When people get involved with genealogy, they are often told that they should first check out Grandpa’s death certificate, then get a copy of his birth certificate and so forth. However, most typically find out that Grandpa may have had a death certificate, but maybe no birth document at all. And if the researcher attempts to trace the family back further, he may very well find that there are no governmentally created vital record documents available at all!
A while back I compiled a chart (based on information from each of the states) that showed how many states have vital records for the various periods in the U.S. history. It is as follows:
|
Starting Dates |
States Beginning Vital Records |
||
|
1640 |
1 state |
New Hampshire |
|
|
1760 |
1 state |
Vermont |
|
|
1848 |
1 state |
New Jersey |
|
|
1850-59 |
3 states |
Hawaii, Rhode Island, Virginia |
|
|
1860-69 |
2 states |
Delaware, Michigan |
|
|
1874 |
District of Columbia |
||
|
1880 |
1 state |
New York State |
|
|
1890-99 |
4 states |
CT, ME, MD, MA (NY City births 1899) |
|
|
1900-09 |
19 states |
||
|
1910-19 |
16 states |
||
|
1920-29 |
2 states |
NM, ND (New York City deaths 1920) |
|
Note that the vast majority of states didn’t begin vital record registration until after 1900. This severely limits genealogists’ ability to locate civil documents of this nature. Keep in mind that there are many other places where you can locate vital records, which I have written extensively about in the last few posts.