Vital Records Checklist

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I am tak­ing the NGS Home Study Course in Amer­i­can Geneal­o­gy. While I am cov­er­ing ground I have cov­ered before, I get a lot out of doing this in a focused way. One method they are apply­ing is a sim­ple check­list of records, whether we are talk­ing about cen­sus records, vital records, or any­thing else one might look for as one con­ducts a “rea­son­ably exhaus­tive search.” While I have done this before, the process has led me to come up with a handy overview of where I stand with vital records. Below is my check­list, with the liv­ing peo­ple in my pedi­gree removed.

No. 2: Carl Lawrence JONES (1927–2003)
Birth 1927 ✓ West Vir­ginia Vital Reg­is­tra­tion Office, Charleston, West Vir­ginia
Mar­riage 1949 ✗ Cal­i­for­nia Depart­ment of Pub­lic Health, Sacra­men­to, Cal­i­for­nia (1949–1986 and 1998–1999). (If not here, check with the Los Ange­les Coun­ty Recorder, Los Ange­les, Cal­i­for­nia.)
Death 2003 ✓ New Mex­i­co Vital Records, Albu­querque, New Mex­i­co
No. 4: Lawrence Lake JONES (1895–1968)
Birth 1895 ✗ Cabell Coun­ty Clerk of Court, Hunt­ing­ton, West Vir­ginia. (State office has records since Jan­u­ary 1917. For ear­li­er records, write to Clerk of Coun­ty Court in coun­ty where event occurred.)
Mar­riage 1922 ✓ Ken­ton Coun­ty Clerk of Court, Cov­ing­ton, Ken­tucky
Death 1968 ✗ Vir­ginia State Health Depart­ment, Divi­sion of Vital Sta­tis­tics, Rich­mond, Vir­ginia – Pri­va­cy laws in Vir­ginia pro­hib­it my access to this record until 2018.
No. 5: Thel­ma Eliz­a­beth POWELL (1906–1990)
Birth 1906 ✗ Sum­mers Coun­ty Clerk of Court, Hin­ton, West Vir­ginia. (State office has records since Jan­u­ary 1917. For ear­li­er records, write to Clerk of Coun­ty Court in coun­ty where event occurred.)
Death 1990 ✓ Cal­i­for­nia Depart­ment of Pub­lic Health, Sacra­men­to, Cal­i­for­nia
No. 6: Ernest Melvin HILL (1895–1933)
Birth 1895 ✗ State of Nebras­ka Vital Records, Lin­coln, Nebras­ka. (State office has records since late 1904. If birth occurred before then, write the State office for infor­ma­tion.) (It is unlike­ly that the State ever cre­at­ed a delayed birth record for Ernest Melvin HILL, as he died pri­or to the insti­tu­tion on Social Secu­ri­ty drove the cre­ation of delayed birth cer­tifi­cates.
Mar­riage 1924 ✓ State of Nebras­ka Vital Records, Lin­coln, Nebras­ka. (Local records may also exist in the Val­ley Coun­ty Clerk, Ord, Nebras­ka, http://www.co.valley.ne.us/clerk.html .)

