Nebraska Vital Records
This entry was originally written by Marsha Hoffman Rising, CG, FUGA, FASG and Dwight A. Radford for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
The statewide requirement for registration of births and deaths began in late 1904 and for marriages and divorces in 1909. However, compliance was not complete for several years. The available records can be ordered from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, 301 Centennial Mall, P.O. Box 95065, Lincoln, NE 68509-5065.
With the exception of some delayed birth registrations located in the office of the county clerk, Nebraska did not record births and deaths at the county level. The Nebraska State Historical Society has both the Omaha birth registry (1869'1907) and the Omaha death registry (1873'1915). These as well as most of the early vital records are incomplete for the beginning years of registration. Divorce records before 1909 are at the county clerk of the district court.
Several county genealogical societies have compiled indexes to the early marriage records. The Nebraska State Historical Society and the Family History Library (FHL) maintain microfilm copies for research, including a large number of county registers.
FamilySearch.org has a marriage collection available for free online:
External Links
- Nebraska Birth, Marriage, and Death Records - free up-to-date guide to accessing Nebraska birth, marriage, and death records (FamilySearch Research Wiki). Includes links to FamilySearch vital record databases.
- Nebraska Marriages Search Engine - free Nebraska marriages search engine that has indexed marriages posted across the web.
- Nebraska Obituary and Death Notice Archive - free Nebraska obituary archive that has transcribed obits from across the state.
- Nebraska Library of Files - free Nebraska obituary and data files archive from across the state.
