New Hampshire, Birth Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Record Description
The collection "New Hampshire, Birth Records, Early to 1900" consists of an index and images of New Hampshire birth records. Records consist of index cards that give the town and date of the event and often much more information. With the town and date, the original records can usually be located. Normally there is only one index card per child, but occasionally there is a corrected card before or after the original card.

The collection also contains handwritten cards compiled in 1905 from original town records for the early years to 1909.

Online collections for other websites may include original ledgers from which the 1905 cards were created. The original town records from which the Hancock and Grofton births were transcribed are available on Fold3.com, under the New Hampshire Town Records collection.

The collection "New Hampshire, Birth Certificates, 1901-1909" consists of an index and images of birth certificates from the New Hampshire Division of Vital Records in Concord. The Collection is arranged by year, by certificate number, and by name.

Record Content
The certificates usually contain the following:


 * Child's name and gender
 * Date and place of birth
 * Gender
 * Color
 * Living birth or stillborn
 * Number of children in family
 * Father's name
 * Father's birthplace, race, age, residence and occupation
 * Maiden name of mother
 * Mother's birthplace, color, age and occupation
 * Name and address of physician or midwife attending birth
 * Place where birth was recorded

The birth index cards usually contain the following:


 * Child's name and gender
 * Date and place of birth
 * Living birth or stillborn
 * Number of children in family
 * Father's name, age and birth place
 * Father's race, occupation and residence
 * Maiden name of mother her place of birth
 * Mother's race and age
 * Name of physician or midwife attending birth
 * Place where birth was recorded

How to Use the Record
To begin your search it is helpful to know


 * The full name
 * Other identifying information such as the birth date, place or names of parents

Search the Collection
To search the collection by name fill in your ancestor’s name in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about those in the list to what you already know about your own ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person.

If you did not find the person you were looking for, you may need to search the collection by image. ⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒Select the appropriate "FILM" which takes you to the images

Look at each image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

With either search 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.

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

Using the Information
When you have located your ancestor’s birth record, carefully evaluate each piece of information about them. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. For example:


 * Use the birth date along with the place of birth to find the family in census records.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records.
 * The father’s occupation can lead you to employment records or other types of records such as military records.
 * The parent’s birth places can tell you former residences and can help to establish a migration pattern for the family.

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * It is often helpful to extract the information on all children with the same parents.
 * If the surname is unusual, you may want to compile birth entries for every person of the same surname and sort them into families based on the names of the parents.
 * Search the birth records to identify siblings, parents, and other relatives in the same or other generations who were born in the same county or nearby.
 * The information in birth records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant.
 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after the late 1800s.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from record to record.
 * If you are unable to find the ancestors you are looking for, check for variant spellings of the names.

For a summary of this information see the wiki article: United States, How to Use the Records Summary (FamilySearch Historical Records)

General Information About These Records
Official records of births occurring in each New Hampshire town or city are kept by the clerk, who sends copies to the Bureau of Vital Records and Health in Concord, New Hampshire. Statewide compilation began with the passing of a law in 1866. Total compliance with the law did not happen until sometime in the 1880’s. Prior to 1883 less than half of the population was listed in the birth records; thereafter the records are more complete and give more genealogical information. When the Bureau of Vital Records was created in 1905 printed cards were distributed and early town records of births dating back to the 1640s were transcribed onto the cards and submitted to the new Bureau.

Related Web Sites
New Hampshire USGenWeb Project Archives

Related Wiki Articles

 * New Hampshire Genealogy
 * New Hampshire Vital Records

Citations for This Collection
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information; that is, cite your sources. This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually.

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