Greetings, Larry here. >From a pamphlet I have from the Virginia State Library and Archives, Archives and Records Division, Research Notes, Number 2, It states: "A law requiring the Systematic Statewide recording of births and deaths was passed by the Virginia General Assembly on April 11, 1853. The law required every commissioner of revenue to make an annual registration of births and deaths in his district at the time personal property subject to taxation was ascertained. The commissioner was to record births and deaths that occurred prior to December 31 of the preceding year and return the record to the clerk of the court by June 1. Information was obtained from heads of family, Physicians, or Coroners, and the law imposed penalties for failing to furnish or collect the information. The Clerk of Court in each locality was directed to enter the information supplied by the commissioner into registers and prepare an alphabetical index to each record. A copy of each register was forwarded to the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts. The law went into effect on July 1, 1853, and continued until 1896 when an economy-consious legislature repealed the recording provisions. Birth and Death registers in the Virginia State Library and Archives are copies of these records made by local clerks from the lists compiled by the commissioner and forwarded to the Auditor of Public Accounts. The Auditor was directed to turn the lists over to the Bureau of Vital Statistics in 1918 and the registers were later transferred to the Archives. The records are an indispensable source for the most basic of biographical facts about earlier generations of Virginians. WHAT THE RECORDS SHOW Information found on birth and death registers changed little between 1853 and 1896. For births, the registers have headings for the date of birth; name of child, if named; color (if "colored," whether slave or free); sex; whether born dead or alive; the place of birth; the name of the father or owner; the fathers occupation; the fathers residence (the county or locality in the county); the mother's name in full; how many infants at this birth (whether this was a multiple birth); deformities or any circumstances of interest; the name of the person giving the information, and the relation of the informant to the person born. Death registers record the name of the deceased; race; sex; name of the owner;, if a slave; date of death; place of death; place of death; name of the disease or cause of death; age (years, months, days); the name of the parents of the deceased; where born; occupation; consort of, or unmarried; name of the person giving the information; and a description of the informant (weather a physician, consort, head of family, or friend). It is not unusual to find some of the information missing from the records. If an infant had not been named at the time of birth or death, the entry would record only the surname or note "Smith Infant." Only the month appears for the date of birth or death in some instances. On the death registers, the names of parents of the deceased are frequently omitted or unreliable since the person giving the information may not have known. Caused of death are frequently not known. When John Doublin reported the death of his friend Charles Beasley in Lancaster County in November 1896, the only information given was that Beasley was 120 years old and had died from "old age." An index to birth records between 1853 and 1896 is available on microfilm in the Archives. The index is arranged in ten-year periods alphabetically by Surname (i.e. names A through Z for the years 1853 through 1869). The index lists the name of the child, the names of the father and mother, the date of birth, the county in which the birth was recorded, and the page number of the birth register for the year of the birth. After locating an entry in the index, the researcher should find the county register for the year and examine the appropriate page for the record. There is also an index to births of slaves for the years 1853 through 1865. The index is arranged alphabetically by the name of the owner, overseer, employer, or informant. The name of the slave, name of the mother, date of birth, county of birth, and page number are listed. There is no index to death records for the period of 1853 through 1896. Some county court clerks prepared indexes to births and deaths for this period Microfilm copies of the indexes may be available among the county court records in the Archives collection. Examine the guides to county court records in the Archives to determine if indexes are available". End of quote. ================================================= LARRY NOTE: There are Birth and Death Vital Statistics available via ILL from the Library of Virginia. The info is on 35 mm film. These are registers, not indexes. Birth Vital Statistics are available on: Film # 34, for the years 1853 to 1881. Film # 35 covers 1881 to 1885 Film # 57 covers 1878 to 1896 Films # 34 & 57 cover 1853 to 1896 The war years, 1869 and 1895 are missing. Death Vital Statistics are on: Film # 13 covering 1853 to 1890. Film # 14 covers 1890 to 1896. Some years are missing. =========================================================== When I have time I will post some of the info available from the LDS. Good hunting, Larry

Thank you, Larry, for telling me what the law really was. However, I know for a fact that almost NONE of my Charlotte Co. relatives' births show up in these indexes. Some do, and I've looked at the actual registers, but I know of others, both in Charlotte and neighboring counties, who were not listed. So I would not say a person wasn't born in VA because they don't show up on the list. Susan Jones