This document provides an overview of various types of vital records useful for genealogical research, including birth, death, marriage, and Social Security records in the United States. It discusses the sparseness of early records and increased detail over time. For marriage records specifically, it explains that jurisdiction and record types varied by state and time period, with banns, bonds, licenses, certificates, and registers all potentially containing relevant information.

1. Vital Records

2. Birth Records
• Early birth records are distressingly sparse, with a heavy
concentration found in New England only.
• Early birth records can be obtained from town or county clerks in the
area in which an ancestor was born. These records, too early to fall
under the jurisdiction of recent privacy laws, are public records.

4. • In the colonial period, church records that can serve as birth records
were kept in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Virginia.
• By the mid-nineteenth century, birth records in the United States
began to include more detailed information. For example, beginning
in 1853, some Virginia and West Virginia county birth registers
included the mother’s maiden name instead of her married name

6. • Most modern birth records are protected by the privacy laws passed
by the federal government during recent years.

7. Death Records
• Early death records in the United States provide little more than the name
of the deceased, the date of death, and the place of death. Burial records
contain basically the same information. Occasionally the record will list the
name of the deceased’s spouse. These early records appear in town,
county, and church records.
• Death records of the nineteenth century are more detailed in many
jurisdictions. They often include the name of the deceased, date, place,
and cause of death, age at the time of death, place of birth, parents’
names, occupation, name of spouse, name of the person giving the
information, and the informant’s relationship to the deceased.
• Modern death records (post-1910), though comparatively recent, are
steadily increasing in value. People are living longer, and death records
often provide information about birth as well as death.

10. • Death records are only as accurate as the knowledge of the person
who provided the information. Many informants are unaware of the
name of parents or are unsure about dates and places of birth.

11. Finding Aids for Birth and Death Records
• There are numerous aids for locating vital records. Most towns and
counties have indexes to birth and death records. Even if the indexes
are not complete, they can often facilitate research. Many local
historical and genealogical societies have published birth and death
records in their periodicals, newsletters, and journals; they should be
examined whenever available.
• Always check for duplicate copies at county, city, town, and state
levels. Many counties kept vital records before the states did. After
state registration began, counties and cities continued to maintain
registers of vital events. If one set of records is lost or incomplete, you
can check the other.

12. Social Security
• The Social Security Administration has a microfilmed copy of every
individual’s Social Security application (Form SS-5), as well as claim
files. These documents contain information not given in the index,
including: Full name at birth, mailing address, age at last birthday,
date of birth, place of birth, father’s full name, mother’s full name,
sex, race, employer’s name and address, and date signed.
• If you find an entry using the Ancestry.com SSDI search, click on “Get
Copy of Original Application” to generate a letter to the Social
Security Administration.

14. Marriage Records
• The registering of marriages in the United States is a religious, legal social
function that has been influenced by religious belief, custom, and English law
since the earliest colonial settlements. The effective researcher needs a complete
understanding of the jurisdictions responsible for maintaining these records, the
types of records kept by each jurisdiction, the periods in which various types of
records were maintained, the circumstances peculiar to each colony and state
that created the necessity for registering marriages, and the factors that
produced changes in these registrations.
• Complicating matters is the fact that the United States, unlike England and some
European countries, does not have a national registration program. Instead,
marriage registration is the responsibility of the individual states. Furthermore,
marriage registration was never uniformly implemented among the states. Prior
to state registration requirements, towns in New England and counties in the
remainder of the nation were the primary jurisdictions charged with maintaining
marriage records. Thus, records can ordinarily be found dating from when a town
or county was created.

15. Types of Marriage Records
• The minimum legal age for marriage varies from one place to another. While some
jurisdictions have required consent regardless of age, most demanded consent affidavits
from a parent or legal guardian only for those under the minimum age—usually twenty-
one for males, eighteen for females. Sometimes a parent or guardian appeared with the
underage person and gave verbal permission. The record will show that the parent was
present and was known to the clerk but may not record the name. A detailed, printed
consent form was part of the marriage license in a few localities.
• The father of the underage person usually gave consent, especially in the South. When a
mother has given consent, the father was likely deceased. When both parents were
deceased, the legal guardian granted permission to marry. If the guardian is related to
the person getting married, their relationship may be stated.
• Consent documents are found in town and county jurisdictions throughout the United
States, but they are more numerous in the South and former frontier regions, where
early marriages were encouraged.

16. Banns
The publishing of banns was a church
custom during the colonial and later periods.
Banns were usually read in church on three
consecutive Sundays (sometimes during
public meetings); in some areas they were
posted in public places as well. Their
purpose was to give local residents the
opportunity to state their objections to a
marriage.

18. Bonds
•Marriage bonds are written guarantees or promises
of payment made by the groom or another person
(often a relative of the bride) to ensure that a
forthcoming marriage would be legal. The person
who posted the bond was known as the bondsman.
The bond was presented to the minister or official
who would perform the ceremony. The bond was
then returned to the town or county clerk. These
documents were frequently used in the southern
and middle-Atlantic states up to the mid-1800's

20. Licenses
• Applications and licenses are the most common types of
records showing intent to marry. These gradually replaced the
use of banns, intentions, and bonds. A bride and groom
obtained a license to be married by applying to the proper civil
authorities, usually a town or county clerk. These records have
the most information of genealogical value, including the
couple's names, ages, and residence. Later records also
provide their race, birth dates, occupations, and usually the
names of the parents. The license was presented to the person
who performed the marriage and was later returned to the town
or county clerk. Applications for a license are primarily a
twentieth-century record. These often contain more detailed
information than the license.

23. Certificates
• The individual who performed the ceremony or
the civil office where it was recorded may have
given the couple a certificate of marriage. This
may be in the possession of the family. The clerk
of the court may have a copy.

25. Returns and Registers
After the ceremony took place, the person performing the ceremony
was required by law to register ("return") the marriage with the Court
Clerk's Office. Such returns were generally filed together in a book
called the Marriage Register or Minister's Return Book. These books
generally only contain limited information--the name of the bride &
groom, the date of the marriage, and the name of the minister/justice
of the peace.
Since many marriages took place in rural communities miles from the
courthouse, most of those who performed marriages registered them
en masse once or twice a year.

26. Contracts
Marriage contracts are relatively uncommon. They were usually drawn
up when one or both parties was wealthy or might inherit a estate, and
wished to protect the inheritance rights of heirs.
Marriage contracts have also been used in second marriages. Property
left to a widow by her first husband could be protected with a marriage
contract. Such documents guarantee the distribution of property to the
children of the first husband. Without such a contract, the property
inherited at the death of the first husband became the property of the
second husband at the time of marriage. He could dispose of that
property as he desired, without provision for his stepchildren. Marriage
contracts are recorded among marriage records or are filed with court
records or deeds.