Birth Records

Though it may seem intuitive to search for a birth certificate first, it will be easier to locate a death certificate or other records first that will give you important information about when and where your research subject was born, or even their religious denomination. Once you have learned this it will be a lot simpler to locate birth records - and then you also have something to compare your findings to and help authenticate your evidence.

Vital records, including birth certificates, marriage certificates and death certificates, are highly valued as they are primary and original sources. They can often hold the most concrete evidence about an individual, from their date and place of birth to their parent’s names (and mother’s maiden name). Generally the more recent birth certificates hold more information than early records, offering the father’s occupation or parent’s birthplaces, home addresses, or number of siblings. They are also one of our few “linking” documents that show one generation (our ancestor) with the generation before (their parents). In some cases a vital record be the only evidence that our ancestor even existed.

Types of Birth Records & Sources

Birth Certificate: this can mean the original document, a certified copy, or a copy, of a vital record issued from the state of birth that details the birth of a child.
Abstract of a Birth Record or Certificate: a short or abstract birth certificate uses information copied or transcribed from the original birth certificate, and may have less information than the original. They may or may not be certified.
Heirloom or Souvenir Birth Certificates: these are usually issued by the state of birth, but not meant for official purposes and will show less detail than an original birth certificate. It is designed to be framed as artwork, and may be signed by the governor. They may also include footprints of the child.
Birth Record: a note describing the child’s full name, sex, date of birth, and location. A birth record can be found in town records, parish records, or biographies. They can also be found in Family Bibles, genealogy books, or local town histories.
Register of Births: a list of recorded births in an area, shown with the child’s name, date of birth, parents names, and place of birth.
Birth Index: is a database that contains all the registered births in that location in a certain time, usually with a reference to help find the original birth record.
Baptism or Christening Certificate or Record: these church records of early sacraments may be the closest primary source available to birth for many individuals. As they are issued by the church and not the state they are usually not accepted for government purposes. They should list child’s name, parent’s name, and date of baptism. They may not list the date of birth, but baptism was usually done within a year or two of a child’s birth.
Delayed birth records: These were filed later, some time after the birth, for a variety of reasons. If an individual had no birth certificate and later wished to apply for social security benefits (created in 1937) they would have had to apply for a delayed birth record. Or a relative may have applied for a birth record on behalf of someone else, with supporting evidence.
Replacement or Reissued Birth Certificate: in most cases of adoption, the original birth certificate will be sealed with the adoption records and a new certificate will be issued with the names of the adoptive parents and the new name for the child. Usually nothing on the birth certificate will indicate it has been reissued.
Other sources: you may be able to learn an individual’s birth date from other sources, such as census records, naturalization papers, or death records.

How to Find Birth Records

You’ve checked your lock boxes and attics, you’ve browsed local history books, you’ve scanned newspapers for birth announcements, and you’ve asked your relatives for copies - but you still have come up empty handed in your search for a birth certificate. What next?

If you’re searching for a birth certificate of a direct ancestor, say your grandmother, you may have to request a vital record from their state of birth. Records less than 100 years old may be protected by privacy rules and restricted to kin. Vital records are available for a small fee (more for certified copies) from third party websites like VitalChek, or through contacting local government agencies (you may need to request recent records by mail). You will to know some personal information, such as their state of birth, full name, and birth date if you have it. They will also ask for the person’s sex, parent’s names (including maiden), place of birth, and will request a description of your relationship and the reason for your request. They may also ask for a copy of your photo ID.

You may have to prove your direct relationship or follow eligibility requirements to receive a certified copy, though often informational or genealogical copies are available if you do not meet the criteria for certified copies. Many states also offer heirloom birth certificates with attractive designs suited for framing, but not intended for legal purposes.

Each state varies with how far their records go back, due to when they established statewide registration laws, and how well they’ve kept records. New Hampshire claims their state office has records as far back as 1631, while Pennsylvania’s state office has records since 1906 for example.

You may also request copies of records directly from the city or town clerk where the birth occurred. Look up the town or county’s website for a vital records request form, or town clerk contact information. Provide them with your relationship, and the information you request, and as much information about your ancestor as you can (full name, name of spouse, birth date, etc). Often there is a small fee. Keep in mind that town and county borders may have shifted over time or names may have changed. Always try neighboring towns or areas.

Many of these town records are online and can be searched or browsed through websites like FamilySearch.org. You may have luck finding them in a birth index first, and then looking up the original record. When using database like FamilySearch or Ancestry.com, there are several different ways to search for records. You can do a broad search, where you enter your ancestor’s name and one or two other limiting factors, maybe their birth year or their parent’s name, and cross your fingers and hope for a result. A better option is to find a specific collection in the location of their birth and within the correct time frame, and search or browse those records. In FamilySearch, select the SEARCH tab, then CATALOG. From there, enter a location. From the results, scroll down to find birth records, vital records, or town records. You may have to browse through a few different collections.

Some early town histories and vital records can be found through free online text resources such as Google Books, the Internet Archive, and the HathiTrust Digital Library. Try searching by the name of your town, city, or county, then searching or browsing any promising results.

No luck with home sources, third-party services, state records, town clerk records, or history books? Our next option is church records. Find out your ancestor’s religious denomination (see our Church Records page for tips) and search the church’s records online. Alternatively, contact the church or archdiocese either by email or written letter and ask for their help, offering them as much information as you can about the ancestor’s and records you are researching.

Still can’t find a birth record? Try alternate spellings or nicknames or research local towns and nearby counties. Remember, there’s a chance it may not exist - either it was never recorded, or those records were lost over time, or those records have not been indexed or transcribed yet. Update your research notes with where you looked and that it was unsuccessful, so that you don’t have to repeat the same search later - and move on to look for other vital records and sources. You can always come back to this particular hunt later.

Examining Birth Records

You’ve found the birth certificate - or at least, you think you have. You need to make sure this is really a record of your ancestor or research subject, and not another individual with the same or similar name.

There are a few different ways to do this, but the main way is to compare all of the information on the certificate with the information from the sources you already have. Do the names of parents match what you know? Are the ages and dates right? Is it the correct location, or the same address of the mother on a census record for example? Is there a witness that you know to be a relative or neighbor?

As you update your notes and research logs be sure to state the source as this birth certificate you found, and note where you found it. Ask yourself the following questions:

Is there any information that conflicts with our other sources that we need to resolve?
Did we learn anything new that can lead us to new sources?
- Place of birth = find the child and their family in next available census
- Father’s occupation = look up employment or military records
- Parent’s names = find birth records for siblings, look up parents vital and census records
- Mother’s maiden name = look up parents wedding certificate or mother’s birth certificate
- Family residence = research their home and anyone else that may have lived there
- Parent’s birth places = former residences, search those towns for vital records
- Religious affiliation = church records

Could birth certificates or death certificates be wrong? Occasionally these vital records will have misspellings, the wrong dates or names, or be missing information like parent’s names - often because the information entered on these forms was given by an informant who may have been misinformed. In other cases, laws may have caused mistakes on the certificate. For example, the father listed on the birth certificate may have been the wife’s husband, but not the biological father, and had to be listed for legal reasons.

For problems with legibility, or trying to understand the handwriting of a birth record, see our Handwriting guide.

One last tip - if you find a birth record, check the same source for their siblings or parents while you have the source available.