How to Search County Records
If you're interested in finding someone's birthplace or birth date, marriage record or year of death, you can most likely find it in the county clerk's office of any county in America. Most people who put together a genealogy report do so by tracing their family history with the help of county public records. Searching the records is a simple enough task with the right know-how. At times, you need only contact the office and give them the information you're looking for; they'll do the searching for you. Resources for your search are available online and in print.
Instructions
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Find Infromation From Public Records
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Find the county in which your person of interest died, was born or got married. This may be the most daunting part of your task. It could be as easy as asking friends or relatives of that person, or you may have to search for the name in state rather than county records.
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Locate the county clerk's office whose records you need to search. You can do this either by using a phone book or using the Internet. Each county has a clerk's office that holds public records.
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Contact the clerk's office pertaining to the information you're seeking. If you visit the website of the clerk's office, everything you need to know may be included in it, such as hours of operation, times of visitation (for research) and qualifications necessary to search certain records. If you're not sure, call or visit the office and tell them what you're looking for. They will be able to tell you how to obtain it.
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Search the records of the clerk's office, or have a report given to you by them. Once you've been told your options for getting your information, you can choose the best method to obtain it. That may be visiting the office, or it could be filling out a form on the website to have records sent to you.
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Tips & Warnings
Copies, research time and reports are not always free. The price of records varies by county.
If you do an Internet search, you may want to stay away from websites that promise free public records. They are rarely free, and are not affiliated directly with county clerk's offices. Buying a report from them will probably be more expensive. To ensure you are on a government site, make sure the web address ends in .gov.
