Vital Records in the U.S.A.

Tracing the ancestry of people who emigrated to the United States can be made easier if you know from where they emigrated. You will want to search ship's passenger lists, as well as birth, marriage and death records. These are recorded by each state, write to the state, or better yet, the county, where the event took place. Usually requests made to smaller county offices produce faster results then to large state offices. When requesting birth, marriage and/or death records for genealogical research purposes in the USA be sure to mention that this is why you want the record and ask if a zerox copy of the original registration can be made for you rather than a "certified copy" or certificate. (Original registration entries at county offices often contain data that is left off "certificates"!) NOTE: Always write the state or county FIRST to inquire about what records they have available at their location, their fees, etc. In some states; older records are no longer kept at the primary state/county offices, but are now in the hands of the state/county's historical societies. Copies of these older records are still available through these historical societies, of course, but you will need to send your request to their office rather then the primary state/county office. ALSO: Ask for PRICES! A zerox copy of the record will usually cost less then a dollar, and certainly far less then what a "certified copy" or certificate will cost. In some states, "Civil Registration of birth" was not mandantory (even where registering marriages and deaths were) untill well into the 1900s. So, while you may be able to obtain a 1899 marriage record, you might not be able to obtain the birth certificates of the children born to that marriage. To obtain mailing addresses for State/ US Territories Bureaus of Vital Records/Statistics:

CLICK HERE.............http://www.inlink.com/~nomi/vitalrec/

For information on USA Ship's Passenger lists: CLICK HERE: There are MANY sites on-line which feature searchable databases for old vital records. But this varies from state to state Usually these sites are maintained by state or county historical societies. Use your search engine to track them down. You might also want to visit this site on-line: United States Gen Exchange .........http://www.genexchange.com/us.cfm It's a fairly new site but well organized! It offers pages for every US state where genealogists can post their data for an assortment of records into a searchable database. Even if what you need isn't there YET, take a few minutes to enter your own data and help this site grow!

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