Texas - This Month's Featured State

The first complete list of every birth available in Texas from 1903 to 1997 – plus marriages and divorces - was released in June 2005.

Roughly 70 million new Texas names from the following new databases:

Texas Births 1903 – 1997 51.3 million names (Database ID 8781)
Texas Marriages 1966 – 2002 12.3 million names (DBID 8795)
Texas Divorces 1968 – 2002 6 million names (DBID 8794)

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Texas Birth Index

Keyed Fields:

· Surname
· Given Name and Middle
· County
· Birth Date
· Sex
· Parent’s Surname
· Parent’s Given and Middle Name
· Second Parent’s Surname
· Second Parent’s Given and Middle Name
· Birth Certificate Number

Number of Records: 17,102,286
Number of Names: TBD

Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997 – Online Description

This database is an index to over 15 million births recorded in Texas between 1903 and 1997. Information contained in this index includes child's full name, sex, birth date, and county of birth. Some records also contain the full names of both parents and some records provide the birth certificate number. With the information provided in this index, you may be able to obtain a copy of a birth certificate. If possible, it is important that you do this because oft times more information is provided in an original record than is provided in its index. For information on how to order a copy of a birth certificate, visit the "http://www.tdh.state.tx.us/" Texas Department of State Health Services website.

Beginning in 1903, with mandatory recording of births and deaths, copies of county records are maintained at the Bureau of Vital Statistics, Texas Department of Health, 1100 West 49^th Street, Austin, Texas 78756. Statewide indexes were microfilmed by the Texas State Library and copies are additionally available at several genealogical libraries. The birth index covers 1903-76 and is alphabetized by year. The Genealogy Section of the Texas State Library provides limited correspondence service by checking indexes for a particular name for a small fee. If a birth or death record is not found at the state level, it is prudent to check the proper municipal or county office.

Probated or delayed birth registrations were sometimes submitted to the respective county court. These were then forwarded to the State Bureau of ital Statistics. Microfilm indexes to delayed birth records include Texas residents born elsewhere, many of whom were seeking Social Security registration. The bureau ended delayed birth registration in 1959.

Taken from Texas, Ancestry's Red Book by Wendy L. Elliott, edited by Alice Eichholz. (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1992).