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The State Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration maintains Birth, marriage & Death Records from 1878 to the present. Some documents are just too important to wait six weeks for. With VitalChek Express Certificate Service you won’t have to. Birth, Marriage, Divorce & Death Certificates Signed. Sealed. Delivered. Often in as few as three business days!
For copies of vital records from 1848 to 1877, please contact: New Jersey Department of State, Division of Archives and Records Management at P.O. Box 307, Trenton NJ 08625-0307, or call (609) 292-6260.
Getting Copies of Genealogical Records Birth, Death, and Marriage
STEP 1
Identifying the genealogical record: You must be able to identify the record by providing, at minimum, the information listed below on the application form. You may also provide more exact or complete information, if you wish. However, your request cannot be accepted unless you provide the minimum information below.
- Full name on the record
- City or county where the event occurred
- Year the event occurred
Acceptable Identification: You must provide acceptable ID in order to get a copy of any vital record. The following are acceptable forms of ID:
- A current, valid photo driver's license or photo non-driver's license
OR
- A current, valid driver’s license without photo and one alternate form of ID with current address
OR
- Two alternate forms of ID, one of which must have current address.
Alternate forms of ID are:
- Vehicle registration
- Vehicle insurance card
- Passport
- Voter registration
- Green card/Immigrant visa
- Federal/County ID
- School ID
- Court documents
- W-2 for current/previous tax year
- Utility/bank statement from within the last 90 days
Please do not send in original ID documents. Only copies are required.
Proof of Relationship: Proof of relationship is not required if you are asking for a certification, which is an uncertified informational copy of the vital record not valid for establishing identity or legal purposes. However, you must still provide proof of identity when requesting a certification.
To get a certified copy of a person’s genealogical vital record, you must provide proof of your relationship to the person listed on the record and the proof must establish you are one of the following:
- The subject of the record
- The subject’s parent, legal guardian or legal representative
- The subject’s spouse/civil union partner; child, grandchild or sibling, if of legal age
- A state or federal agency for official purposes
- Pursuant to court order
See the How to Prove Relationship tips at the bottom of this page for information on how to prove your relationship. This is a key requirement to getting a certified copy of a vital record. Failure to provide proof of relationship is the number one reason applications must be rejected.
Payment of fees: Fees for copies of vital records issued by the Local Registrar’s Office vary by municipality. Please contact the specific office to learn more.
The State Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration charges $25 for the first copy of a vital record and $2 for each additional copy of the same record ordered at the same time. Additional years can be searched for genealogical applications at a fee of $1 for each additional year searched.
Applications mailed to the State may be paid by check or money order made payable to: “Treasurer, State of New Jersey.” Applications made to the municipal office should be made payable to the municipality. We cannot accept credit card payment by mail. Also, please do not send cash through the mail. Our authorized vendor, VitalChek, can accept credit cards. Please see the following information about submitting your application.
STEP 2
There are several ways to get a copy of a vital record:
- Expedited Service -- Mail, Phone, Fax or Internet Orders: Use our vendor VitalChek. Your document will be shipped faster than if you apply in writing to the State Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration. Once your order is received by VitalChek it is usually processed and your documents returned within 25 business days. There is an additional $10.95 processing fee for this service, and you will need a credit card, check or money order to place your order. You can go directly to the VitalChek web site now to place your order. The website will walk you through the process. You will not have to return to the State Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration web page.
- Non-expedited Service -- Mail Orders Only: Genealogical records by mail from the State Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration are typically processed within 14 to 16 weeks. You can mail your completed "Application for a Certification or Certified Copy of a Vital Record" (Birth, Marriage, Civil Union, Domestic Partnership, or Death Certificate) [pdf 54k*] [doc 47k] to the State Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration or to the Local Registrar in the city or town where the vital event took place. The records you requested can only be sent to the address listed on your identification documents.
- For a Local Registrar, call the Registrar’s office first for information on processing times and fees. (This service is currently not available in Jersey City for births. You must order Jersey City birth records from the State Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration.)
- For the State Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration, mail to:
Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration
Customer Service Unit – Non-Genealogical Requests
PO Box 370
Trenton, NJ 08625-0370
Regardless of the where you place your order you will have to send with your application:
- all required copies of ID establishing your identity
- copies of documents proving your relationship to the person named on the record and
- the correct fee.
Your application will be returned if you do not send in all required information.
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Most early birth records contain very little biographical information. Typical early New England town and church records, for example, give little information beyond the name of the child, date and place of birth, and parents’ names. Some localities listed only the name of the father.
While early birth records can be discouragingly lacking in information, by the mid-nineteenth century birth records in the United States began to include more information. Even though births were not widely recorded during the early years of America’s existence, the records that do exist may be the only source of a birth date for an individual and should always be consulted.
Delayed births are also important vital registrations that you should consider for obtaining biographical information. When Social Security benefits were instituted in 1937, individuals claiming benefits had to document their birth even if the state of their birth did not require registration when they were born.
Individuals who were not registered with state or county agencies at the time of their birth often applied for a delayed birth registration. Obtaining passports, insurance, and other benefits also required proof of age. Applications were accompanied with full name, address, and date and place of birth; father’s name, race, and place of birth; and evidence to support the facts presented. The evidence could be in the form of a baptismal certificate, Bible record, school record, affidavit from the attending physician or midwife, application for an insurance policy, birth certificate of a child, or an affidavit from a person having definite knowledge of the facts. Delayed birth records are usually filed and indexed separately from regular birth registrations, and it may be necessary to request a separate search for them.
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Because of the importance of the legal distribution and control of property, most states and counties began to record marriages before births and deaths. The recording of a marriage is a two-step process. Traditionally, couples apply for a license to marry, and the applications are usually filed loose among other applications or in bound volumes. Marriage returns are filed once the marriage has taken place. The latter document is the proof of a marriage (not the license application).
Marriage applications are often filled out by both the bride and groom and typically contain a significant amount of genealogical information. They may list full names of the bride and groom, their residences, races, ages, dates and places of birth, previous marriages, occupations, and their parents’ names, places of birth, and occupations.
Marriage certificates are issued by counties after the marriage ceremony is completed, and these are usually found among family items. While the certificates tend to have less biographical data than the application, the name of the individual officiating at the wedding may lead you to religious records by revealing the denomination. The religious records, in turn, may reveal the names of witnesses and other useful information.
Early American records sometimes include marriage bonds, which served as a protection for the future children of the marriage. A bond obligated a prospective groom to pay the bond if he were discovered to be a bigamist or imposter or otherwise ineligible to contract a valid marriage. As long as the marriage was legal, the bond was void. Bonds generally include the groom’s name, name of the surety, the sum, and the date of the agreement.
- Search U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
- New Jersey Marriages, 1684-1895: This database update adds marriage records for Salem County, in addition to records for Warren County, Atlantic, Bergen, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Sussex, Hunterdon, and Somerset counties.
- New Jersey Marriages, Colonial Era, 1665-1800: In addition to the 45,000 names in this database, included is an historical introduction on the early marriage laws of New Jersey ,and the precedents on which they were founded.
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Early death records in the United States provide little more than the name of the deceased, the date of death, and the place of death. Obituaries and cemetery, court, and other records often provide more information about the deceased than do most official death records created before the last quarter of the 1800s.
By 1900 death records included more details. They often include the name of the deceased; date, place, and cause of death; age at the time of death; place of birth; parents’ names; occupation; name of spouse; name of the person giving the information; the informant’s relationship to the deceased; the name and address of the funeral director; and the place of burial. Race is listed in some records, and modern death certificates generally include a Social Security number.
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