If you haven’t ever had a problem finding a needed birth, marriage or death record, then consider yourself to be a very fortunate genealogy researcher.
Not all towns, counties and states required vital records from the get go and some that did lost records due to natural disasters and/or war.
To be honest, we will never have those vital records for some of our ancestors. However, there are some difficult-to-find records out there if one knows where to look or is very lucky! That often means what I call the “Leave no stone unturned” method of research.
Birth Records:
Depending on location, birth records are usually recorded at the town level, but might also be found at the county courthouse or a state department of health or state library/archives.
I’ve found two additional places to check for births, depending on the time period. If you have New England ancestors who moved from the Northeast to Maine in the late 1700s or early 1800s, be sure to check Maine TOWN records, including town meeting minutes.
By the 1830s or so, a number of town clerks set up family vital records which were recorded in town minute books. The clerk collected the birth dates of everyone in the family and recorded place of birth. Therefore, if some children were born in one town/state and others elsewhere, you will not only learn their dates of birth, but also the place. Some clerks also recorded the parents’ date of marriage.
Understand, though, that not all clerks took on this job and, for those who did, the dates and places are only as accurate as the informant’s memory. On the positive side, I’ve found groups of family births as early as the Revolutionary War period in Maine records.
Family Bibles are a resource that has mostly eluded me, but many families had them and entries have been shared on USGenWeb, in genealogical magazines and newsletters and on the FamilySearch family tree with images in the Memories section. Bibles will require some digging, but often contain vital information not found elsewhere.
Don’t overlook historical newspapers. Notices in the last quarter of the 1800s started announcing babies’ births along the lines of “John Wagner’s wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy early yesterday morning.” The child’s name isn’t often included, but if he/she lived and appears in a census record, the child can be matched to a date of birth.
By mid-20th century, many newspapers had a column of all the local births by day or week. My own birth appeared in the Maternity Roundup as a girl born to Mr. and Mrs. George Sabo at 8:33 PM on Friday. Our home address was also listed.
Obituaries also usually include the date of birth of the deceased and possibly birth place , name of spouse and when/where married.
If you have an ancestor who kept a journal or diary, important family dates might be recorded there.
Jumping way back in time to the colonial era, vital records have even been located in family business ledgers!
Girls who learned hand stitching often created samplers. A common theme was birth dates of immediate family members. Quilters might also have memorialized family members the same way.
Lastly, for those born before World War II, adults of all ages who had no original birth registrations often filed delayed birth certificates to prove they were born in the United States.
Lacking success with birth certificates, many children were baptized. Church records may have recorded not only the baptismal date, but also the date of birth along with parents’ names, sponsors’ names, and, for some immigrant families in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the parents’ European town of origin was also recorded. That is how I found my paternal grandfather’s ancestral village.
Church records might be digitized – check FamilySearch – and some local church offices refuse to answer queries. Don’t let that stop you from checking though. Personally, I’ve had more success with phone calls than emails or even letters.
Court records such as guardianship, divorce, probate and naturalization documents sometimes include birth dates (and locations) of various family members, particularly for minor children and those born outside the U.S.
Be sure to contact other family members, too. It’s possible one person in the family took charge of the important life event records.
Marriage Records:
Rather than repeating the options in the above list, just note that the same resources for birth records can be checked for marriages.
However, be aware that while most states file marriages on the county level, those records are usually recorded at the town level in New England.
Also, while not common, I have found delayed marriage registrations, just as there were delayed birth registrations so if unsure of the date of marriage, a date range search might be more successful.
Death Records:
If a death certificate was not created at the time of death, then there just isn’t one. However, death dates can be found in probate records, occasionally in land deeds where heirs are selling property, news announcements and full obituaries in addition to resources identified in the birth records section above.
If your ancestor has a hidden vital record, the “no stone unturned” approach might bring you success.