Genealogists utilize records that list the names of people, with many of them being government records. These are documents with information collected by a government entity. A government may collect information about residents and citizens on various location levels, including federal or national, state or province, county or parish, city or town.
Government records are those a government keeps about its operations, territory, and residents (citizens and non-citizens). These records span those that enumerate all individuals to those who have some specific interaction with the government, such as buying land. Governments also collect information on those who want to exercise a right, such as voting or obtaining citizenship. Governments maintain information on those who work or volunteer with them. Governments also document people who break laws in the form of arrest records, court records, and prison or jail records. Some governments may also document people that they have committed crimes or genocide against at some point in the country's history. Government record examples include:
- Census
- Vital Records or Civil Registration (Birth, Marriage, Death)
- Land Records
- Military Records
- Voter Records
- Tax Records
- Licenses (driving, occupational)
- Employee Records
- Awards
- Law enforcement records
- Court records
- Citizenship, Immigration, and Naturalization
Research your ancestors on MyHeritage
What Government records exist for
What government records exist for your ancestor will depend on their location, time period, and their interaction with the government. Government records differ depending on time and place. Multiple countries may keep a similar, more or less standardized record such as a census, but not all countries enumerate their population this way. In the case of the United States, there are federal and some state census returns, but not all states participated in a state census.
Some records may not have been kept until the twentieth century or later, which impacts what is available for your ancestor. In addition, laws may affect your ability to access some government records. For example, in the United States, a driver's license may be helpful for research, but in the state of California, they are unavailable for research due to privacy laws. In order to ascertain what records are available for your ancestor's time and location, it is important to learn more about the history of that area, conduct online searches, and consult genealogy research books.
How to find Government records
Government records appear in various formats, including original records, transcriptions, digitized records, and abstracts. How and where you find the record depends on the record itself, the location, and the time period.
Start your search by using a genealogy website, and consider starting your search by a location rather than an ancestor’s name to exhaust possible government records. To do this on MyHeritage, click on the Research tab, found at the top toolbar at the far right. This will reveal a drop-down menu. From the drop-down menu, click on Collection Catalog. You can search or browse by a place from the Collection Catalog. Remember that records may exist on multiple government levels, so be prepared to search by the name of the country, state, county, or city that the ancestor was from.
To search by location, use the search box at the top right labeled "Search for collection of keyword." Type in a location. To browse by location, use the browse features on the screen's right-hand side. First, choose a country under the Refine by location title. Once you have selected a country, records for that country will show. You can then refine further and choose a state or province.
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You can also browse by collection. Under the title All Collection in that browse box on the left, choose Government, Land, Court, and Wills. Remember that other collections may also contain government records, such as the Census and Voters List category. Once you find the record you are interested in, search the record by name to find your ancestor or the person you are researching.
Government records may also be available from the government itself. Searching online can help determine what government entity has jurisdiction over the records, whether a national, state, or local archive or a government office. For example, a tax record may be available from a county assessor's office in the United States, or they may have moved the record to a county archive, depending on how old it is. Sometimes court records can be found at the court or a local archive. Government records may be available as an original paper record, on microform (microfilm or microfiche), digitized, or indexed in a database online. Online databases may be open to the public and searchable from home. Some government records may require you to pay a fee to search, download or to receive copies via e-mail.
An additional place to look for older records is a library. Records may be found transcribed or abstracted in books. Conduct a search in a genealogy-focused library for books for the area you are researching. Remember, a transcription, index, or abstract is a finding aid that should be used to find the original record.
Explore more about Government records
- Collection Catalog at MyHeritage
- Government, Land, Court & Wills collection at MyHeritage
- How to Search for Historical Records on MyHeritage on the MyHeritage Knowledge Base
- How do I save a record from the MyHeritage historical records search engine? on the MyHeritage Help Center
- The Genealogy in Government Documents at Family Tree Webinars
- Using Another Library Source: the Government Document Section at Family Tree Webinars
- Government Gazettes as a Genealogical Resource at Family Tree Webinars