Check Government Records

What Are Government Records

Government records are public documents related to the historical formation of the nation, including legislations, bills, photographs, recordings, maps, treaties, posters, and other public data. Government records are kept at the National Archives. All data are available to the public for free personal public viewing.

Searching for government records at the National Archives is best if you want to trace your genealogy. For immigrants, you can also check your ancestors who migrated to the US. The archive will allow you to track the first immigrant in your family line, and trace the names of your ancestors all the way down to your direct family.

The National Archives is also the best repository to access if you want to get your hands on your military records. This is usually done to prove military services to the country, as required in certain circumstances. If you want to access the national census data, this is also the database to use.

Some of the popularly-accessed government records in the National Archives are the land records, immigration records, Veterans records, census records, bankruptcy records, naturalization records, passport application records, and the military service records.

 

Distinguishing Government Records at the National Archives from Public Records of Personal Profiles

You may have come across several articles telling you to visit the National Archives if you want to get your hands on some personal public records like birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, divorce records, and so on. The truth is, these public documents are not kept in the National Archives. They are stored at several designated Federal, State, and County offices.

While the National Archive has naturalization records, the database is limited only to the naturalization documents of immigrants. Birth certificates of natural-born citizens are not stored in the repository.

It is, therefore, important to distinguish the government records that can be viewed and obtained at the National Archive, in order to save you time and efforts if you are looking for your personal public records.

 

Where to Get Government Records on Birth, Marriage, Divorce, Death, and Properties

Different types of public records are kept at several designated government agencies. There are no federal regulations designating certain agencies of the government as the official records keeper of certain public documents. Every State has the freedom to choose which agency to store particular personal public documents.

 

Government Records on Birth

In most States, government records on birth are usually kept at the office of Public Safety, under the Vital Statistics office. The official name of the agency may vary from one State to another. Some areas have the Center for Health Statistics under the State Department of Public Health, while in other places the birth records are stored at the State Department of Health under the Vital Statistics office. In any case, check the public health office and the statistics department for birth records. Take note that there are also some States with Vital Records office where you can obtain copies of birth certificates.

 

Government Records on Death

Just like birth certificates, death records can be obtained at the office of the Vital Statistics. This can be viewed by anyone since they belong under public documents. But requesting for paper copies of death certificates is limited only to the direct family members and relatives of the deceased person.

Some required documents must be filled up and submitted when requesting for copies of death records, along with payment of certain fees. This must be submitted to the Vital Statistics office of the county or state where death occurred. Some of the information that you can get from death records include the name of the deceased person, nature of death, time and place of death, and burial details among many others.

 

Government Records on Marriage

Marriage record is another popularly-searched government records. This database contains essential information like the names of both spouses, date of marriage, venue of the wedding ceremony, and to some extent the names of the parents of each spouse including the names of the sponsors or witnesses. Marriage records can be accessed at the Vital Records Registry. This can also be obtained at the Department of Health office of the State where marriage occurred.

 

Government Records on Divorce

Government records on divorce may be obtained at the specific courthouse where the divorce was filed. In this case, you have to know, beforehand, the specific courthouse in order to retrieve more details of the divorce. This is going to be quite a problem if you have no idea at all with regards to which courthouse the marriage annulment was filed. However, technology advancements today allow you to still conduct the divorce records search even if you do not know what state or county the divorce was lodged.

 

General Government Records Search

Government records search, in its entirety, is quite complex. There are various types of government records. General search will take quite some time, requiring more efforts and expenses in going to several locations to get your desired information. To save time and money, it is highly recommended to make your search more detailed as possible. This will also make the whole search process easier on your part.

Thus, if you are looking for government records, be specific by looking further into what type of records are you looking for; such as birth or death certificates, and marriage or divorce records. If you want to trace your ancestral roots or gain access to your military records, the best place to go is the office of the National Archives.

But if you are looking for personal public records like birth and marriage records, as well as divorce and death records, then visit the office of Public Health in your locality.

Another option is to use the services of some websites that collected all types of government and public records. Birth, death, marriage, and divorce records are all stored in one database, making it easier to conduct the government records search.

While certain access fees may be required, the little amount is normally worth investing because of the awesome benefits such services provide. Aside from that, this is also the highly-recommended option because the results are more detailed and precise, and you can also do the search even if you have no prior knowledge on what state or county the files are stored.