[Update: 2 July 2010: I received this from the Val­ley Coun­ty Clerk on 2 July 2010. I had sent the request on June 21st; the turn around was impres­sive. See A Mar­riage Cer­tifi­cate from 1924 Leads to a Birth Record from 1864 for more infor­ma­tion.]
Death 1933 ✓ State of Nebras­ka Vital Records, Lin­coln, Nebras­ka
No. 7: Helen Kjer­s­tine JOHNSON (1894–1976)
Birth 1894 ✓ State of Nebras­ka Vital Records, Lin­coln, Nebras­ka. (State office has records since late 1904. If birth occurred before then, write the State office for infor­ma­tion.)
Death 1976 ✓ Cal­i­for­nia Depart­ment of Pub­lic Health, Sacra­men­to, Cal­i­for­nia
No. 8: Calvin Jack­son JONES (1855–1933)
Birth ca. 1855 ✗ Wayne Coun­ty Clerk of Court, Wayne, West Vir­ginia. (State office has records since Jan­u­ary 1917. For ear­li­er records, write to Clerk of Coun­ty Court in coun­ty where event occurred.)
Mar­riage 1888 ✓ Fayette Coun­ty Clerk of Court, Fayet­teville, West Vir­ginia
Death 1933 ✓ Cal­i­for­nia Depart­ment of Pub­lic Health, Sacra­men­to, Cal­i­for­nia
No. 9: Melis­sa Jane MILLER (1863–1907)
Birth 1863 ✗ Fayette Coun­ty Clerk of Court, Fayet­teville, West Vir­ginia. (State office has records since Jan­u­ary 1917. For ear­li­er records, write to Clerk of Coun­ty Court in coun­ty where event occurred.)
Death 1907 ✗ Cabell Coun­ty Clerk of Court, Hunt­ing­ton, West Vir­ginia.
No. 10: Wal­ter Mans­field POWELL (1886–1936)
Birth 1886 ✗ Vir­ginia State Health Depart­ment, Divi­sion of Vital Sta­tis­tics, Rich­mond, Vir­ginia
Mar­riage 1905 ✓ Sum­mers Coun­ty Clerk of Court, Hin­ton, West Vir­ginia
Death 1936 ✓ West Vir­ginia Vital Reg­is­tra­tion Office, Charleston, West Vir­ginia
No. 11: Faye Lee LUTZ (1888–1974)
Birth 1888 ✗ Sum­mers Coun­ty Clerk of Court, Hin­ton, West Vir­ginia. (State office has records since Jan­u­ary 1917. For ear­li­er records, write to Clerk of Coun­ty Court in coun­ty where event occurred.)
Death 1974 ✓ West Vir­ginia Vital Reg­is­tra­tion Office, Charleston, West Vir­ginia
No. 12: Alvin Leslie HILL (1864–1928)
Birth 1864 ✓ Archives Nation­al du Québec, Sainte-Foye, Québec, Cana­da

[Update, 2 July 2010: I found the bap­tismal record of Alvin Leslie HILL on Ances­try as fol­lows:

Entry for Alvin Leslie Hill, 1864; Québec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Col­lec­tion), 1621–1967 [data­base on-line]. Ancestry.com: Pro­vo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Oper­a­tions Inc, 2008.
Orig­i­nal data: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Col­lec­tion. Mon­tre­al, Québec, Cana­da: Insti­tut Généalogique Drouin.

See A Mar­riage Cer­tifi­cate from 1924 Leads to a Birth Record from 1864 for more infor­ma­tion.]
Mar­riage 1892 ✗ Howard Coun­ty Clerk of Court, St. Paul, Nebras­ka or Val­ley Coun­ty Clerk of Court, Ord, Nebras­ka
Death 1928 ✓ Nebras­ka Vital Reg­is­tra­tion Office, Lin­coln, Nebras­ka
No. 13: Mary Jane SCOTT (1872–1968)
Birth 1872 ✗ Archives Nation­al du Québec, Sainte-Foye, Québec, Cana­da
Death 1968 ✓ Nebras­ka Vital Reg­is­tra­tion Office, Lin­coln, Nebras­ka
No. 14: Nels JOHNSON (1863–1946)
Birth 1863 ✗ Swedish church records, Vall­by, Kris­tianstads län, Swe­den
Mar­riage 1888 ✗ Box Butte Coun­ty Clerk of Court, Alliance, Nebras­ka
Death 1946 ✓ Nebras­ka Vital Reg­is­tra­tion Office, Lin­coln, Nebras­ka
No. 15: Alice Mar­garet GREGG (1870–1919)
Birth 1870 ✗ Adams Coun­ty Clerk, Corn­ing, Iowa. (Iowa state office has records since July 1880. No indi­ca­tion of whether ear­li­er records exist at the coun­ty lev­el.)
Death 1919 ✓ Nebras­ka Vital Reg­is­tra­tion Office, Lin­coln, Nebras­ka

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