Genealogy

Births, Deaths, Marriages

For California | For other states | General sites

California:

Information about California births, marriage and deaths are available in printed format, as microforms, and on the World Wide Web. A listing of available resources follows.

Early California Population Project (searchable vital records from the California missions, 1769-1850)

Births:

Available via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for California).

Deaths:

California death index 1905-1994	microfilm in library
California death index 1940-1997	RootsWeb.com
Social Security Death Index 1962-present	RootsWeb.com
Fresno Bee obituaries 1962-present	card file in library
Fresno Bee obituaries 2004-2008	Ancestry Library Edition *
Fresno Bee 1986-present	Newsbank **

Marriages:

California marriage index 1960-1986	microfilm in library
California divorce index 1962-1984	microfilm in library

Fresno County Recorder's Office

Informational copies of birth, death and marriage certificates (1873-present) can be obtained from the Fresno County Recorder's Office. Go to their web site for more information.

Some other resources:

Fresno County Cemeteries, 1837-1910 (Fresno: Fresno Genealogical Society, 1985)

Armenian Cemeteries, Ararat and Masis Ararat, by Rebecca F. Greer (Fresno: Fresno Genealogical Society, 1995)

Fresno Catholic Cemeteries, Volume I, by Rebecca F. Greer (Fresno: Fresno Genealogical Society, 1995)

Birth, marriage and death records abstracted by the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Central California Chapter, from Fresno County records.

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Other states:

Indexes for births, marriages and deaths which occurred in other states are available on the World Wide Web. (In the case of Arizona, birth and death certificate facsimiles are viewable online). Here is an alphabetical list of the indexes, by state:

Alabama:

Death and marriage indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Alabama).

Arizona:

• Arizona Genealogy Birth and Death Certificates

Arkansas:

Death and marriage indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Arkansas).

Also:

• Marriage Index, 1933-1939
• Arkansas Cemeteries

California:

Birth and marriage indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for California).

Also:

• Death Records, 1940-1997
• Early California Population Project (searchable vital records from the California missions, 1769-1850)
• Marriages Database, 1949-1986

Colorado:

• Colorado Marriages Search, 1975-present
  

Connecticut:

Marriage and death indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Connecticut).

Florida:

Marriage and death indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Florida).

Georgia:

Marriage and death indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Georgia).

Idaho:

Marriage index via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Idaho).

Also:

• Idaho Death Index, 1911-1951

Illinois:

Marriage indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Illinois).

Also:

• Death Index, pre-1916
• Death Certificates, 1916-1950
• Marriage Index, 1763-1900

Indiana:

Birth, marriage and death indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Indiana).

Also:

• Marriages to 1850

Iowa:

Cemetery and marriage indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Iowa).

Kansas:

Marriage index via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Kansas).

Kentucky:

Marriage indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Illinois).

Also:

• Death Records, 1911-2000
• Marriage Database, 1780-1920, 1973-2002

Louisiana:

Marriage and death indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Louisiana).

Maine:

• Death Records, 1960-1997
• Marriages to 1875
• Marriage Records, 1892-1996

Maryland:

Marriage indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Maryland).

Also:

• Deaths

Massachusetts:

Birth, marriage and death indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Massachusetts).

Michigan:

Marriage and death indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Michigan).

Also:

• Michigan Death Index, 1867-1897

Minnesota:

Birth and marriage indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Minnesota).

Also:

• Minnesota Birth Index, 1900-1910
• Minnesota Death Certificates Index, 1908-1996

Mississippi:

Marriage indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Mississippi).

Missouri:

Marriage indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Missouri).

Also:

• Birth and Death Database, Pre-1910

Montana:

Death and marriage indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Montana).

Nevada:

Marriage index via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Nevada).

New Jersey:

Marriage indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for New Jersey).

New Mexico:

• Death Index Project, 1899-1940

New York:

Marriage indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for New York).

North Carolina:

Birth, marriage and death indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for North Carolina).

North Dakota:

• North Dakota Death Index

Ohio:

Death and marriage indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Ohio).

Also:

• Death Certificate Index, 1913-1937

Oregon:

Death and marriage indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Oregon).

South Carolina:

Death indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for South Carolina).

South Dakota:

Birth, marriage and death indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for South Dakota).

Also:

• Births Before 1905

Tennessee:

Marriage indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Tennessee).

Also:

• Death Records, 1908-1912
• Death Records, 1914-1916
• Death Records, 1914-1925 (partial)

Texas:

Marriage indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Texas).

Also:

• Birth Index, 1903-1997
• Births, 1926-1999
• Death Index, 1964-1998
• Texas Marriages, 1967-2002

Utah:

Birth and death indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Utah).

Also:

• Births, pre-1905, and other (State Archive Records)
• Utah State History - Burials Database
• Deaths, 1904-1954

Vermont:

Death index via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Vermont).

Virginia:

• Virginia Death Records Indexing Project

Washington:

Birth and death indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Washington).

West VIrginia:

• West Virginia Vital Research Records

Wisconsin:

Birth, marriage and death indexes via Ancestry Library Edition (in-library use only; login here, go to Advanced Search page and click on US map for Wisconsin).

• Vital Records, pre-1907

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General sites:

• Cemetery Junction: Directory of more than 65,000 cemeteries in the United States.
• FuneralNet.com: Searchable database of funeral homes, cemeteries and obituaries.
• Find A Grave: Contains information of graves of famous people, plus a searchable database of 7.6 million cemetery records online.
• Interment.net: Cemetery Transcription Library - Browse cemetery records of thousands of cemeteries from around the world.
• Nationwide Gravesite Locator (Veterans). Also see a similar database at Ancestry Library Edition.
• Obituary Central: World Wide Web headquarters for researching obituaries.
• Obituary Daily Times (RootsWeb): An index, updated daily, of obituaries available online.
• The Obituary Links Page: Links to many obituary files and databases online, conveniently listed according to geographical subdivisions.
• Online Birth and Marriage Indexes and Records for the USA
• Online Searchable Death Indexes and Records
• USA Funeral Homes Online: Another online, searchable directory of funeral homes.
• Vitalrec.com: A good summary of how to obtain records worldwide.
• Vital Records in the United States: Another summary page, searchable by subject, with a clickable map.
• Western States Historical Marriage Record Index: Searchable database of 365,000+ marriage records obtained from different counties in the western United States.