Mounting a Search for Vital Records
Question: I have just begun to research my family tree and am having difficulty finding the addresses of different places that have death, birth and marriage records. I need them from all over the United States, Canada and England. Also, how much do these records cost?
Answer: Finding vital record sources can be difficult. Most information found in genealogical how-to books is out of date by the time of publication. Then there’s the problem of obtaining the proper form that many agencies require.
Fortunately, there is a new publication that will help you. It is the “Vital Records Handbook” by Thomas J. Kemp. It contains a complete collection of vital records application forms for each of the U.S. states and trust territories, the provinces and territories of Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
These forms can be photocopied for your use and each source contains the address, fees and method of payment, plus some special notes on the records themselves. For example, to obtain a birth or death certificate from Kansas, write to the Kansas State Department of Health and Environment in Topeka. The cost of certified certificates is $6 each, and this office has these records from July 1, 1911, and marriage records dating from May 1, 1913. For quick service, you can call and charge the certificates to your Visa or Mastercard for an additional $5 fee.
English and Welsh birth, marriage and death certificates dating from July 1, 1837, are available from the General Register Office, St Catherine’s House, in London. The cost, per record, is 10, with a short-form birth certificate available for 7.50. Payment in pounds sterling may be made by check, international money order or draft.
“Vital Records Handbook” is available from Genealogical Publishing Co., 1001 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, Md. 21202, for $21.95, which includes postage and handling.
Q: Family tradition says that in 1803 my ancestor, William Alexander, from Maryland’s Eastern Shore, married Ann Bevans or Bibbins, who was from Bevans or Bibbins Point, Md. I cannot find this locality and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Mapping Division of Reston, Va., is unable to locate it. What do you suggest?
A: The Maryland Historical Society (201 W. Monument St., Baltimore, Md. 21202) may be able to help you pinpoint this locality. However, it is possible that this locality was simply a plantation-type name.
Q: I have traced my Hagar family back to the 1830 New Jersey census. My ancestor came from Ireland, and Hagar is a rare name, not to be confused with Hager, which is German.
I found a reference to a Hagar arriving in 1743 on the “Halifax,” but I’m not sure this is my line. My family settled in the New Brunswick, N. J.
A: You are correct about Hager being a German surname, but Hagar/Haggar (also spelled Hager and Hagger) is an old English locality surname. Hagger is also a Scottish surname. However, this name does not appear in “The Surnames of Ireland” by Edward MacLysaght.
Possibly your Hagars did come from Ireland, but their ancestral home probably was in England or Scotland. Before trying to connect your line to the 1743 immigrant, comb the county records of Middlesex County, N. J., for information pertaining to your known line. Consult marriage, probate and land records to locate and identify your Hagar family. Many records are on microfilm and available through the Latter-day Saints (Mormon) Family History libraries.