Once you have received a copy of a birth, marriage, death or divorce record and marked it in your correspondence log, it is time to enter the data onto your family group sheet or into a genealogy software program. As you enter the data, be sure to record it exactly as it is written on the certificate. Don't make assumptions! You should also be sure to note the vital record as the source for each piece of information as noted in the examples below:

The basic format for a vital record citation is to record 1) The type of record and name(s) of the individual(s)  2) the file or certificate number (or the book and page where the record is filed) and  3) the name and location of the office in which it is filed (or the repository in which the copy was found - e.g. archives).

Birth Certificate

Death Certificate

1. Angus Shaw, death certificate [long form] no. 32-16773 (1979), New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Sydney.

2. Henrietta Crisp entry, Gladwin County Deaths, Liber 2: 312, no 96, County Clerk's Office, Gladwin, Michigan.

Marriage License and Certificate

1. Marriage license and certificate for Dempsey Owens and Lydia Ann Everett, Edgecombe County Marriage Book 2:36, County Clerk's Office, Tarboro, North Carolina.

2. George Frederick Powell and Rosina Jane Powell, Bristol Marriage Register 1:157, Bristol Register Office, Bristol, Glouchestershire, England.

Vital Record from Online Database

1. Ohio Death Certificate Index 1913-1937, The Ohio Historical Society, online <http://www.ohiohistory.org/dindex/search.cfm>, Death certificate entry for Eveline Powell downloaded 12 March 2001.

Vital Record from FHL Microfilm

1. Yvonne Lemarie entry, Crespières naissances, mariages, déecs 1893-1899, microfilm no. 2067622 Item 6, frame 58, Family History Library [FHL], Salt Lake City, Utah.

 

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