A county clerk's 'Genealogy Corner' gets national recognition

If you have heard me at seminars, you know that I often say things similar to "these records are so good because I don't have family in that locality" or in that particular set of records.

I have several localities where I wish my family had settled just because of the great information online from the county or city. A few of these are:

• Alachua County [Florida] County Clerk of the Court's website of "Ancient Records" www.alachuaclerk.org/archive/default.cfm
• Oakland County [Michigan] Genealogy Research Service www.oakgov.com/clerkrod/vital_records/pages/genealogy.aspx
• Ulster County [New York] Clerk Archives Division  www.co.ulster.ny.us/archives/database.html
• DeKalb County [Illinois] Clerk & Recorder Online Genealogy search   www.dekalbgenealogy.com/

Then my news feed delivered news of another county with a great genealogy service and that has received a national honor from government colleagues. The Collin County [Texas] Clerk and staff have been "awarded the 2014 Best Practices Award from the National Association of County Recorders, Elections Officials and Clerks (NACRC)."  Just two of the online databases for this county are:

•  Marriage indexes, dating back to 1864
•  Birth indexes, dating back to 1903 with some delayed birth records from the 1800

Read the full article from the McKinney Courier Gazetter by clicking here. To access the county's Genealogy Corner click here.

You may have already guessed that I have no ancestral connections to Collin County, Texas! Dangitall.

Kandiyohi County Minnesota township records

The October 22 edition of the Minnesota Historical Society's Local History News carried a story about another important use of the Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grants. The Kandiyohi County Historical Society recently microfilmed township records for six of the county's townships and the films are available the county historical society in Willmar.

For more on this project: http://legacy.mnhs.org/projects/2834

In Minnesota we are fortunate to have these records which include birth and death information. Usually this is in the format of a register book rather than separate certificates. These exist from roughly 1870-1953.

Records for some townships around the state are in the state archives collection at MHS. www.mhs.org Others are in historical societies, town halls, and county courthouses. I don't know of any comprehensive list of these. Some of the records no longer exist due to a variety of reasons. My hope is that each is soon stored in a place with the proper conditions to preserve them.

Minnesota Vital Records

This is an overview of what exists for Minnesota birth, death, and marriage records and ways to access them. This is not a 100% comprehensive finding aid, but it should lead you to more records.

Birth & Death Records
Birth and death records were generally created at the county level beginning in 1870 or later if the county was not in existence in 1870. Most early recordings were a one line entry across two pages in a registration volume and the information is not extensive. In some localities these were also recorded at the township level until the mid 1950s. Many of the township records books can be found at the Minnesota Historical Society (MHS). For many years, the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis also registered births and deaths. Today these are found with their respective counties. Beginning in 1900 for birth records, and in 1908 for death records, the event was also reported to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). You may find differences in all versions in the years there were multiple reportings.

For death records before 1908, contact the county in which the person died. Some are also at the Family History Library and the Minnesota Historical Society. MHS has microfilms of the MDH death record cards for 1900-1907. The microfilmed records may be viewed on-site at MHS,

Even though there are early registrations of births and deaths in Minnesota, not all events were registered. It was well into the 20th century before the registrations were “complete.” In the 1940s the state health department was still urging complete compliance with the registration laws. You may be among the fortunate researchers who find that a delayed birth certificate was created and there might be supporting documentation. The person

Illinois opens up birth records to adoptees

Tonight the Chicago Tribune is reporting something that made me smile. Governor Pat Quinn plans to sign into law a measure allowing adoptees to access their original birth records. The signing is planned for Friday, May 21, 2010.

According to the article "The legislation allows anyone adopted before 1946 to get their full birth certificate information by filing a written request with the state adoption registry. Those born after Jan. 1, 1946, could learn the same information if they are over 21 and at least one birth parent has not requested anonymity."

This will also be helpful to many Minnesota adoptees whose births took place in Illinois, especially in the Chicago area.

