Welcome to the GENEALOGY RESEARCH SERIES: Vital Records
Have you ever wondered about your family history? Where did we come from? What is OUR story?
Follow along with me in this Genealogy Research Series and learn how using VITAL RECORDS can help you with your family history journey. In this lesson, I will walk you through what Vital Records are available and where to find them.
What ARE Vital Records?
Genealogist and family historians are always searching for the detailed information that is found in Vital Records. The key elements in every family tree are birth, marriage, and death information. Details found in these records include dates, places, and information about others that are related to the person.
Vital Records are records that are kept about important life events. Vital Records are kept under the authority of the government. They may be kept at local, state or federal levels.
The original record is always kept by the government office that is commissioned to hold them, but copies can be obtained, usually for a fee.
There are some restrictions on who can have access to some types of vital records. For instance, birth certificates usually have to be 90-125 years old before they are released to the public. This rule exists to protect the privacy of living people.
To request birth records that are younger than the age required by the holding agency, you usually have to prove a 1st-degree relationship to the persons whose record you are requesting. This includes parent, child, sibling, and sometimes grandparents.
Where to Find Vital Records
The first place to look for Vital Records is the governing agency that has custody of those records. Some of those agencies could include the Bureau of Vital Statistics, County Clerks Offices, and Health Depts.
If you are looking for older vitals for your ancestors try doing a search on online genealogy sites to see if they have indexed and digitized copies of those records. More and more records are being indexed every day and lots can be found online.
Some vital records are not so easy to find. Most states were not required to record and archive birth certificates until the 1900s. There were some states that kept vital records before that time, but many did not.
But there are some ways to get around that. Back in the day, churches kept records of births, christenings, marriages, and deaths. Not every church, but many religious organizations kept really good records and they were considered legal documents. So its always a great idea to check out churches that your ancestors may have attended to see if they have records. Often these old records are even archived in local historical society libraries, and even state archives.
The next place to look for vital information is in family bibles. Families recorded important events in the family bible and the details found in bibles were also considered legal in many instances.
Birth Records
The first vital record that we will discuss is birth certificates. Birth records give us the starting place for information about our ancestors. A birth record is the first record that relates to our ancestor and the most likely to be accurate. Every record needs to be checked for errors, but historically, the closer the record to the event that is recorded, the more accurate it is.
Birth records can give us full names, dates of birth, place of birth. They can also give us the child’s parents names and place of births. Some states even list the number of children born to that mother.
Marriage Records
Marriage records are plentiful online. Most courthouses also have many years of marriage records that are available to the public. They are kept in big books. Older records are stored usually in archives and have been indexed, published in books, or digitized for online viewing.
There are 3 types of marriage records to look for:
- bonds
- applications
- license
A marriage bond is a legal “intent to marry”, somewhat of an official “engagement”. It was like a contract from the groom declaring that he is a suitable provider for his bride and that there are no reasons why the marriage should not take place. A bond was the amount of money to be paid by the groom if for some reason the marriage did not happen. Usually, the father of the bride signs as the bondsman, or another relative of the bride.
A marriage application usually has more detailed information included in it. The application is usually found at the Clerks office in the courthouse or in state archives. It contains information like the names and ages of the bride and groom, and sometimes their birthdates and places of birth. It also can include details about the parents of the couple to be married.
The license gives information about the bride and groom, like full names, ages, dates of birth and places of birth. And the location or county marriage took place. It also can give you information about who performed the ceremony, such as a justice of the peace or clergy. It can also have witnesses to the ceremony which are often family members of the couple.
Death records
Other important records include death records. Death certificates are legal documents held by state governments that record personal details about the deceased, in addition to details about other family members such as parents, or informants which are often children. Death certificates also give the place of death, date of death and causes of death.
Another type of death record that is kept by the Federal government is the Social Security Death Index or SSDI. It includes information about people that have died since 1936 who had a Social Security number and whose death was reported to the Social Security office and whose family member applied for death benefits.
Once an ancestor’s name shows up on the SSDI a request for your ancestor’s Social Security card application can be made. This application can be full of information that would be valuable from a genealogical standpoint.
Not every vital record can be found for every ancestor, but there are millions of vital records that are indexed online. A thorough search for vital records can produce some valuable details for your family history.
STAY TUNED!
Stay tuned to the Genealogy Research Series for tips on how to trace your family tree.
Remember, I will teach you what records will help you learn about your ancestors and where to find them.
So, if you are interested in tracing your family tree and don’t know where to begin, or if you have been just dabbling with genealogy a little bit and are ready to get serious about it, then stick around for lots of information to guide you on your journey.
You can go to this page for a list of other posts and videos in this series that are guaranteed to guide you in your search for ancestors!
Until then,
HAPPY HUNTING!
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