ONLINE VITAL RECORDS HAVE BUMPY HISTORY
(Please be aware this post was written in 2003 and published at that time in the Houston Chronicle (Houston, Texas) newspaper. Some of the news in this post, therefore, may not be current. Current and future posts on this blog may revisit and update news on this and other posts on this blog. If you have questions and/or suggestions, please send Mic a note using the comment page -Don’t forget to use the orange “subscribe” button to receive new posts-Thanks, Mic)
The year 2000 was a great year for Texas genealogists. In June 2000 the Texas Bureau of Vital Statistics placed several statewide vital records indexes on their website. Researchers were able to go to the TBVS website and research the records at their leisure. The data, however, was awkwardly arranged in separate files corresponding to the year of the event. Each year had to be searched individually.
Rootsweb.com, a free-to-the-public genealogical research website, purchased a set of the Texas vital records data and prepared it for use on their website. An enterprising programmer at Rootsweb combined the single year files and created a search engine that allowed one to search all the data files in a fraction of a second.
Unfortunately, the gains of 2000 were ripped apart when questions of privacy were published in November 2001 in a California newspaper. The Governor of that state threatened to sue Rootsweb for having his states’ vital records indexes online. Within a week Texas Bureau of Vital Records officials followed California’s lead and demanded Rootsweb unplug the online Texas Vital Records Databases. Rootsweb complied.
The Texas vital records databases that were online were statewide indexes to Marriages 1966-1995, Divorces 1968-1997, Deaths 1963-1998, the General indexes to Births 1926-1949 and the Summary Indexes to Births 1950-1995. General Indexes, incidentally, list names of parents while Summary Indexes do not.
In Texas marriages and divorces have been maintained on a county level since the days of the Republic of Texas in the 1830’s. They began being reported to the State in 1966 and 1968 respectfully.
Births and deaths, on the other hand, began being kept on a statewide basis in 1903. It was not until the late 1920’s when it could be construed that most counties were complying with the law by maintaining and reporting birth and death statistical information to the Bureau of Vital Statistics in Austin. Births and Deaths 1903-1997 are available on microfilm and microfiche at Clayton Library and at courthouses across the state.
On June 20, 2003 Texas Governor Perry signed SB 861 which will close birth records for seventy-five years. This new law goes into effect September 1. Currently birth records are open after fifty years. Death records were not a part of SB 861 and remain available to researchers after being closed twenty-five years. Indexes for both birth and deaths remain open to researchers.
There is some good news for those who would like to research Texas vital records indexes without going to a courthouse. Houston genealogist Hugh Adams has taken the vital records indexes formerly online at the Texas Bureau of Vital Statistics website and formatted them on eleven CD-ROMs. Each letter of the alphabet on each CD includes data from births 1926-1995, marriages 1996-2000, divorces 1968-2000 and deaths 1964-1998. A demonstration website may be viewed at http://www.tvrview.com/ .
The eleven CDs contain surname data arranged alphabetically as: 1) A, D, E; 2) B; 3) C; 4) F, G; 5) H, I: 6) J, K, L; 7) M; 8) N, O, P, Q; 9) R, T; 10) S, X: and 11) U,V,W, X, Y, Z.
The CDs are available from TVRView-H.C. Adams, 12180 Greenspoint Drive PMB # 196, Houston, TX 77060-2002. The eleven CD set is priced at $129 while individual discs are priced at $15.50. Shipping for the set is $4.95 and $2.50 for an individual CD. Texas sales tax is 7.5%.
LEARN GENEALOGY
Offered by Leisure Learning, I will teach an introductory course on conducting family history research. Roots of Genealogy-How To Research Your Family Tree will be held from 7 P.M. to 10 P.M. Tuesday July 8 at Leisure Learning’s 2990 Richmond Ave campus. The following week the class will tour Clayton Genealogical Library and conduct on-site census research. Registration for this class is $35. For more information and to register, contact Leisure Learning at 713-529-4414.
FAMILY TREE MAKER SOFTWARE CLASS
Paula Perkins will lead an Organizing Your Family Research With Family Tree Maker Software class from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday July 10. This one-time four hour class will be held at Houston Community College’s 1681 Cartwright campus in Missouri City.
Through demonstrations, students will learn step by step how to organize, document family information and sources and publish a family book. Registration for this class is $39. For more information and to register, contact HCC at 281-835-5539. Please note pre-registration is required.
SURFING THE INTERNET
I will be leading a Surfing the Internet for Genealogy class at Houston Community College’s 1681 Cartwright campus in Missouri City. This one session class is a live four hour virtual tour of some of the most helpful and notable genealogical websites on the Internet. The class will be held Wednesday July 9 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Registration for this class is $39. For more information and to register, contact HCC at 281-835-5539. Please note, pre-registration is required.
