Birth records
use in genealogy
You can get birth records or
certificates from the county clerk in the county
or from a state agency in the state in which the person you are researching was born. There is generally a fee for this and the amount varies upon locality.
Whether you should contact the county or state depends on the when the state
started keeping this information at the state level. The easiest way to find out
where to make requests is to use the online advice feature of this site.
Based on what you know about your ancestor, this feature will recommend best next steps for your research. Click
here to go to online advice.
Most government agencies will search
only a ten-year period for each request. If you do not know the exact year
your ancestor was born, it would be good to
narrow the time period at much as possible before making a request.
