Arizona, Birth Certificates - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Arizona

What is in the Collection?
This collection consists of a name index to select birth certificates acquired from the Arizona Department of Library, Archives and Public Records Management Division in Phoenix. The collection is arranged by year and by county name. It covers the years 1855 to 1926.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
The following information is usually found in the index:


 * Child’s name
 * Child's birth date and place of birth
 * Child’s gender and race
 * Full name of mother, including her maiden name
 * Full name of father including

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search, it will be helpful to know:


 * The child's name
 * The approximate birth place or date

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in the requested information on the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the individuals in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names, or variations of their name, throughout their life.
 * If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names.
 * Even though these indexes are very accurate they may still contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the wiki article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the birth date along with the place of birth to find the family in census, church and land records.
 * Compile the entries for every person who has the same surname as the parents. This is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.
 * Continue to search the records to identify siblings and other relatives who may have been born in Arizona. this can help you identify other generations of your family or even the second marriage of a parent. Repeat this process for each new generation you identify.
 * When looking for a person with a common last name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.
 * The information in the records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant.
 * There is some variation in the information given from one record to another record.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking for, What Now?

 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames. You should also look for nicknames and abbreviated names.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities.
 * If you know their religion, search for a church record of the birth.
 * Try alternative search methods such as only filling in the surname search box (or the given name search box) on the landing page leaving the other box empty and then click on search. This should return a list of everyone with that particular name. You could then browse the list for individuals that may be your ancestor.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection citation:

Record citation (or citation for the index entry):