locating birth records
Hi, I want to find birth records (birth certificates if at all possible!) for 2 different people born in 1930 (both of them are deceased). For one of them, I know his name, date of birth, and parents' names, but he could've been born in North Carolina or Virginia, USA. For the other one, I know his name and date of birth, but I don't know his parents' names, and he also could've been born in North Carolina or Virginia. Both of these people lived right on the border of those two states.
I'm obviously displaying my beginner ignorance :) (and I have tried to do an online search to figure this out), but what places should I contact for information of this sort, please? I'm not local to these areas.
(For that matter, I'd like to get the same for my own grandparents, born in 1924/1932 and deceased in 1986/2003.)
Best Answers
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Many states restrict who can purchase birth certificates, and each state has their own rules about when or if birth certificates are made public. You can find North Carolina birth certificates in FamilySearch only until 1922, perhaps that will suit your purpose? Go to Search Catalog, fill in North Carolina for location and go down to vital records. You will find the birth certs among the 49 collections of vital records. If the birth occurred after 1922, you will have to pay to obtain the birth cert, and NC is one of the states that restricts who can obtain one. Virginia is even more stingy. No birth certs online that I can see. I know from experience that at the state level VA restricts who can purchase birth certs, only immediate family, which excludes grandchildren, but I know people who have been much more successful going directly to the county.
For your grandparents, go to the state where they were born, and realize that not all states required birth certs, even as late as the 1920s. Also realize that the purchase of birth certs could be restricted and you simply may not be authorized to obtain their birth certs.
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Some state birth indexes are online but generally with minimal information - just the name of the person born, without names of parents.
The FamilySearch Wiki generally has good information about where to find records for each state. The Virginia Vital Records page: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Virginia_Vital_Records
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Oh yes, many birth indexes exist. They can all be accessed from the Catalog in FamilySearch. Go to the Catalog, type in the state and county, then in the results go down to vital records. Sometimes vital records are categorized by whether they are indexes or not.
For Galax, VA? You need to develop the habit of searching the internet. That city sells their own vital records. LOL
https://onlinevitals.com/directory-directories/listing/galax-city-health-department/
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Answers
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Thank you for taking the time to give me that information! It was very helpful.
A couple of follow up questions:
1. What about birth indexes? Can those be seen by anyone? Or are they also restricted in the same way?
2. If I do go directly to a county, what is the place I should go to try to get the document? Example, if the place is Galax, VA, what institute in that county do I go to? A county clerk’s office?
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