Vital Records

At the Kansas Historical Society we rarely go a day without a request from a family researcher for birth, death and marriage records for their Kansas ancestors. Unfortunately, in Kansas, it can be difficult to track down early records.

The State of Kansas didn't start keeping records of births and deaths until July 1, 1911. Marriage licenses were required beginning in 1867, but they were not recorded at the state level until May 1, 1913. For copies of vital records after those dates, you need to contact a separate state agency, the Office of Vital Statistics, Charles B. Curtis State Office Building, 1000 SW Jackson Street, Suite 120, Topeka, KS 66612-1221; 785-296-1400.

Between about 1885 and 1911 births, deaths and marriages may have been recorded at the county or city clerk's office in register volumes. Not all of these registers have survived. At the Kansas Historical Society we have copies of some county and city vital records available on microfilm. Please consult our Local Government Records on Microfilm lists to see what we have available for each county. Additional information may be gathered from copies of church records, newspapers, cemetery books and other materials in our library collection.

We also have the largest collection of Kansas newspapers on microfilm in the state. These can be searched for death, birth and marriage announcements. You can search our Kansas newspapers database to see what papers are available on microfilm. We will send these out on interlibrary loan to other libraries.

Sometimes vital statistics registers can still be found at the local office that recorded the event or in a local genealogical collection. Contact information for county courthouses, historical and genealogical societies, public libraries and other local places that might have preserved vital records are available on the Kansas libraries web site. The information contained in these early records varies from place to place.

In addition, marriage licenses before May 1913 were recorded in the district court. Divorce records were recorded at the district courts up till July 1951. There is a directory of Kansas district courts on their web site.

Information that may be found in Kansas vital records:

Birth records

• Child's name
• Date of birth
• Place of birth
• Parent's names (and sometimes mother's maiden name)
• Place of residence if different from place of birth

Marriage records

• Names of bride and groom
• Date
• Place

Death records

• Name of deceased
• Death date
• Place of death
• Cause of death
• Age at time of death
• Occupation
• Place of birth
• Names of parents and their places of birth
• Name of spouse
• Name of person giving the information and the informant's relationship to the deceased
• Race is listed in some records