Vital Records

Vital records most commonly refer to records such as birth and death certificates, marriage licenses divorce decrees, wills, and the like. These records are created by local authorities and with possible exceptions for events overseas, in the military, or in the District of Columbia. They are not considered Federal records; therefore they are not held by NARA.
The CDC's National Center for Health Statistics website tells how to obtain birth, death, marriage, and divorce records from state and territorial agencies.

NARA Related Resources

Information collected in Census Records may help you to find which jurisdiction you will want to look for vital records in. For instance, if you find your ancestor's state of birth and approximate year of birth are reported in the census, you can then contact that local jurisdiction regarding their birth records. Certain census years (1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880) also had mortality schedules (1890-1900 were unfortunately destroyed), so you may find someone's death reported if it occurred in the year leading up to the census.

Marriage Registers of Freedman, an article from Prologue
This article describes the marriage records available for freed slaves and other records about slave families. These records are an invaluable source for African-American family history. See links to more resources on African-American Research.

Casualty lists from the U.S. military:

• World War II
  Army and Army Air Force
  Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Personnel
• Korean War
• Vietnam War
• Also, Search AAD for War Casualties and POW lists

External Web Sites with Related Information

• 1930 Federal Population Census
  This NARA site is dedicated to the release of the 1930 census. It is complete with finding aids and indexes.
  
• American Battle Monuments Commission: World War II Dead
  Arranged by cemetery and memorial, this site displays the burials and missing in action for 172,218 victims.
  
• American FactFinder
  This U.S. Census Bureau site is designed to make finding census information easier. Included are community profiles, reference and thematic maps, and population and housing facts.
  
• Arizona Birth & Death Certificate Archive
  Birth and death certificates for residents of Arizona are now available to the public through this site, provided the birth was more than 75 years ago, and the death more than 50 years ago.
  
• Deaths of U.S. Citizens in Foreign Countries
  Information on reports of Americans who have died abroad. Guidance is provided for obtaining reports from U.S. consular offices to the Department of State naming U.S. citizens who died within foreign countries.
  
• Online Searchable Death Indexes for the USA
  This site provides databases for genealogists and other researchers.
  
• Find A Grave
  This site helps you search for ancestors' graves, memorials, monuments, burial records, and cemeteries. It also provides links to the graves of thousands of famous people around the world.
  
• Family History: Clues in Census Records, 1850-1920
  This article by Claire Prechtel-Kluskens appeared in the January 1998 issue of NARA's The Record.
  
• First in the Path of the Fireman: The Fate of the 1890 Census
  This article, written by Kellee Blake, was published in the Spring 1996 issue of Prologue.
  
• Illinois Statewide Death Index (1916-1950)
  This database provides listings of death certificates filed with the Illinois Department of Public Health between 1916 and 1950.
  
• Marriage Registers of Freedman
  Elaine Everly, an NARA staff member, wrote this article on Freedmans' marriage registers. It is an invaluable source of family history published in the Fall 1973 issue of Prologue Quarterly.
  
• Myths and Realities about the 1960 Census
  This article by Margaret O. Adams and Thomas E. Brown appeared in the Winter 2000 issue of Prologue.
  
• National Adoption Information Clearinghouse
  The NAIC will assist genealogists in seeking modern vital records and give current information on state laws and procedures.
  
• National Cemetery Administration: National Gravesite Locator
  This site includes an online database of over 3,000,000 veterans' cemetery records, covering VA burials since the Civil War.
  
• New York City Death Index
  Nearly 1.4 million records are included in the database, covering: 1891 to 1894 Manhattan Only, 1895 to 1897 Manhattan and Brooklyn Only, and 1898 to 1911 All Boroughs.
  
• The Official Land Patent Records Site (BLM)
  Maintained by the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) General Land Office, this site currently provides public access to over two million federal land title records, issued between 1820 and 1908, for twelve Eastern Public Land States.
  
• Obtaining Birth/Death Records in Other States
  Compiled by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, this site links to the vital records offices of all 50 states.
  
• Online Searchable Death Indexes
  Created by Joe Beine, this site lists death indexes by state and includes county indexes, obituaries, death certificate databases, and a vital records database.
  
• Passengers on the Mayflower: Ages & Occupations, Origins & Connections
  This site, The Plymouth Colony Archive Project, lists all the passengers on the Mayflower, and their occupations. Very useful for proving ancestry lines from the original Plymouth Colony settlers.
  
• Record Searching: Birth, Marriage, Death, Divorce, Land
  This Internet Public Librarian site assists in locating public or vital records using the Internet.
  
• Record of Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Civil War, 1861-1865
  This digital version of William S. Stryker's classic work is presented here by the New Jersey State Library.
  
• Social Security Death Index
  Sponsored by FamilyTreeMaker.com, this site indexes all death records reported to the Social Security Administration.
  
• State Archives
  Locations of NARA State Archives and historical societies with contact information.
  
• U.S. Vital Records Information
  This site helps begin researchers because it is organized by state and then county, and gives instructions on how to make inquiries concerning vital records.
  
• Where to Write for Vital Records
  The CDC's National Center for Health Statistics website tells how to obtain birth, death, marriage, and divorce records from state and territorial agencies.
  
• World War I Service Cards Database
  Database of over 145,000 service cards of Army and Marine soldiers from Missouri between 1917 and 1919.

This page was last reviewed on June 25, 2024.
Contact us with questions or comments.