National Archives research?

Question

Assuming that the archives are the same in each area. How do you go about doing research for family and friend death certificates. Is it a metter of walking in sitting down and typing in a name. Or do you get permission and wait and wait for a terminal to sit at. Would be nice if someone answered that had persoanl experience but...
Thank you.

Answer 1

The U.S. National Archives holds records produced by agencies of the federal government. Since death certificates are usually state records, the National Archives will generally not have them. For help with death certificates you might try:



Directory of Online Death Indexes and Records

http://www.deathindexes.com/



Where to Write for Vital Records (includes death certificates)

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/howto/w2w/w2welcom.htm



Some types of genealogy records the National Archives has are census, military, immigration and naturalization records. For more information see:

http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/nara-resources.html



For information about the various branches of the National Archives see:

http://www.archives.gov/locations/

Answer 2

This answer is from personal experience. Just a quick word, the National Archive Branches all have different holdings. Their holdings are mostly regional. For example, the one located near me in Fort Worth, Texas houses indian records for the 5 civilized indian tribes among many other things.



They all carry all years of the U.S. Census and you must view them on microfilm. They are not digitized like or fully indexed like the ones at ancestry.com and heritagequest. If you are going to look up the census, you will have to do it the old school way where you first pull the soundex and then the actual census rolls. There is not very much on computer because they specialize in archiving the original documents. Their volunteers are very helpful there.



Whichever branch of the National Archives you are visiting, you might want to check into what their holdings are before you go. Here is a link to the nara webpage where you can get such info. Good luck and I hope you find what you are looking for.



http://www.archives.gov/locations/



For birth and death certificates, your best bet is not the National Archives, but the county in which the birth or death occured. If this is not an option, you might want to check into the catalog at the Church of Latter Day Saints. They have an extensive collection of birth and death registers for many cities, counties, states, and countries. Keep in mind that if you are looking for anything recent, privacy laws do apply.



Also, never underestimate the resources available in the local genealogy department of your local library. Usually, that is the best place to start since church records, newspapers, city directories, local genealogies, and genealogical publications for the immediate area are almost always found there.

Answer 3

I just returned from the National Archives at Washington, D. C. where I researched my family. I was looking for pension files for relatives who served in the Civil War and the War of 1812. I'm not sure what the process is at branch archives. But here is what I had to do in DC: Fill out a request form for each pension file for each individual. The Nat. Archives employees will help obtain proper info for these forms or show you how to do this. Submit request that day and return later that day or the next. Get a research ID card (picture taken, read info on how to handle documents, etc.) which is done on a terminal. Card is printed out and you proceed to research room on 2nd floor where your card is swiped and you are given one of the files you requested earlier. You sit at a table and look through the files and determine what you want copies of. Then, you purchase a debit card in the amount you estimate you will spend to copy files at 15 cents a page. You make your own copies and return the file to the employee and go on to next file. The National Archives in DC does not carry birth and death certificates. They have info on military records, military pension files, census info. For birth and death records, the local county archives of the relative you are researching would have these. If your relative fought in wars, the pension files are a TREASURE TROVE of information-- at least mine was. You can also obtain military pension files by mail from the National Archives, but it cost about $40 per file and takes a few months to get. It was worth a trip to Washington, DC. I'm not sure if the National Archives branches have as much information. I suggest calling them or visiting their websites which you can obtain by googling "National Archives". Good luck!

Answer 4

I have a friend who has found a lot on her immigrant ancestors at the National Archives. She has a niece that is an attorney in D. C. so she goes to visit her.

Actually a cousin who went to Italy told her that she ( my friend) got more at the National Archives than she did going to Italy.



I can understand. I have found that my brain is wired to my fingers my sound.

Answer 5

i think of maximum militia data are on Ancestry or discover My previous now, yet whilst the data do exist, there isn't something like keeping the originals on your palms. you may photocopy them on the national records. I did that with my great Uncle's provider data which fortunately nevertheless exist. the staff are very powerful and additionally will help to translate if issues are a splash complicated to study. palms crossed you hit upon what you're finding for. interior the 1st floor pc room, there are a number of leaflets with suggestions on a thank you to stipulate and order the data. you additionally can get right of entry to discover My previous and Ancestry for unfastened.

Answer 6

Start at their web site--you'll get most of the how-to info you need, and might not have to take a trip there in person to find out if they have the info you want.



Hope this helps!