Time for US Vital Records

Vital records are the bread and butter, go-to source, for many genealogists. The volumes of information you can glean from their pages are treasure troves. Yes, many of my brick walls have tumbled once I laid my hands on those pieces of paper, but I never actually stopped to really study what they are. Have you?

In the US: Vital Records, Understanding and Using The Records course, we take an extensive look at birth, marriage,  and death records within the United States.

I was excited to read that we will study the levels of government that are involved with these records and where they are kept. To me that is one of the most important things to understand about records, where you can locate them and if you can get them. I know from experience that each state had different start years for vital records which makes uncovering proof very frustrating. Then you have to jump through each jurisdiction’s hoops to get the records because they are not the same from state to state or even county to county.

The topics covered look very in-depth. There is also a module on finding alternative records, or perhaps using them as clues to find those vital records. Many of you know from reading my previous posts that I approach genealogy as a great big puzzle that has to be put together. At times I have to get out my magnifying glass, put my Sherlock hat on and really analyze the clues. For me that is part of  having a research strategy that involves various record sets and documents to pin-point that next step in the research process.

Overall I think this will be an interesting and intriguing course. It should be fun, learning always is fun when you do it right, and I am excited to see what new tips I can pull from the pages.