Births were required to be recorded at each county and city throughout VA starting in 1853 and ending in 1896. A couple cities continued the practice after 1896. Before 1853, there was no legal requirement that births be recorded. The births were recorded in a large book called a birth register. Each year, each county and city had to send a copy of the birth register to Richmond, and these still survive. At some point the Bureau of Vital statistics made an index containing all births reported in all counties and cities from 1853 through 1896. The index and a copy of all the birth registers are located at the Library of VA in Richmond. This means that even though a courthouse may have burned, say in 1900, destroying all records prior to that time, the copy of the birth register sent to Richmond survived. The same is true of the death registers for the same period of time (1853-1896). Also, starting in 1853 when marriage licenses were first issued, a copy of the marriage register was sent to Richmond each year. Since Marsha lives in WV, I should also point out the registers for counties that are now a part of WV are also in Richmond for the period 1853 - 1862 or 1863. Based on experience with my various families lines, I'd say no more than 70 - 80% of the births were reported, and no more than 50 - 60% of the deaths were reported. However, this varied from family to family. Jim Messersmith Rockville, VA At 10:15 PM 02/11/2001 -0400, you wrote: >Could someone knowledgeable help me figure out if I have any other place >to look for a births in Montgomery county, Virginia. If I go by Census >records, my Archy Moses was born in 1834 as he was 26 in the census of >1860. I just returned from a trip to the Court house in Montgomery >County where I learned that their records for births were from >1853-1871. Do I find earlier records for births at the Virginia State >Library in Richmond? Before I make a trip to Richmond, is there a way >to find out if I can expect to find some sort of a birth record for that >date and county in the records held in that library? Thanks for your >help. Marsha in WV > >PS Other than that disappointment and a few others, I had a very >wonderful and successful trip. > > >==== VAMONTGO Mailing List ==== >Remember all messages to be posted to the list must be mailed to > [email protected]