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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. In some cases, it may be necessary to hire a professional researcher to visit a parish or archive.
 * 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 instructions for 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
Each U.S.state also has a specific article providing details covering "How To Find Birth Records". Find the link for that article in the "Getting Started" section of the main page.


 * Also, links to all the "How To" articles for every state can be found at the Wiki category "How-To Articles".

Online Genealogical Records Lists
On the main page for each U.S. State page and country page, a blue button leads to a listing of online record collections. The first listings on an Online Genealogy Records page will be links for birth, marriage, and death records.


 * Also, all the available Online Genealogy Records pages are linked at Online Genealogy Records by Location.

Letter-Writing Guides
To aid you in writing letters to request copies of birth records, the Wiki provides several "Letter-Writing Guides". Links are found under "Research Tools" on country main pages. They provide translations into foreign languages for typical phrases you would want to use in letters.
 * Also, an English version is available at Letter Writing Guide for Genealogy.
 * Links to letter-writing guides for a wide variety of languages can be found at Letter Writing Guides.

Genealogical Word Lists
You do not have to be fluent in a foreign language in order to successfully read birth records. Only a limited vocabulary is used in these records. "Genealogical Word Lists", online lessons, and other helps are available to help you become proficient in reading these records. These are listed on each country main page under "Research Tools".
 * Also, links to all the Word Lists available are found at Word List.