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Vital Records

U.S. Records Collection

Ancestry.com has added at least one database everyday since launching its service in 1997. Today, subscribers can search more than three thousand databases and over 1 billion names. Birth records, marriage records, and death records are connected with central life events. They are prime sources for genealogical information. Look also for baptism, christening, and burial records in this collection.

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United States Vital Records Room

We've cataloged addresses, online and offline public records for each county. All counties are displayed with both the year of establishment and county seat clearly identified, and links to state/county web sites are included where available.

Alabama Vital Records Alaska Vital Records Arizona Vital Records Arkansas Vital Records California Vital Records Colorado Vital Records Connecticut Vital Records Delaware Vital Records Florida Vital Records Georgia Vital Records Hawaii Vital Records Idaho Vital Records Illinois Vital Records Indiana Vital Records Iowa Vital Records Kansas Vital Records Kentucky Vital Records Louisiana Vital Records Maine Vital Records Maryland Vital Records Massachusetts Vital Records Michigan Vital Records Minnesota Vital Records Mississippi Vital Records Missouri Vital Records

Montana Vital Records Nebraska Vital Records Nevada Vital Records New Hampshire Vital Records New Jersey Vital Records New Mexico Vital Records New York Vital Records North Carolina Vital Records North Dakota Vital Records Ohio Vital Records Oklahoma Vital Records Oregon Vital Records Pennsylvania Vital Records Rhode Island Vital Records South Carolina Vital Records South Dakota Vital Records Tennessee Vital Records Texas Vital Records Utah Vital Records Vermont Vital Records Virginia Vital Records Washington Vital Records West Virginia Vital Records Wisconsin Vital Records Wyoming Vital Records

Additional Information

Vital Records in the United States
by Kip Sperry

Civil vital records—births, marriages, and deaths—in America began to be recorded at different time periods in different localities. New England town clerks recorded vital events as early as the 1600s, while in other localities in the United States, such as in the southern and western states, vital records were first kept in the late 1800s or early 1900s.

Vital Information Without Vital Registration
by Patricia Law Hatcher, CG, FASG

A birth certificate is the result of modern legislated vital registration. It provides us with the key elements we want for a birth record: full names of child, father, and mother (maybe with maiden name); exact place and date of birth. As our research pushes backwards in time, we learn that such records were never created.

Beyond Vital Records
by Curt B. Witcher

Among the records that come to mind when researching family history are vital records. These documents are the ones to which we most often look to pull together our family groups. But often, family historians are so focused on actual civil vital records that they miss the multitude of other records that are available to help document births, marriages, deaths, and other life events of our ancestors.

 

 

See also: GenDirectory: General Research