Missouri Vital Records

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Introduction to Missouri Vital Records

Vital Records consist of births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, and deaths recorded on registers, certificates, and documents. United States Vital Records has additional research guidance on researching and using vital records. A copy or an extract of most original records can be purchased from the Missouri Vital Records State Department of Health or the County Clerk's office of the county where the event occurred.

Birth Records Marriage Records  Death/Will Records

Missouri Birth, Marriage and Death Records Online

The following is a list of online resources useful for locating Missouri Vital Records which consist of births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, and deaths. Check Missouri Vital Records Online for more information about the resources listed below. Most online resources for Missouri Vital Records are indexes. After locating a person in an index always consult the original record to confirm the information in the index.

• Missouri Links from fhlfavorites.info - Free
• Missouri Databases listed on Rootsweb.com - Free
• USGenWeb.org Missouri Site - Free
• Search for Missouri Collections on FamilySearch Record Search under Canada, USA, and Mexico - Free
• The Vital Records Search and Information Directory for Missouri - Free/$
• Wee Monster Links for Missouri Birth & Marriage and Death Records - Free/$
• Linkpendium Links for Missouri Genealogy and History, including individual Counties - Free/$ 
• Progenealogists Links for the United States. Press Ctrl + F on the keyboard to search for Missouri or MO - Free/$
• Search the Missouri Birth, Marriage & Death Records at Ancestry.com - $ 
• Order Missouri Certificates online - $ 

• About.com
• Birth, Death, Marriage and Divorce Information
• Missouri State Archives Missouri Birth & Death Records Database, Pre-1910, 1910-1959 
• St. Louis Public Library

Birth Records

County and City Records of Births and Deaths

Statewide registration of births and deaths began in 1863, but registration was not compulsory. Missouri has required registration in each county only during the years 1883 to 1893 and since 1909. The state did not achieve 90 percent registration of births until 1927 and of deaths until 1911.

Write to the appropriate county clerk for records before 1910. Those from 1883 to 1893 are also available from the Missouri State Archives.

The Family History Library has copies of most of the existing civil vital records in Missouri from about 1883 to the early 1900s. For example, records of Jefferson County births, stillbirths, and deaths from 1883 to 1892 are available.

For St. Louis city records from 1870 to the present, write to:

Division of Health
634 No. Grand Boulevard
P.O. Box 14702
St. Louis, MO 63178
Telephone: 314-658-1132
Internet: Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services

The Family History Library also has 16 microfilms of the registers of the St. Louis City Hospital for 1846 to 1900.

St. Louis Public Library owns these microfilm birth and death record sets:

St. Louis, MO Birth Records, 1870-1910

St. Louis, MO Index to Register of Births, 1910-1929

St. Louis, MO Death Records, 1850-1909

St. Louis, MO Burial Permits, 1882-1908

St. Louis County, MO Birth Certificates, 1883-1910

St. Louis County, MO Death Certificates, 1883-1910

State Records of Births and Deaths

The Missouri State Archives offer an online searchable Missouri Birth & Death Records Database, Pre-1910, which is an abstract of births, stillbirths and death records from microfilm in the state archives. For the entries that exist, there is a wealth of genealogical information present.

Missouri Death Records are now online for the years 1910-1958.

Although the files are not open for public inspection, you can obtain copies of the state's births and deaths registered after 1 January 1910 by writing to:

Bureau of Vital Records
P.O. Box 570
Jefferson City, MO 65102-0570
Telephone: 314-761-6387 (births)
Telephone: 314-751-6376 (deaths)
Internet: Department of Health and Senior Services Bureau of Vital Records. maintains Missouri birth, death, marriage and divorce records.

The current fees for obtaining copies of the state's records are listed in Where to Write for Vital Records: Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Divorces Copies of this booklet are at the Family History Library and many Family History Centers.

Adoption Records

Nonidentifying information is available to adoptive parents, a child's legal guardians or an adult adoptee. This can include the physical description, nationality, religious background, and medical history of the birth parents or siblings. Identifying information is available to the adult adoptee.

An adult adoptee may make a written request for information identifying his or her birth parents. If the birth parents have consented to the release of identifying information, the court shall disclose the information. If the birth parents have not consented, the court shall notify in writing, within 10 days of receipt of the request, the adoptive parents and the child-placing agency or court personnel having access to the information. For adoptions completed prior to 8-13-1986, the adoptive parents must consent to contacting the birth parents unless there is proof that the adoptive parents are deceased or incapacitated.

The State Registrar files the original certificate of birth with the certificate of decree of adoption and such file may be opened by the State Registrar only upon receipt of a certified copy of an order as decreed by the court of adoption.

For further information contact:
Missouri Division of Family Services
Adoption Information Registry
P.O. Box 88
Jefferson City, MO 65103
(800) 554-2222
Please mark the letter "Confidential."

