Like in many other countries, U.S. vital records are created to document key events in an individual’s life: birth, marriage(s), and death. The names, dates, and locations in these records may uniquely identify a person and distinguish them from others. The names of parents, spouses and children link individuals to their families. Dates and places put individuals in specific historical settings and provide clues for further research. For all these reasons, genealogists strive to obtain vital records for each relative on their family tree.
An introduction to U.S. vital records
Depending on the time, place and other factors, past vital records in the United States may have been created by a government agency, a community organization such as a church, or even an individual; however, they are typically maintained at both the county[1] and state levels.[2] Some people’s vital events were never recorded. In other cases, vital records have been lost over time due to carelessness, disasters and other factors.
The earliest available vital records for many places are marriage records, since marriages had legal implications for families and property. Even when not recorded as an independent event, deaths may have been noted as part of estate settlements, burials (on tombstones or in grave records) or a matter of local news. Generally, births were the vital event least likely to be recorded before the 20th century.
Like any other historical record, vital records can contain incorrect or misleading information. Each has to be evaluated and compared to other sources of information. Finding multiple, reliable sources for a vital event improves the likelihood of accurately identifying relatives and connecting them to the right parents, spouses, and children. Some of these resources may be available on genealogy websites such as MyHeritage; others may need to be sought out from archives and other repositories.
Searching for U.S. government vital records
In the United States, government vital records have only been consistently created since the early decades of the 1900s, although many exist for earlier times. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, individual states assumed responsibility for maintaining vital records. Before that, some counties and cities maintained their own vital records registries.
When searching for government vital records, explore the time periods for which they are available from individual states, counties and cities. Then see whether any of the records you’re interested in have been made available online at websites such as MyHeritage. Before the mid-1900s, you may find relatives of African descent in segregated vital records collections.
If not, your next step is to order copies from government offices or archives. This may require a fee and take some time, but is possible for many places. Find contact information and instructions for ordering them via the The Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Privacy laws may partially or completely restrict availability in some states.
Other sources for vital records
Government vital records are not always available. Furthermore, it’s always best to confirm the details of a relative’s vital events in multiple sources. That’s why genealogists search for details of a birth, marriage or death in a variety of historical record types, including:
Newspapers
See also: Newspaper records
Beginning about the mid-1800s, community newspapers commonly printed notices of death, and sometimes notices of marriages or births. This example from an 1847 newspaper includes mention of a marriage and a death. In addition to formal notices such as these, you may also find vital events mentioned in other articles, such as engagement or anniversary celebrations, notices of funeral masses, or legal notices pertaining to a divorce or death.
Some U.S. newspapers are digitally searchable through websites such as MyHeritage or free websites such as Chronicling America, Fulton History, or regional collections such as Quincy (Illinois) Public Library Historical Newspaper Archive, in which the above article was discovered. Local public libraries sometimes maintain obituary databases. But often, you’ll need to use Chronicling America’s U.S. Newspaper Directory to:
- identify the newspapers that served your relative’s community at the time of an event,
- find a library that has copies of this newspaper, and
- visit or contact that library to search the newspaper.
See also: Cemetery records
Perhaps the most common and accessible record pertaining to a person’s death is a tombstone or burial marker at a cemetery. Search name indexes for tombstones at websites such as BillionGraves or at cemetery websites, or search for published transcripts of grave markers in local and genealogy libraries. Sometimes visiting a cemetery or town where you believe a relative to be buried is the best way to locate family gravestones and any companion records relating to burial plots.
Estate or probate records
Estate or probate records document the settlement of a deceased person’s estate. Those whose deaths generated a probate process were of sufficient means to leave behind an estate.
Although these records were generated due to a person’s death, they often included details of that person’s marriage and the names of any surviving children or other heirs. Before the end of slavery in the United States, estate records may also include first names and perhaps additional descriptors of enslaved people who were listed as property of the deceased, but these are usually not part of the probate proceedings and not necessarily included in the official books.[5]
Church records
See also: U.S. church records
A variety of churches kept records of births (or infant baptisms that mention birth dates), marriages, deaths and/or funerals. It can be a challenging process to determine a relative’s church and find surviving records. Yet in some cases, these may be the only likely places in which your relatives’ vital events may be documented.
Family Bibles
In generations past, many families created their own records of births, marriages and deaths by inscribing names and event dates within the pages of their Bible, especially frontier settlers and pioneers, as it was the only available source of paper to write on.[6] Sometimes enslavers included vital events of enslaved people in their family Bibles, too. It can be challenging to find a family Bible. Ask relatives whether one has been handed down. Repositories near your relative’s location, such as archives, colleges or historical and genealogical societies, may have family Bible collections.
Search U.S. vital records on MyHeritage
See also
- Birth records at MyHeritage
- Cemetery records at MyHeritage
- Death records at MyHeritage
- Marriage records at MyHeritage
- Newspaper records at MyHeritage
- Probate records at MyHeritage
- U.S. church records at MyHeritage
Explore more about US vital records
- Vital Records: How to Find Birth, Marriage, and Death Records at MyHeritage Knowledge Base
- Church and Synagogue Records for Genealogy at Library of Congress
- Messages from the Grave: Listening to Your Ancestor’s Tombstone at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- The Anatomy of BMD: What You Don’t Know about Vital Records at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- Estate Records – More Than Just Wills at Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- Resources - Vital Records and Records Disaster Mitigation and Recovery: An instructional guide published by the National Archives and Records Administration of the USA.
References
- ↑ Milwaukee Register of Deeds Vital Records System
- ↑ The 2023 Florida Statutes (including Special Session C)
- ↑ Marriage record for Elsie K. Bauer and Roy L. Johnson, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, 12 November 1914, digitized in “California, County Marriages, 1850-1952,” MyHeritage.com.
- ↑ Quincy Whig, August 25, 1847 Vol 10 No 19 Page 3. Digitized at Quincy Public Library Historical Newspaper Archive.
- ↑ Tracing Enslaved Ancestors Through Probate. Reclaiming Kin
- ↑ Family Bible records provide invaluable insight — when you can find them. Warren County Missouri Historical Society