The State of Texas provides look-up services for birth and death records to the general public. These services are offered by the state government, non-profit associations and by commercial sites. The government searches require a nominal fee to obtain hard copies of certificates. Death and birth indexes (dates) are provided free of charge. Information obtained from these records is essential for family history research and genealogy projects.
Texas Vital Statistics - Birth and Death Certificates at Texas.gov
The state government provides vital record certificates on the website Texas.gov/vital records application. Copies of birth and death certificates and birth and death verification letters can be obtained online. Fees for obtaining certified vital record copies range from $20.00 - $22 .00. Texas also offers mail and in person services to get vital records. To obtain copies of birth and death certificates from Texas.gov the requester must be ordering for an immediate family member or for himself/herself.
- Key data required to obtain vital records certificates online at Texas.gov:
- Name of the person on the certificate – birth or death
- Date of birth or death
- Location for the birth or death – city or county
- Name of father if listed on birth and death certificate
- Name of mother if listed on birth and death certificate
- Users must provide driver’s license number and Social Security number.
A birth or death verification letter can also be obtained without having to provide all vital information required for a certificate. However, these letters provide limited information, mainly whether the birth or death occurred in the state of Texas.
Texas Death and Birth Indexes - Free
Birth and death indexes provide limited information on individuals; such as the birth or date of death. Death and Birth indexes for United States, including Texas, are accessible free from data provided by the Social Security Administration. The SSDI or death index is available through the site ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com. Using an individual’s name and/or social security number, users can get a corresponding date of birth and death.
Texas Genealogy Research - Births and Deaths
The National Archives provides resources to be used in family history research. Using some of these sources individuals can find birth and death records and dates. Data available online at the Archives.gov site consists of resources to aid in research. Actual records can be obtained by visiting the National or State Archives office. These archived records consist of:
- Census
- Military
- Immigration and Naturalization
- Ship Passengers Index
Texas Cemeteries serve as resources to locate records related to deceased individuals in the state. Religious and non-religious cemetery listings can be found online by county. Using this method to perform a death search, the researcher must know where the deceased person was buried. It is likely that when little information is known on a person more than one source of death information will be required for confirmation.
Resources:
Public information at the following sites, current as of June 9, 2010:
Texas.gov/vital records
National Archives.gov
Sylvia Cruz - Sylvia holds Bachelor and Master degrees in Business Administration with majors in Finance and Accounting. She is also a CIA - Certified ...
