Guide to Vital Records in SCHO

A Guide to Vital Records in the Collection of the

Saratoga County Historian's Office

Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths in the State of New York was first required by law in 1847. The record keeping under this law was to be done by the clerk of each school district, who would report these records to the appropriate town clerk who would in turn report to the county clerk. The records, or an abstract, would be then sent to the Secretary of State. The law was poorly written and not very easily enforced. On December 19, 1850 the Secretary of State wrote to all County Clerks:

"I have concluded not to forward the blanks for the Report of Births, Marriages and Deaths, until the law is so amended as to enable me to receive full and correct reports from the entire State. Therefore all action under the law will be, for the present, suspended."

The Saratoga County Historian's Office has in its files four towns' records collected under the 1847 law.

Another attempt by the state to collect death records was begun in 1864 in which the assessor of each town or ward was directed to accumulate the data. (Chapter 380) This law was repealed in 1865. (Chapter 723) The Historian has a partial record from only one town, Edinburgh, reported under this law: a photocopy of that report is included herewith.

An improved law for vital records was not subsequently enacted until 1880, when registration was put under the jurisdiction of the New York State Department of Health.

Vital Records have always been sought and collected by the County Historians. These records are found in various places throughout the collection, mostly in the form of typed transcriptions.

The records described in this guide are primarily those records produced by a government or by an agency of a government such as a school district. Records of churches are not included in this guide. Some substitute records are included, however, where official records are not in the collection.

Other sources found in our collection which include vital record dates, either explicit or implied, are:

Town Clerks' Registers of Civil War Veterans

Church Records

Obituaries in scrapbooks (e.g., Durkee's scrapbooks)

Cemetery epitaph transcriptions

(e.g., Durkee's Saratoga County Epitaphs, on Microfilm reels #900-5, and 900-6)

World War I Draft Enrollment Cards

(three microfilms reels: an alphabetical section for each of two local

Selective Service Boards)

World War II Enrollment Cards

City Directories

Bible records in Surname files

New York Marriages previous to 1784

(in General Reference bookcase)

Birthdates taken from Guardianship Papers (see Microfilm reel #800-2)

Census, Federal and State

Note: The only vital records kept at the Saratoga County Clerk's office are marriage licenses from 1908 to 1935.

1847-1850 Vital Records Law Registrations

Charlton see file 974.748--02,2600 in drawer with

Charlton town files

"Vital Records of the Town of Charlton"

Greenfield see file 974.748--08,2601

"Vital Statistics"

Births, Marriages and Deaths 1848-49

Saratoga Springs see folder "Vital Records: Births, Deaths, Marriages 1847-1850"

compiled by Henry Ritchie and published in "Tree Talks" beginning September 1970.