were first used in 1500 or before. Civil records, as an example, for Chihuahua, Mexico, are microfilmed for 1861-1992, spanning 131 years and appear on 290 rolls of microfilm which can be borrowed at your nearest Family History Center. Even before governments began keeping records, religious institutions kept vital records for baptisms, marriages, and deaths. Often these were kept at the village level by the parish priest.

Early church records can be found in many countries and many of these records have been microfilmed. Taking again as an example, Chihuahua, it has microfilmed church records for baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and death spanning 1709 to 1957. Baptismal records for the famous Duomo, Santa Maria del Fiore, in the ancient city of Florence, Italy, date back to 1450 and move forward in time to 1900. Check the Family History Library catalog for microfilms of vital records, referred to as civil registration or church records, for the country and town your ancestors came from.

Information about the names, dates, and places of births, marriages, and deaths for our ancestors can be found in other types of records, such as: adoptions, obituaries, cemetery, tombstone, funeral home records, newspaper clippings, Social Security applications, school report cards, medical, draft cards, military records and pensions, and employment records. First look in your own home or ask your family members if they have vital records for your ancestors. The family Bible was often used to record births, marriages, and deaths; as well as, scrapbooks, diaries, and personal journals.  

Marriage records are not always considered a "vital" record by the government. For family history purposes, we include it because it is useful and sometimes necessary to identify a person or a family. If possible, request a copy of the application for the marriage license which will often list the names of the parents of both the bride and the groom. If the couple were underage, there may be a letter from the parents on file in the courthouse giving their consent for the wedding. Be sure to study the vital records customs in the country of your ancestor's origins to find out what kind of records are available and where they might be archived.

                Next month: Reading Old Handwriting

By Daniela Moneta

http://www.xndhangout.com/dmoneta

Click here to read the previous installments:

Ancestry & who we are, Part 1, getting started

Ancestry & who we are, Part 2, pedigree chart

Ancestry & who we are, Part 3, web & books

Ancestry & who we are, Part 4, research guides