Week 4 – Vital Records « Chasing Dead Ancestors

Week 4 – Vital Records

Written By: mic - Feb• 11•13

Births, Marriages, Deaths, Divorces

History:

1492 Catholic Church requires parish church to keep vital records- Christenings (births), Marriages, Burials (deaths)

1538 English Church separated from Church of Rome

Minsters required to maintain parish records

1632 General Assembly of Virginia

Ministers or warden of parish to appear annually in court on June 1^st and present a record of Christenings, Marriages and Burials

1629 Massachusetts Bay Colony

Required Town Clerks to maintain record of Births and Deaths, (not Christenings and Burials. This law passed responsibility of record keeping to Government

1800’s Due to fear of epidemics, doctors and statisticians urged records keeping

1833 1/10^th world’s population living in areas with vital records keeping

1836 Act of 1836 England and Wales began Civil Records Keeping.

1842 And 1844 urged by Lemuel Shattuck, Massachusetts began Central Registration Laws

1850-1900 Mortality Scvhedules incorporated into US Federal Censuses

Definition of Record of Death, Birth, Marriage

Any document that renders evidence that a death, birth or marriage took place

Certificate of Birth, Death, Marriage

A document on an official certificate or form that renders evidence that a birth, death or marriage occurred

Classifications of Records of Birth, Death, Marriage

Official Those records of Birth, Death or Marriage maintained by an elected or appointed official in his official duty. These records serve as a public record of the birth, death or marriage. These officers are usually called County Clerks, Town Clerks, Judge of Probate, etc.

Unofficial Those records of birth, death or marriage created by one not elected or appointed to an office whose duty is not to maintain their records for other than official purposes. Funeral Director, newspaper obituary, etc

Ecclesiastical Those records of birth, death, marriage maintained by an official of a church. In countries where the Church is a State Church, these records might also be considered the Official Records

Original- The first filed document in the files of the official recorder of records. This document usually has handwritten information and/or signatures

Transcription- A typewritten/computer generated birth, death, marriage certificate with no original handwriting

EVIDENCE

Primary Records of birth, death, marriage can be considered reliable evidence when they are created near the time of the event. They are considered more reliable if they are created for the purpose of documenting the event and the person creating the document had no personal interest in the creation of that document, particularly, if it was the duty of that person to create the document. Such as a County Clerk.

Secondary Information on a vital record that was not concurrently with the event such as a date, place or name of parent-school record, news article, obituary, birth announcement

Examples of Documents of Death

Death Certificate Burial Permit Coronor Report

Cemetery Register Sexton Report Estate Record

Mortality Schedule Pension File Church Record

Newspaper Obituary Bible Record News Article

Tombstone Inscription Social Security Insurance Papers

Funeral Home Record Diary Letters

Court Records Court Deposition Land Records

Examples of Marriage Documents

Consent affadavits

Declaration of Intents

Banns

Bonds

Contracts

Marriage License

Marriage Register and Returns

Marriage Certificates

Vital Records Registration Pre-1880:

Churches, Town Clerks of New England, Federal Census Mortality Schedules, Cemeteries of the Public Cemetery Movement, Burial-Sexton records

Cities with Pre-1880 Registers of Burial (some)

New Orleans (1790)

Savannah (1803)

Charleston (1821)

Boston (1848)

Philadelphia (1860)

Pittsburgh (1870)

Baltimore (1875)

States with Pre-1880 Registers of Burial

VT (1770)

GA (1823/1919)

NH (1840)

MA (1841)

HI (1850)

VA/RI (1853)

DE (1860)

FL (1865)

MI (1867)

DC (1871)

WI (1876)

NJ (1878)

NY (1880)

IA (1880)

Obtaining Birth/Death Certificates

Normally obtained from County as well as State where the event occurred

Family Search Death Certificates http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=0

Reasons for a Death Certificate

Property settlement

Church-secremental salvation

Mortality/Morbidity statistics

Reasons for a Birth Certificate

Evidence of birth

Evidence of nationality

Public statistics

Buckner’s Birthdate calculator

http://share-hodgson.org/bircalc.html

Birthdate Calculator 8870 formula

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ote/birthcalc.htm

Scenario of Death Certificate Creation and Filing

Funeral Home may or may not be contacted before a death

Hospital or relative notifies funeral home of death

While at hospital funeral director obtains miscellaneous information from hospital records including name, place and date of death, name of doctor

Family meets with funeral director for funeral arrangements. Information obtained concerning proper name, date and place of birth, military service, etc

Funeral Director sends certificate to pronouncing doctor/official for cause of death

Funeral Director files certificate with proper filing official

Reliability of information on a Death Certificate

Contemporary information should be very reliable, particularly if a wife or adult child gives the information. Viz-name, address, date and place of death, date and place of burial

Problems arise when a preacher of family or family friend gives information. Problems also occur with names of parents and place and date of birth for deceased

Possible Problems with Original Records

No Returns/Filings

Fires

Inaccuracies

Illegibility

Spelling variations

Correcting Erroneous or Incomplete Information

File an amended certificate

Where are death certificates filed?

Filed in the City, County or State where the event occurred

Finding unlocated Death certificates

Check with family members, obituaries, cemetery-for correct name, date and place of death. Also check for misspelling of name.

Probate Records

Testate-Die with a Will

Intestate-Die without a Will

Estates filed and handled in county of residence

Pay just debts and collect debts due

Divide estate as directed in a Will or divide estate equitably among heirs.

Estate files are public records

Cemeteries, Funeral Homes

Records are proprietary business records, not public

Nationwide Veterans Gravesite Locator

http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/j2ee/servlet/NGL_v1

Veterans Cemetery Main Page

http://www.cem.va.gov/

Arlington National Cemetery

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Default.aspx

American Battlefield Monuments Commission

http://www.abmc.gov/

Findagrave.com

http://findagrave.com

US Genweb

http://www.usgenweb.com

tva cemeteries

http://www.tva.gov/river/landandshore/culturalresources/cemeteries.htm

CyndisList-Cemeteries and Funeral Homes

http://www.cyndislist.com/cemetery.htm

Tombstone Rubbing Step by Step

http://www.familytreemagazine.com/article/Tombstone-Rubbing-Step-by-Step

Cemetery Transcription Form

http://www.familytreemagazine.com/upload/images/pdf/cemetery.pdf

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