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Birth records are a primary source used in family history research. Finding them is an important research goal. In addition to the basic information of names of the chid and parents, date, and place of the birth, birth records can give important details about the parents’ residence, birth places, occupations, the mother’s maiden name, and in some cases grandparents’ names. Other relatives may show up as witnesses. Records were kept on a national, state or province, county, town or church parish level, which varies by place and time period. More recent birth records are typically found in government records, called "vital records or civil registration". The government records tend to be kept more recently, perhaps beginning in the 1800s and 1900s. Birth records are also found in church records, as part of the christening or baptism record created in religions that practiced infant baptism. In countries with a state church, the government often mandated that the church keep these records for many years before the government took over. In the last decade, many birth records have been made available online. Other records require written requests to a government registry office, a church, or archives where the records have been stored for safekeeping. Records often have privacy restrictions, making them available only to the named child and parents during a period of 75 to 100 years after the birth. Often privacy is waived for genealogical purposes when proof of a close relationship and death of the involved parties can be proven.

Using the FamilySearch Research Wiki to Find Birth Records
The Wiki helps researchers acquire birth records with articles for each locality covering:
 * Links to online birth records collections.
 * Information on where records are created and/or stored, including church and government offices and archives, with addresses and insturctionsf or making written requests.
 * Information on starting dates for vital records or civil registration.
 * Letter-writing guides for requesting records in foreign languages.
 * Vocabulary lists of terms usually found in records written in foreign languages, making them easier to translate.

Sidebar Links
Each country has a main Wiki page with a sidebar of the right side. In this sidebar you will find links to articles about Church Records and Vital Records or Civil Registration (term used varies by country). Each U.S. State page also has a sidebar linking to those specific articles. In countries outside the U.S., lower jurisdictions such as states, provinces, departments (France), or counties, also have sidebars with links to Church Records and Vital Records or Civil Registration articles.

How-to-Articles

Online Genealogical Records Lists Letter-Writing Guides

Genealogical Word Lists

Online Lessons

Categories