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CONNIE LENZEN, CG |
What Oregon Vital Records are Available
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Background. There are three key dates for each individual: a birth date, a death date, and a marriage date (if applicable). The records generated by these events are called vital records.
Vital records contain varying amounts of information. At a minimum, you will find:
Date of birth, death, or marriage
Location of that event
Names of the people involved
Each state has a vital record office where birth, death, and marriage certificates can be ordered. For on-line information about these offices, go to: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/howto/w2w/w2welcom.htm. For Oregon, go to http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/chs/order/faqs.shtml.
Oregon Birth, Death, Marriage, and Divorce Certificates
You can obtain Oregon certificates from the Oregon Vital Records office for the following years:
Oregon certificates cost $20.00 and can be obtained by mail, fax, telephone, or in person at the VR office in Portland. Information on how to do this and downloadable order forms are on the Oregon Vital Record's webpage: http://www.ohd.hr.state.or.us/chs/certif/certfaqs.htm. For death certificates that are more than 50 years old, you can order a non-certified copy from the Oregon State Archives for a reduced fee. Google "Oregon State Archives" to get their contact information.
Important Note: Oregon birth certificates and indexes, less than 100 years old, are closed to the public. You can order birth certificates if you can prove you are an immediate family member. Further, you must have the full name listed on the certificate, birth date, place of birth, and parents' full names. Marriage, divorce, and death certificates at Oregon Vital Records have a 50-year closure law. (Marriage and divorce records less than 50 years old may be obtained from county governments.)
Other Oregon Vital Records
Multnomah County and Portland Certificates
Marriage: Original Multnomah County marriage certificates from 1855 through 1920 are in bound volumes at the Genealogical Forum of Oregon Library. The library staff will make copies of pages for a modest fee. See their website, http://www.gfo.org.
Deaths: Early Portland death certificates have been microfilmed by the Oregon State Archives. The title for the series is City of Portland Death Certificates, 1862-1902. The title implies the certificates cover the span of years from 1862 to 1902, but only a few certificates are before 1890. The certificates basically cover the 1890s.
The City of Portland kept a separate death register called the "Chronologic Index to City of Portland Deaths, 1864-1917." The title implies death information dating back to 1864, but only a few deaths go back that far. The actual start of the index is March 1881. As the title suggests, this is not an alphabetic index but a listing by month and year. The Oregon State Archives includes this index it its "Oregon Historical Records Index," online at http://genealogy.state.or.us/. They will make copies of entries for a modest fee.
Births: The City of Portland kept a separate birth register called the "Chronologic Index to City of Portland Birtys, 1864-1917." As with the death register, March 1881 is the actual start of the index. The Oregon State Archives includes the births through the year 1902 on their website. For births after 1902, a page-by-pages search must be made.
Delayed Birth Records from 1842 to 1903 are in the custody of the Oregon State Archives, and an index to the records are included in the "Oregon Historical Records Index," online at http://genealogy.state.or.us/. They will make copies of entries for a modest fee.
Substitutes for Vital Records
Obituaries: When
you have an actual or approximate death date, you can look for an obituary
for a person. Obituaries offer interesting facts about the individual, tell
the burial place, and list surviving family members.
Cemeteries: Cemeteries are a favorite source of information for genealogists. Tombstone inscriptions may contain birth and death dates and interesting data about the person. To find where someone is buried, look at the person's death certificate or ask relatives if they remember which cemetery was involved.
Funeral Home Record: Funeral home records may contain the following information; name of deceased, birth and death dates, names of parents, name of spouse, and the names of children or other relatives. The bits of data regarding the funeral service; such as, the address where the family car was sent, the songs performed, the clothes used by the deceased, may seem minor to some, but to genealogists they are stuff of which stories are made.
Important Note: There is NOT a master burial list, showing where every burial in the city, the county, or the state, is located. Many of the cemeteries around the Portland area are still operating cemeteries, and they keep their own records.
© 2002-2008
Connie Lenzen, CG
CG, Certified Genealogist, is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under license by board certified genealogists after periodic evaluation, and the board name is registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office.