How To Start Your County Records Search
Contact County Clerk OfficesCounty offices store a wealth of records available for public access. The challenge is figuring out how to navigate hundreds of county offices within a given state to find the records you're looking for. A good place to start is the county clerk or county clerk of court. These offices usually offer detailed information on archived criminal and civil court records.
Contact County Recorder OfficesA second reliable source for county records is the county recorder's office. Recorders (or Register of Deeds in the East Coast) are traditionally responsible for keeping land records, deeds, surveys, mortgages, easements and liens. A variety of other records are sometimes kept at recorders' offices as well such as vital. Records are kept in a few different formats including microfilm, microfiche, indexes, books, images and paper files.
Contact County Public Health DepartmentsA third source for county records are county Departments of Public Health. These offices are reliable sources for birth, death, marriage and sometimes divorce records. Normally county departments of public health take vital record requests by mail-in-application, phone call, fax or email and offer the option to certify record copies. Although vital records are public information they may only be retrieved by the person whose name appears on the record or by next of kin due to the sensitivity of the information on the record.
National County Record Resources
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National Association Of Counties
National Association of County Recorders & Clerks -
National Association Of County & City Health Officials
NACCHO represents local health departments in charge of maintaining vital records -
National Association of County Recorders & Clerks
NACRC is a professional organization that facilitates communication between elected county officials
