Texas Birth Certificates - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Texas

What is in the Collection?
This collection contains birth certificates for the years 1903 to 1935, from the state of Texas, housed at the Vital Statistics Unit of the Texas Department of Health in Austin. Each birth was recorded on a one-page, preprinted form. Delayed birth records are birth records created many years after the birth and after acceptable documents and affidavits have been presented to the probate court.

As early as 1873 some cities and towns in Texas had authorized the registration of births and deaths. For a brief period from 1873 to 1876, the county recorders also recorded births. In 1901, Congress passed a resolution asking states to gather information about the births and deaths that occur within their borders. Many states responded, but because Congress did not fund the request, it took several years until all the states were keeping these records consistently. Statewide registration of births began in 1903 with the formation of the Texas Department of Public Health. By the late 1920s, over 80 percent of the births occurring Texas were recorded.

Birth records were usually filled out by a witness, midwife, or a medical professional. The certificate was then sent to the county, and the county sent a copy to the state. The records are intact and are being preserved under good conditions although some records may have been damaged or destroyed during their transfer to state officials. The state required counties to begin recording births to document the occurrence of a birth and to track public health issues. Delayed registration of births allowed persons whose birth was not recorded to obtain a birth certificate, usually in order to receive government benefits.The birth date and place, residence, and other facts that were current at the time the birth occurred are quite reliable, though there is still a chance of misinformation. Other data such as the parents' age or birth place have a greater chance of error because they are based on the memory of the informant.

What Can these RecordsTell Me?
Birth records usually include the following information:


 * Full name and gender of child
 * Date and place of birth
 * Legitimate?
 * Names of parents, including maiden name of mother
 * Parents' place of residence
 * Parents' age(s) and their birthplace
 * Parents race and occupation
 * Number of children now living

Delayed birth records usually include the following information:


 * Child’s name and gender
 * Child's birth date and place of birth
 * Names of witnesses to verify birth

Coverage Table and Map
A table and map showing the number of records per county is available here. This page also includes a chart showing the number of records per year. Most of the records in the collection are from the time periods listed in the table; however, the collection may have a few records from before or after the time period. Records where the exact county could not be easily identified due to incomplete information in the index as listed in the table as Texas (State), but are not graphed on the map.

Digital Folder List
This collection was published as a DGS browse collection. These collections do not include any human-readable waypoint data making them difficult to use. A table showing each DGS number and its contents can be found in Texas Birth Certificates Digital Folder Number List. The list can be sorted by DGS number, GS number, year, film note, author and title with a link to the FamilySearch Catalog record.

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know at least some of the following:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The approximate date of birth.
 * The place where the birth occurred.
 * The names of the child's parents.

Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information in the list to what you already know about your ancestor to determine if it is the correct person. You may need to compare several persons in the list before you find your ancestor.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page.

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

What Do I Do Next?
Indexes and transcriptions may not include all the data found in the original records. Look at the actual image of the record, if you can, to verify the information and to find additional information.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Copy the citation below, in case you need to find this record again later.
 * Use the age or estimated birth date to find other church and vital records such as baptism, marriage, and death records.
 * Use the information found in the record to find land, probate and immigration records.
 * Use the information found in the record to find additional family members in censuses. Witnesses were usually family members.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records were kept years before counties began keeping records. They are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

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

 * If your ancestor does not have a common name, collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you find possible relatives.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby town or county.
 * Try different spellings of your ancestor’s name.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Check the info box above for additional FamilySearch websites and related websites that may assist you in finding similar records.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached Wiki article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

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): Image Citation:

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