DESCRIPTION:

This database is an index to over 15 million births recorded in Texas between 1903 and 1997. Information contained in this index includes:

• Child's full name
  
• Sex
  
• Birth date
  
• Birth county
  

• Names of both parents
  
• Birth certificate number
  

In some cases, where the names of the parents are provided, the parents' names were recorded incorrectly. Occassionally the mother's name was recorded in the father's place and the father's name was recorded in the mother's place. Therefore, you may need to switch which fields you put the parents' names in, in order to produce results.

With the information provided in this index, you may be able to obtain a copy of a birth certificate. If possible, it is important that you do this because oft times more information is provided in an original record than is provided in its index. For information on how to order a copy of a birth certificate, visit the Texas Department of State Health Services website.

Beginning in 1903, with mandatory recording of births and deaths, copies of county records are maintained at the Bureau of Vital Statistics, Texas Department of Health, 1100 West 49th Street, Austin, Texas 78756. Statewide indexes were microfilmed by the Texas State Library and copies are additionally available at several genealogical libraries. The birth index covers 1903-76 and is alphabetized by year. The Genealogy Section of the Texas State Library provides limited correspondence service by checking indexes for a particular name for a small fee. If a birth or death record is not found at the state level, it is prudent to check the proper municipal or county office.

Probated or delayed birth registrations were sometimes submitted to the respective county court. These were then forwarded to the State Bureau of ital Statistics. Microfilm indexes to delayed birth records include Texas residents born elsewhere, many of whom were seeking Social Security registration. The bureau ended delayed birth registration in 1959.

Taken from Texas, Ancestry's Red Book by Wendy L. Elliott, edited by Alice Eichholz. (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1992).

Vital records can be great sources of genealogical information. Besides providing the name of the person for whom the record was created, vital records can provide a wealth of other information. Birth records will generally, but not always, contain the following information: Child--name, birthplace, date of birth, sex, hospital, time of birth; Father--name, race, birthplace, age, occupation; Mother--name, race, birthplace, age, occupation, residence, term of residence in the community, term of pregnancy, marital status, number of other living children, number of other deceased children, number of children born dead.

Modern (post-1910) birth records are maintained by the states. They are extremely valuable, but many researchers, learning birth information from home sources, fail to obtain birth certificates. This reluctance is most unfortunate and can result in an inaccurate or incomplete family genealogy. Modern birth records contain much more information than earlier records. Although birth certificates vary from state to state, most of them share much information in common.

Taken from, Johni Cerny, "Research in Birth, Death, and Cemetery Records," in The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy, ed. Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1997).

For reference, the following table is provided to verify counties when only a county code is given on a record.