Hi, Just thought I would let everyone know about how difficult it is and will be in the future to receive birth/marriage/death certificates from the state of New Jersey. I sent for a couple of birth certificates and my request was returned with an attached statement. "Effective immediately, there will no longer be searches for multiple years-only ONE year. Bureau of Vital Statistics will no longer accept a request for birth/marriage or death records unless the following is supplied: EXACT name that is recorded on the record EXACT place of birth/marriage or death (city) EXACT date of birth/marriage/death (month,day,year) Mother's MAIDEN NAME Father's name (when recorded) "THERE WILL BE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE" Well, I guess if I HAD all that info, I wouldn't need the document would I, except to verify my info. I sent for one with everything except the city. I had the county. Another one I was missing the mother's maiden name. They were both returned. Any idea how I can learn the mother's maiden name without a birth/marriage/death certificate or in what city an individual born/married/died? One more example of how New Jersey makes it so difficult for us to obtain info on our ancestors. I was born, raised and currently live in New Jersey, so I feel I have the right to complain and be annoyed at their attitude. This is the policy of the Bureau of Vital Statistics which have documents from 1878 to the present. Hopefully the State Archives will not adopt this policy and make it difficult to obtain documents from 1848-1878. Susan [email protected] ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.

Hello Susan - and others, While it is disappointing that your request was returned - I would like to address the unfortunate circumstances that have brought about the change in access. As a Municipal Clerk and a die-hard geneaologist, I have always been torn about the apparent ease in which records are (were) available. Consider the following very real scenario that happens more often than people probably realize: A 30-year old individual looks back in the newspapers from 25 years ago, and finds an article or obituary for a 5-year old child that died. They find out the child's name, birthdate, parents and place of birth. They now go to the state Dept. of Vital Statistics, or the local town, and get a copy of that child's birth certificate. Knowing that this child never grew up to get a driver's license of SS number, they can very easily assume this child's identity. A birth cert, DL, and SS card in their name, credit cards, etc. It's that simple. While the renewed adherence to these strict regulations are surely to be an obstacle to the family historian, it is unfortunately necessary. It should be noted, that the State rchives DOES have birth certs. up to 1923, and marriage and deaths up to 1940. Presumably, the individuals being born or married after these dates are still alive, and I have to agree that there should be some amount of privacy over these more recent records. The state did send all Municipal Clerks copies of the regulations and urged us to follow them as well. I have found that it is easier (and certainly faster!) to get records from the town rather than the state. Hopefully you will get a friendly, helpful town clerk (like me :-) !!!) who is more than happy to help. I can usually tell the people who are asking for records for legitimate purposes from those with less than ideal motives. Susan, is there a record you are looking for that I can try to help with? Jodee Inscho Belvidere, NJ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Susan J Fevola" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2002 1:27 PM Subject: [NJWARREN] OBTAINING NJ DOCUMENTS > Hi, > > Just thought I would let everyone know about how difficult it is and will > be in the future to receive birth/marriage/death certificates from the > state of New Jersey. > > I sent for a couple of birth certificates and my request was returned > with an attached statement. > > "Effective immediately, there will no longer be searches for multiple > years-only ONE year. Bureau of Vital Statistics will no longer accept a > request for birth/marriage or death records unless the following is > supplied: > > EXACT name that is recorded on the record > EXACT place of birth/marriage or death (city) > EXACT date of birth/marriage/death (month,day,year) > Mother's MAIDEN NAME > Father's name (when recorded) > "THERE WILL BE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE" > > Well, I guess if I HAD all that info, I wouldn't need the document would > I, except to verify my info. I sent for one with everything except the > city. I had the county. Another one I was missing the mother's maiden > name. They were both returned. Any idea how I can learn the mother's > maiden name without a birth/marriage/death certificate or in what city an > individual born/married/died? > > One more example of how New Jersey makes it so difficult for us to obtain > info on our ancestors. I was born, raised and currently live in New > Jersey, so I feel I have the right to complain and be annoyed at their > attitude. > > This is the policy of the Bureau of Vital Statistics which have documents > from 1878 to the present. Hopefully the State Archives will not adopt > this policy and make it difficult to obtain documents from 1848-1878. > > Susan > [email protected] > ________________________________________________________________ > GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! > Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! > Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: > http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/. > > > ==== NJWARREN Mailing List ==== > > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >