Montana, County Births and Deaths - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Montana

What is in the Collection?
The collection consists of registers and certificates of births and deaths acquired from county courthouses for the years 1840 to 2004. The following counties have records in this collection:


 * Broadwater
 * Deer Lodge
 * Jefferson
 * Lewis and Clark
 * Powell
 * Silver Bow

Some counties began recording births and deaths as early as 1864. These records have usually been kept by the clerk of the court in each county. Statewide registration of vital statistics began in Montana in 1907 and was generally complied with by 1920.

These records were created to keep track of the vital events happening in the lives of the citizens and to safeguard their legal interests. They are generally reliable but can vary depending on the knowledge of the informant.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
Birth records usually contain the following information:


 * Child’s name, gender and race
 * Child’s birth date and place of birth
 * Whether child was stillborn or living
 * Number of child in the family, 1st, 2nd, etc.
 * Names of parents, including maiden name of mother
 * Parents' residence
 * Father’s occupation
 * Birth place of father
 * Birth place of mother

Death records usually contain the following:


 * Name and age of deceased
 * Date and place of death including county, township and city/village
 * Age in days, months, and years
 * Gender, race, marital status, occupation and residence of deceased
 * Birth place of deceased
 * Name of parents and their birth place
 * Name of spouse
 * Cause of death
 * Name and address of person reporting death
 * Burial information

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search, it is helpful to know at least one of the following:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The approximate date of birth.
 * The place of birth.
 * The approximate date of death.
 * The place of death.
 * The names of family members and their relationships.

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 family or person. You may need to compare several persons in the list before you find your ancestor.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page:

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: ⇒Select Browse through images on the initial collection page ⇒Select the County ⇒Select the Record Type, Year Range, Volume number/letter which takes you to the images.

What Do I Do Next?
Whenever possible, view the original records to verify the information and to find additional information that might not be reported. These pieces of information can lead you to additional records and family members.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the information to find other records such as christening, marriage, census, land and probate records.
 * Use the information to find additional family members.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * [Montana Church Records|Church Records]] often were kept years before government records were required and are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

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

 * Try viewing the original record to see if there were errors in the transcription of the name, age, residence, etc. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * Collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relations that can be verified by records.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality in an area search.
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name while searching the index or browsing through images.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Search the indexes and records of Montana, United States Genealogy.
 * Search in the Montana Archives and Libraries.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached 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

Image Citation: