Carter and Greenup Researchers, I received a lot of thank you notes regarding my previous post on searching for Kentucky death certificates. I also received a lot of questions about how and where to order these records. Therefore, I will try to document the necessary information below. 1. Consistent vital records weren't kept in KY until 1911. However, some records are available back to the mid 1850's but these vary from county to county. If older records are available for your county, you will likely find them at the county courthouse or at the State Archives in Frankfort, KY. There's a wonderful "handbook" available that will explain the types of resources available for research in each of KY's 120 counties. You should check with your local library for the book listed below: Title: Kentucky Ancestry : A Guide to Genealogical and Historical Research Author: Roseann Reinemuth Hogan ISBN: 0916489493 You can order this item from Amazon Books at http://www.amazon.com (Search for Kentucky Ancestry) for $19.95. 2. The KY Office of Vital Statistics has birth and death records from Jan 1911 to present and marriage records from Jun 1958 to present. You may access their Web site at http://cfc-chs.chr.state.ky.us/vital.htm Birth records are $9.00 each while death, marriage and divorce records are $6.00 each. Certificate applications are available in Adobe Portable Document Format (.pdf) or you can order records by telephone/credit card from 8 AM to 3 PM at (502) 564-4212. 3. If you are looking for death records for the years of 1911-1946, I recommend an alternate route. Death records during this time period are available on microfilm from - the State Archives in Frankfort (cost = photocopy rate per page) This is a great method if you have a lot of certificates and can make the drive. - some local libraries and historical centers (cost = photocopy rate per page) This is another great source if you can make the drive. Also, some libraries will do lookups for you as long as they are within limits. Typically, you only have to pay the photocopy fee and the cost of a stamp and envelope. - Researchers on the Internet (usually $3 per certificate) This is a wonderful way to get certificates when you live far away or if you only have a small number of certificates that you need. Most Internet researchers charge $3 per copy which is still half price compared to the Office of Vital Statistics. Researchers on the Internet that will lookup death certificates (that I know of) include: Pam Carey Durstock - http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/ky-dcert.html I have used Pam's service and found it to be wonderful! Pam charges $3 per record. However, she donates 1/2 of the money to the USGenWeb Project. Jessie Hagan - http://kyssar.hypermart.net/kyvital.htm I have not used this service, but Jessie is listed on the KyGenWeb page and I have listened to folks who are satisfied with his service on the KYRoots Discussion List many times. Both researchers appreciate you sending them the index information for all deaths between 1911 to 1946. You can track down the index data using the tool housed at the University of Kentucky - http://ukcc.uky.edu/~vitalrec/ I also noticed this morning that Tom Crain - Aahyup@aol.com will search the Birth Index. However, I'm unsure of his rates at this time. - The Office of Vital Statistics I only use this resource when the dates I need fall after 1946. If you have a lot of certificates that you need this can get costly fast! 4. I do know that both Carter and Greenup have vital records prior to 1911. Most of these records list an individuals name (middle if you're lucky), age at death, date of death or if it's a birth, month (maybe a day, maybe not) and year, parents names (almost always on births, sometimes not on deaths). You can order microfilm for each counties vitals. Greenup County's Web site provides a listing of some research materials available from LDS on microfilm at http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygreenu/film.html Some film may be purchased and others accessed via a local LDS Family History Center. I hope these tips prove to be helpful. I also must apologize to those individuals who belong to both the Carter and Greenup lists as you will receive this message two times because I'm posting to both lists. I would like to see more correspondence on these lists in the future. Networking and sharing ideas about what works and what fails with genealogy is very helpful ... at least for me :-) I would also like to hear tips from other researchers on how to find good information on your ancestors. I often fall into the "rut" of using the same resources to lookup information, when I'm sure a lot of different records exist that I could use to expand my database on individuals. However, I'm either unaware of the material or untrained on how to take advantage. Thank you, Darrell Smith -- Darrell Smith dsmith@mis.net