Click here for the full story. The cost is $15.00. Click here for a link to the Vital Records section of the Illinois Department of Health.

Illinois state level vital records ordering delay (temporary)

The Illinois Department of Public Health's Division of Vital Records is moving to new offices. The office will be closed from May 27 -31 and will reopen on June 1, 2010. Because of this move, rush service and some other customer requests for birth and death records might be delayed.

Click here to read the article in the online edition of the Springfield, Illinois State Journal Register.

Minnesota statewide marriage index online.

The Minnesota Association of County Officers has fulfilled our wishes. If you were not sure of which county a marriage took place in, you could only search at Ancestry.com from 1958 - 2001 or request that search from the Minnesota Department of Health. For other years you needed to know the exact county and check with that courthouse. Yes, there were microfilms of some county marriage records available at the Minnesota Historical Society or via the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

Now you can check MOMS, the Minnesota Official Marriage System for free right on your home computer. You don't need to know which county, but that would be helpful in the case of a marriage search for a John Johnson! After locating the index entry which gives the name of the bride, groom, date of marriage, and county name, you simply click on a link in the right hand column to order the records. The order form does not clearly say if it is a photocopy of the original certificate, a digitized copy, a computer printout, or an abstract. I will do some further investigating on this. The cost is $9.00.

ALL THAT SAID, this is not a complete listing/index. I did not find the marriages listed for me, my sister, my parents, grandparents, great grandparents, or others I checked for Ramsey County. The Minnesota Historical Society's Family History News said this about MOMS: ". . . a statewide marriage index  developed by the Minnesota county recorders is now available on-line.  The system includes historical and current marriage data for persons married in Minnesota.  The data can be searched on-line, and copies of marriage certificates may be requested through the web site.  About 80% of Minnesota marriages are available in the system, with some counties continuing to add data to the system on a regular basis."

Be sure to click on "County Index Dates" at the top of the home page to see what the index date spans are for each county. Unfortunately, there are absolutely no dates given for Ramsey County. I did a search for my great grandfather's two marriages in Winona County and neither is listed even though the dates given for that county are 1854 - present. 

As the MOMS page says, "The Minnesota Official Marriage System (MOMS) is an online service designed for the general public to search and locate official marriage information and to be directed to the county which holds the custodial marriage record. MOMS was created to benefit county offices and licensing centers by using a central system in unifying all county offices in the preservation of the record, for internal searching capabilities, and the creation of the marriage record. The Minnesota Official Marriage System is funded and supported by Minnesota county government."

I am happy to see this project well underway and hope for a complete systems before too long.

"Recently Added Online Birth and Marriage Records Indexes."

Over at Genealogy Roots Blog, Joe Beine has posted a list of "Recently Added Online Birth and Marriage Records Indexes."

If you haven't seen the links that Joe has compiled check them out. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see his other ongoing links. I know you will agree with me that Joe has provided a valuable service for researchers.

Make your voice heard for vital records access in Pennsylvania and beyond.

Have Pennsylvania ancestors? Frustrated with tough access issues? It is time to let Pennsylvania legislators hear from you. In yesterday's Lebanon Daily News, Pennsylvania professional genealogist wrote his column describing what is needed from genealogists in order to help pass a bill that would loosen up the access requirements. You can read Jim's column here. I thank Elissa Powell, also from Pennsylvania, for pointing this out on another list I monitor.

Pennsylvania isn't the only state with over the top restrictions on old vital records. I am so happy with the indexes to state level-reported Minnesota births and deaths via the Minnesota Historical Society and Ancestry.com and the films of the actual records at the MHS and the Family History Library, that I forget about the opposite being true in many other places. There are good states though, including Missouri and Arizona with both indexes and actual images online.

For a great listing of various vital records and other genealogical gems online, visit this site compiled and frequently updated by Joe Beine. CyndisList.com also has great vital records connections.

The FamilySearch pilot site has indexes and some images to vital records. This is a enormous project and the website tells how you can become involved with the indexing at home and at whatever amount of time you can give.