records guide
Birth records — where the paper lives and how to request it
Short answer
US birth records live at the state level. The state issues the certificate, and the state holds the original. Before statewide registration — which began in Massachusetts in 1841 and reached the last Southern state in 1919 — researchers pivot to church baptisms, family Bibles, delayed birth affidavits, and the 1900 census (the only one to ask month and year of birth).
- Order certified copies from the state vital records office where the birth occurred.
- For births before state registration, check church baptism registers first.
- Delayed birth certificates filed for Social Security fill many pre-1920 gaps.
- Newborn hospital admissions are useful supporting evidence when they survive.
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