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United States Vital Records: Difference between revisions
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The local health departments of a few large cities began recording births and deaths by the mid-1800s. For example, records exist for Baltimore (from 1875), Boston (from 1639), New Orleans (from 1790), New York (from 1847), and Philadelphia (from 1860). The early records are usually incomplete. Many counties in the East and Midwest were recording births and deaths by the late 1800's. | The local health departments of a few large cities began recording births and deaths by the mid-1800s. For example, records exist for Baltimore (from 1875), Boston (from 1639), New Orleans (from 1790), New York (from 1847), and Philadelphia (from 1860). The early records are usually incomplete. Many counties in the East and Midwest were recording births and deaths by the late 1800's. | ||
Each state eventually developed its own laws and created a statewide registration system. Unfortunately, these records do not exist until the early 1900's in most states. Local offices did not always comply immediately with the registration laws. Within 20 years after registration laws were enacted, most states were recording at least 90 percent of the births and deaths. For more details see the [[United States Vital Records/old Research Outline content|old United States Vital Records]] page that was originally obtained from the United States Research Outline. | Each state eventually developed its own laws and created a statewide registration system. Unfortunately, these records do not exist until the early 1900's in most states. Local offices did not always comply immediately with the registration laws. Within 20 years after registration laws were enacted, most states were recording at least 90 percent of the births and deaths. For more details see the [[United States Vital Records/old Research Outline content|old United States Vital Records]] page that was originally obtained from the United States Research Outline. | ||
==Creation of Records== | |||
Civil governments have created records of births, marriages, and deaths. Records containing this information are commonly called “vital records,” because they refer to critical events in a person's life. These are the most important documents for genealogical research, but the births, marriages, and deaths of many people have never been recorded by civil authorities. | |||
This section describes the vital records kept by civil governments. (Other sources of vital information are described in Church Records and Town Records pages.) The | |||
[[Introduction to the Family History Library Catalog|Family History Library Catalog]] has microfilm copies of the civil vital records of thousands of towns, counties, and states in the United States. | |||
===To Find A Civil Vital Record=== | |||
* You will need at least the approximate year and place in which the birth, marriage, divorce, or death occurred. | |||
*You may need to search other records first to find clues about these events, such as family Bibles, genealogies, local histories, biographies, cemetery records, censuses, court records, land records, citizenship applications, pension files, newspaper notices, and probate files. | |||
*For the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries these sources must often be used as substitutes for civil vital records. These other records may not be as accurate, however, as the vital records kept by church authorities and civil governments. | |||
==Family History Library Helps== | ==Family History Library Helps== | ||