Marriage Records

Marriage records have been kept by Missouri county clerks from the earliest days of each county. Some records date from the early 1800s when the area was a territory without counties. Statewide registration of marriage began in 1881, and the files are mostly complete after that date. You can obtain copies of these documents from the various county clerks.

The Family History Library has copies of marriage records from each county. These often date to the 1920s. For St. Louis, for example, the library has 147 microfilms from the city recorder (index for 1806-1965, records from 1808-1920, licenses from 1881-1966), and 14 films from the county recorder (index for 1877-1928, licenses from 1881-1933). The Missouri State Archives has copies of the same films available at the Family History Library.

St. Louis Public Library owns the following microfilm record sets:

St. Louis, MO Marriage Records, 1808-1882

St. Louis, MO Marriage Index, Males, 1806-1965

St. Louis, MO Marriage Index, Females, 1806-1963

St. Louis County, MO Marriages, 1881-1954

St. Louis County, MO Marriage Applications Index, 1882-1980

Most pre-1850 marriages in Missouri have been transcribed in publications such as the following:

• Missouri Marriages to 1850.
• Missouri Marriages Before 1840.

The Bureau of Vital Records (see address above) has an index to marriage records from July 1948 to the present.

Divorce Records

Divorce proceedings have been filed with a court of common pleas, a circuit court, or the state legislature. Most divorce records can be obtained by contacting the appropriate circuit court clerk in the county where the plaintiff resided. The Family History Library has some of these court records, which include divorce information. The Bureau of Vital Records has divorce records from 1948 to the present.

A published list of early divorce records is Lois Stanley, Divorces and Separations in Missouri, 1808-1853. This volume includes notices from newspapers.

Death Records

Missouri State Archives has created the Missouri Digital Heritage Website providing access to records from 1910-1958. Death certificates contain valuable information for family historians and researchers. The Missouri Death Certificate Database, containing death records created after 1910 and over 50 years old, makes that information available online through a searchable index that links to a digitized image of the original death certificate.

The index can be searched by first name and last name, county, and by year and month. Once a name is selected, a digitized image of the original certificate can be retrieved.

This is an ongoing project and additional records will be added as they are transcribed and imaged. If the image of the certificate is not yet available researchers can request a photocopy of the certificate by contacting the Archives Reference Desk . For death certificates less than 50 years old please contact the Missouri Bureau of Vital Records.

Missouri Corner's Inquest

Missouri Police Officers Deaths

Substitute Records

Missouri Church Records

Missouri Cemetery Records

Missouri Census

Missouri Corner's Inquest

Missouri Newspapers

Missouri Military Records

Missouri Periodicals

Missouri History

Tips

• Information listed on vital records is given by an informant.  Learn the relationship of the informant to the subject(s) of the record.  The closer the relationship of the informant to the subject(s) and whether or not the informant was present at the time of the event can help determine the accuracy of the information found on the record.
• If you are unable to locate vital records recorded by governments, search for church records of christening, marriage, death or burial.  A family Bible may have been used to record births, marriages and deaths.
• Records for African Americans may be recorded in separate files with separate indexes.
• Privacy laws may restrict your access to some vital records.  Copies of some vital records recorded in the last 100 years may be uanavailable to anyone except a direct relative.
• Search for Vital Records in the Family History Library Catalog by using a Place Search and then choosing Vital Records.  Search for Missouri to locate records filed by the State and then search the name of the county to locate records kept by the county.

Lost or Missing Records

Barry 1872, Barton 1860, Bates 1861, Bollinger 1866, 1884, Caldwell 1860, 1896, Camden 1902,Cape Girardeau 1870, Chariton 1864, 1973 Christian 1865, Crawford 1873, 1884, Dade 1863, Dallas 1863, 1864, 18867, DeKalb 1864, 1878 Dent 1864, Douglas 1886, Dunklin 1872, Gentry 1885, Greene 1861, Harrison 1874, Hickory 1852, 1881, Holt 1965, Howard 1887, Howell 1866, Jasper 1863, 1883,  McDonald 1863, Maries 1868, Mercer 1898, Montgomery 1864,1901, Morgan 1887, Newton 1862, Oregon during C.W., Osage 1880, Pemiscot 1883, Pike 1864,  Pulaski 1903, Randolph 1880, Reynolds 1872, Saline 1864, Shannon 1863, 1871, 1938, 1893, Stoddard 1864, Taney 1885, Texas 1932, Vernon C.W., Wayne 1854, 1892, Webster 1863, 1881, Wright 1864, 1897

Archives, Libraries and Societies

Missouri Archives and Libraries

Missouri Societies

Inventory of Vital Records

To learn more about the history and availability of vital records, see Guide to Public Vital Statistics Records in Missouri.