All New York State vital records are stored by the New York State Department of Health at their office of vital records, in Albany. All the original certificates, such as the birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates are kept with them and this was legally started in the year 1881.
Before that, the certificates may not be found as in those days, these certificates were stored by the doctors or individuals and there was no clear-cut policy for keeping these records safe.
When vital records are created, they are first recorded with the village clerk, then by the town clerk and then the city clerk, after which the actual record travels to the Albany Department of health.
You may be able to get basic information about the vital record from the concerned village clerk, town clerk or the city clerk, as they would have recorded the details in their books and you will receive a printed form that consists of all the details that have been retrieved from that stored record that is with them. You will not be able to see the record books directly or handle them yourself. They will transcribe the document and give it to you.
In most cases, this information may be enough and you get all the information very quickly if you go there in person or if you ask it to be mailed, it will take about two weeks. Even this duration varies from place to place.
If you want a photocopy of the original vital record document, this can be done from the Department of Health in Albany.
The easiest way to do this is to identify the vital record on the microfiche index, as these indexes are sorted by category and year and grouped by surnames. Then you need to write the village or town or the city where the event took place, the date and the certificate number. Then mail in requesting them for the vital records and you will get them within a few days.
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