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 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.
Births, deaths, and marriages of American citizens overseas
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, 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.
Arranged by cemetery and memorial, this site displays the burials and missing in action for 172,218 victims.
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.
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.
This site provides databases for genealogists and other researchers.
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.
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.
The NAIC will assist genealogists in seeking modern vital records and give current information on state laws and procedures.
This site includes an online database of over 3,000,000 veterans' cemetery records, covering VA burials since the Civil War.
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.
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.
Compiled by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, this site links to the vital records offices of all 50 states.
Created by Joe Beine, this site lists death indexes by state and includes county indexes, obituaries, death certificate databases, and a vital records database.
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.
This Internet Public Librarian site assists in locating public or vital records using the Internet.
This digital version of William S. Stryker's classic work is presented here by the New Jersey State Library.
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.
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.
The CDC's National Center for Health Statistics website tells how to obtain birth, death, marriage, and divorce records from state and territorial agencies.
Database of over 145,000 service cards of Army and Marine soldiers from Missouri between 1917 and 1919.