Clay County Birth Records
1883 - 1884

Source: Missouri State Archives: Birth and Death Records

1883
1884

Description:
Birth & Death Records

The first provision for statewide registration of births and deaths was enacted July 1, 1883, when the State Board of Health was created for the supervision of such registrations. The act concerning birth and death registration was repealed in 1893 and registration ceased until 1910.

Over 250 reels of microfilm containing birth and death records from 1883 to 1893 are available at the Archives for research. Researchers should note that the records vary from county to county during this period because there was no requirement for mandatory reporting from parents or professional attendants. For example, Bates County births records are only available for 1883 to 1886. Contact the Archives to learn more about researching birth and death records at archref@sosmail.state.mo.us.

The Missouri Birth and Death Records Database is an abstract of the birth, stillbirth, and death records recorded before 1909 and that are available on microfilm at the Missouri State Archives. The Bureau of Vital Statistics has certificates of Missouri births and deaths from 1910 to the present. The database currently contains over 185,000 records from 87 counties. Information found in this database includes:

Births and Stillbirths: name of child, date and place of birth, sex, and race; nationality, residence, and ages of parents, occupation and full name of father, maiden name of mother, name and address of medical or other attendant making return; in case of stillbirth, name of undertaker and place of burial.

Deaths: date of report, name, sex, color, age, occupation, marital status, nationality, birthplace; date, place, and cause of death; date and place of burial, addresses of undertaker, physician returning certificate.

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This page was last updated June 7, 2005.