In a message dated 8/11/99 1:14:28 PM Eastern Daylight Time, cwsulliv@nr.infi.net writes: << They take forever - 4 to 12 months. If you know the exact locality and date of the event you can usually get reasonably prompt service from the local City/Town/Village vital records clerk. However the local clerks can usually supply only a transcription from their registers, as the certificates themselves are kept at the NYS Dept of Health in Albany (who do supply a photocopy of the original). (Vital records for events within New York City are an entirely different matter.) Regards, Charles Sullivan >> What many people may not know is that New York State Vital Records can be gotten in a week or two if the request is hand delivered to the Dept. of Health in Albany. For the past year this has been the case. It is true that after you find the town in the New York State vital records index which is also at NARA on Varick Street, you can directly deal with the town clerk but if a problem arises you now have the alternative with the hand delivered request if you do not want to wait several months. Obviously if you cannot get to Albany you can hire a professional genealogist or records searcher to do this for you in Albany. Joan Koster Morales Historica