New Zealand Civil Registration: Difference between revisions

=== Indexes to Civil Registration Records ===

Births, marriages, and deaths were registered as they occurred and thus are arranged chronologically. Indexes can help you find your ancestor more easily. The Civil Registration records are indexed from 1848 to the present. In addition, there are indexes to marriages for 1840-1847, which were compiled from entries in church registers. Content of the indexes include the given name, surname, and a reference number. They are indexed annually (except the first three years after civil registration commenced). The Family History Library has copies of the indexes to 1920 on microfiche. Look in the Family History Library Catalog, Place Search, under: New Zealand, Civil Registration Indexes.  CD 3282 Marriages from 1836-1956 is available at the Family History Library Salt Lake City, and perhaps many Family History Centres, or Libraries may have this CD.

NEW ZEALAND - CIVIL REGISTRATION - INDEXES  

The indexes are arranged by year and cover the entire country. To use the indexes, you must know the name, the approximate year when an event took place and at least generally, the place of the event. To protect the rights of privacy of living persons, most modern records have restrictions on their use and access.  

Be sure to contact the Registrar General’s Office for current fees for obtaining civil registration records. Some of the certificates and services you can obtain through the office are:  

*A photocopy of a birth, marriage or death entry  

*A certified copy of birth, marriage or death  

*Personal inspection of an entry  

*A search of the index for one name for a specified year  

*Continuation of a search per each year

When writing to obtain a certificate be sure to send the following:  

*Check or money order (in $N.Z. if writing from outside of country).  

*International Reply Coupons, available from large post offices (or extra for postage)  

*Full name and the sex of the person sought.  

*Names of the parents, if known.  

*Approximate date and place of the event.  

*Your relationship to the person.  

*Reason for the request (family history, family, etc.).  

*Request for a photocopy of the complete original record.

If your request is unsuccessful, search for duplicate records that may have been filed in the district registration, or in the church registers (if you know the church in which the event took place).