Birth, marriage, and death records offer important clues to anyone researching their family history. These vital records can provide dates, relationships, and other essential details to your research.
City Clerk's Marriage Licenses, New York City, 1908-1937: One of 20th-Century Genealogy's Best Primary Sources
Ah, New York City marriage certificates. As researchers, we delight in finding them and their illuminating information about spouses, parents, birthplaces, the wedding—
New York Vital Records Timeline: Key Dates That Impact Your Research
Finding a birth, marriage, or death certificate for one of your ancestors is a crucial step in your family history research, but it can be challenging for ancestors who lived in New York State.
New York City Birth Records
Birth records are some of the most sought-after family history records because of the sentimental value and the wealth of information they hold.
In New York State, there are essentially two separate civil systems for tracking births—one in New York City serving the city's five boroughs, and one in Albany, serving the majority of other municipalities in the state.
Finding New York Birth, Marriage, and Death Records
Introduction to New York Birth, Marriage, and Death Records
Official birth, marriage, and death records—also called vital records—are crucial family history sources that every researcher should seek.
These deep and rich sources can provide names, relationships, locations, dates of events, and other essential details about your family.
Many states in the U.S. have well-organized and complete collections of vital records—but not New York!
New Yorkers in Some Connecticut Divorces
Listed below are New York references in Grace Louise Knox and Barbara B. Ferris, Connecticut Divorces: Superior Court Records for the Counties of New London, Tolland, & Windham 1719-1910 (Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, 1987).
New York City Vital Records
New York is the only state with two sets of vital records, one for the 57 counties outside of New York City and the other for the five counties/boroughs of the city.
Little Publicized New York City Sources: Vital Records from the Long Island-Star and Brooklyn Evening Star, 1809-1846
Josephine C. Frost's Vital Records from the Long-Island Star and Brooklyn Evening Star, 1809-1846, is in the manuscript collection of The Brooklyn Historical Society.
Little Publicized New York City Source: Bodies in Transit
Bodies in Transit at the Municipal Archives of The City of New York is a collection of records, kept only during the years 1859 to 1894, in 10 volumes.