A baby recently joined our family. A perfect little human! Nowadays, the hospital provided the parents with a form to fill out to receive the child’s birth certificate and social security number. In most states you can click Vital Records online and receive a copy of your birth certificate. It hasn’t always been like that.
Indeed a record of birth is one of the most important genealogical facts. Generally birth records give the child’s name, sex, date and place of birth and the names of the parents.
There are MANY birth index records online (paid sites) and a few states who have free indexes including: Arizona, Minnesota, Oklahoma, South Dakota. The dates vary but worth a look!
As a historian I have learned that before 1900 it was not mandatory to report a birth to the State. Sometimes Doctors or midwives kept a journal and they are treasures. Sometimes a newspaper reported the birth. But how can you find record of birth in other ways?
Here are some other ideas of where to gain information about a birth:
Family members
Hospital delivery record
Newspaper birth announcement
Hospital birth certificate with baby’s footprints
Midwife Journal
Doctor Records
Church baptismal certificate
Church newsletter announcements
Adoption Decree
School Records
Family bibles
City and county registrations
Death records
Marriage records
Census records some years had the month and year of birth
Census mortality records (1850, 1860, 1870, 1880)
Obituaries
Cemetery records / gravestones
Funeral home records
Emigration and immigration records
Military records
Probate records
Land and property records
Social Security Administration Records
City Directory may list children and year of birth
Find A Grave.com
Civil War, WWI and WWII Draft Registration Cards
Passport
Wills
Oh that reminds me I need to go add the new person in our family to all my family records! What joy!
Geneographer 