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Obtaining Vital Records from the States
By Cheri Mello
The 3 vital records that you will need to obtain from an ancestor are: birth, marriage and death. I will begin with the last thing your ancestor did, which was to die. From there, you work back in time. Not many death or birth certificates exist before 1850. For those, you would need to obtain 2 sources (such as a census and a death certificate that agree to prove a person's birth.)
1. Death records - You will need to write to the state's Department of Health or Vital Statistics to obtain the death certificate (DC). Each state charges it's own fee. Your local library may have a booklet called, "Where to Write for Vital Records." The Mormon (LDS) church has this booklet too. Also the addresses may be obtained from the Handybook. ***NOTE***A death certificate is a primary source for death only. Any other information you get off the death certificate (like your ancestor's birthday) is a secondary source. And remember, the DC is only as accurate as the person (informant) who provides it. If you are hunting down your ancestor's parents and the DC doesn't provide it, you may want to try a sibling's DC.
a. Obituaries - while you are waiting for that death certificate to arrive in the mail, you may wish to check for an obituary on your ancestor. You can find obituaries in your local public library. Your library may have "Newspapers in Microform" and/or "Union List of Newspapers". The Gale Directory of Publications has more current newspapers. Most states also have a bibliography of newspapers. 3 things to keep in mind while reading obituaries are: Who said it? When did they say it? and How did they know? The obituary may give you a birth town, the island or maybe just "Azores," "Madeira," or "Portugal." It will list the surviving spouse (if any) as well as surviving offspring. It may list places of where the deceased lived, and may even give you a time line. It may include the ancestors occupation and how long in that occupation. Sometimes, you will find an article in the newspaper about the deceased, especially if your ancestor was prominent, or possibly died in a tragedy. A side note on newspapers here: some older newspapers have "Society" sections where they may say the Mr. & Mrs. ____ went to visit their daughter in ____.
b. California Death Index (CDI) -Since I live in CA, I happen to know about the CDI (other states may have their own, I don't know if they exist for all 50 states. MA has a DI). The CDI is organized into decades. I believe from 1905-1939 is on microfilm. 1940-1992 is on fiche. It lists the deceased's name, county died in, Social Security number, spouse's first name (if survived by a spouse), the state number and the registration number. Some older years list the date of birth. If your ancestor died in CA and you don't know when, you will find this very useful.
2. Marriage records - When looking for your ancestors' marriage (if they married in America), make sure you get the record or registrar. The license gives lot of genealogical information, but it doesn't prove the marriage. It could give the town overseas of your ancestors. The witnesses to the marriage could be relatives. The parents of the bride and groom could be listed. Some things you may run across when looking for the marriage are the bond (money put up by the groom) or a consent affidavit (parents saying OK to the marriage). Most marriages can be easily found from 1600 on at the place where it occurred. In New England you may find them at the town level; most other states you find them at the county level. To approximate a year for marriage, subtract 2 years from the birth of the oldest child.
3. Birth records - Birth records didn't really begin until about the turn of the century (1900). A person who need a certificate and didn't have one filed the information on a form themselves (this began around 1937). This is called a Delayed Certificate of Birth. For the birth of ancestors before the records were kept, you would need to use the U. S. Census, family Bible, or baptismal records. But if you are dealing with your immigrant, he may not have an American birth certificate.
© 2003 Cheri Mello Sources: Author's own experience with the records.
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