Rel assignment #9

Joy Marie Prior
Religion C 261 - Sister Kelly Summers

Assignment #9 - Vital Records, Civil Registration & Church Records – 40 pts

Use FamilySearch.org and Wiki.FamilySearch.org to locate information about Vital Records in one area. Choose a locality in which a vital event occurred for your ancestor. Example: birth, marriage or death.

U.S. Research

1 - Search the Library Catalog found at FamilySearch.org
Make a list of possible films (include film numbers) that could give you a vital event date. These films would be found under a “place search” then “vital records”.
I began to search for specifically vital records in Salt Lake City, because that is were my ancestors moved to when they came to America. To feed my own curiosity I searched through some of the film records for my ancestors in Sweden. I did not do the entire assignment on international research but I found a few interesting places that I could eventually go to.
1 – Search the Library Catalog found at FamilySearch.org
Make a list of possible films (include film numbers) that could give you a vital event date. These films would be found under a “place search” then “civil registration”.
I really wanted to find vital records in Sweden for one of my ancestors in the family I have chosen to research. I did not find an icon that was specifically “vital records” but I did find films that were for immigration and emigration. I also found a few church records that might have my ancestors’ names on them.

Location Event/record Dates Description Film Number Retrieve
Sweden, Jönköping Immigration and Emigration Index 1869, 1874-1895, 1860-1895 Personregister till SCB:s nominativa förteckningar Jönköpings län, invandrare 1869,1874-1895, utvandrare 1860-1895 1703139 FHL INTL Film


Sweden, Jönköping Church Records 1856-1859 Protokoll 150118 FHL INTL Film
Sweden, Jönköping Church Records 1859-1860 Protokoll 150119 FHL INTL Film
Sweden, Skaraborg emigration 1877 Emigrantlistor 83141 Items 4-5 FHL INTL Film
Sweden, Skaraborg emigration 1875 Emigrantlistor 83133 Item 4 FHL INTL Film
Sweden, Halland, Ljungby Church records 1852-1870 Kyrkoböcker 400374 FHL INTL Film
Sweden, Halland, Ljungby Church records 1871-1892 Kyrkoböcker 1043253 Item 1 FHL INTL Film
USA, Utah, Salt Lake City birth 1898-1900 Register of births at Union and Sandy, Salt Lake County, Utah, 1898-1900 1597688 Item 16 FHL US/CAN Film
USA, Utah, Salt Lake City birth 1886-1902 Births 1886-1902, attended by Mary Catherine Smith Shipp, Obstetrician of Draper, Utah 194376 FHL US/CAN Film
USA, Utah, Salt Lake City death 1938 Death records of Salt Lake City, Utah, 1848 - Sept. 1950 26571 FHL US/CAN Film
USA, Utah, Salt Lake City Death 1945 Death records of Salt Lake City, Utah, 1848 - Sept. 1950 26578 FHL US/CAN Film
USA, Utah, Salt Lake City Death 1918-1919 Death records of Salt Lake City, Utah, 1848 - Sept. 1950 26559 FHL US/CAN Film
USA, Utah, Salt Lake City Death 1883 Death records of Salt Lake City, Utah, 1848 - Sept. 1950 26553 FHL US/CAN Film
USA, Utah, Salt Lake City Death 1889 Death records of Salt Lake City, Utah, 1848 - Sept. 1950 26553 FHL US/CAN Film
USA, Utah, Salt Lake City Death 1908-1910 Death records of Salt Lake City, Utah, 1848 - Sept. 1950 26555 FHL US/CAN Film
Spanish Fork, Utah, Utah death Prior to 1922 Pioneers buried in Spanish Fork City 164644 FHL US/CAN Film


2 - Locate information on how to order vital records from your state. Mention which year vital records were recorded on a state level. Include the address.

According to family search, “You can order microfilms through your nearest family history center. You can also use the microfilms, books, and other items at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. To order a microfilm, you need to know the microfilm number. Again, to obtain the microfilm number, see the Film Notes section. Before ordering microfilms or microfiche, please check the Notes field. Any restrictions on the use of the item will be mentioned there.” The dates that the vital records that I would like to obtain are recorded in the chart above.
Some of the vital records that I am searching for would not be found in the State Utah, but as a territory. Because many of the vital events of my ancestors lives were in the late 1800s they would be classified as a territory. “The library has some territorial vital records on compact disc for the 1800s to 1906. This index contains birth, marriage, guardianship, naturalization, divorce records and wills. The territory includes Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, and Indian territory. Sources include Deseret News notices of vital records, marriages performed by justices of the peace, Methodist marriages, and records of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints records.”
Although state births and deaths did not begin to be registered until 1905 the webpage on wiki.Familysearch.org said that an individual born before 1905 could have received a delayed birth certificate and that would be in the Utah State Archives and Records Service. Some counties kept earlier records, and I assume that Salt Lake was among them most kept entries of births and deaths by 1898 when it became a state law. The death records from 1898-1905 have all been indexed except Salt Lake County, but I can still use the Spanish Fork records.
Most of my ancestors lived in Salt Lake County and the birth records from 1898-1905 along with registered deaths from 1897-1905 but do not included Salt Lake City but only the county so I do not know if these records will be useful to me.
Civil registration of marriage was not required in Utah until 1887; about ten years after Carl and Hulda were married. I can look at Salt Lake City county marriages in Utah Territory 1850-1884 that were published from the Deseret News 1850-1872 and compiled by Judeth W. Hansen and Norma Lundberg.

3 – Include an explanation of your findings.
I found that it is important to know if I am looking at a territory, county, or state record. I realized the importance of knowing the location of your ancestors. It also made me aware of how important it is it to know the absolute location and not simply the general location. The boundaries were changing, and I had to use different dates to know when the boundaries would be considered what.
4 – If available, find a vital record for your ancestor from the “Historical Records” collection, at FamilySearch.org bring it to class.