Vital Records Frustrations
If you’ve followed my FB postings at all, you know I spend quite a bit of time, relatively speaking, at the Vital Records office here in Oklahoma City. I retrieve records for out of state researchers who need a death certificate pronto. The last time I was there, the cashier was giving me instructions on where to go next, and then he stopped and said, “But you’ve been here before, haven’t you?” What does it mean if the folks at Vital Records recognize you?
Recently I had the occasion to need some birth, death, and marriage certificates from California. The birth and death came from Sacramento fairly quickly–about 2 1/2 weeks. Surprisingly enough, they are sending me a refund for the two they didn’t find. Of course, the two they didn’t find, a birth in 1862 and a death in 1883 are the two I wanted most.
But I have another issue with the marriage record requested from Sierra County. They sent me a letter of “No Record Found,” and they had the wrong name for the groom on that form. Now, I’ve checked. I sent the correct name. Did they check the right name and put the wrong one on the form? Did they check the wrong name? And how do I diplomatically address this? I’m hoping an oh, so polite telephone call tomorrow will help settle this for me.
Hi, Debra! Once, a county clerk in Michigan sent me the entirely wrong marriage certificate for two people whose names did not even closely match mine. I think the marriage date was the same, though. I had to call them, and they told me to return the marriage certificate, and that they would send me the correct one if I put a note in there telling them what had happened. I did not have to pay for the correct one since it was their mistake. Another time, the same county clerk’s office gave me a death certificate with the surname spelled the way I had put it on the request. However, when I visited the office myself some years later, I noticed that the name in the death book was spelled a different way. There were a few other strange things about it too. I have no idea if they are looking at something other than the public death book when retrieving a record for someone by mail (maybe the original entries that are not available to the public?). Perhaps the original was copied wrong into the death book that is available to the public. Anyhow, I have not yet figured out how to diplomatically approach this one either. I think I will just keep record of both versions.
I’ve tried to get Oklahoma records from a distance. They say no record was found for my great-great grandfather, but I just think they looked poorly.
Are records for all counties housed in OKC? Maybe I could hire you to look for my ancestor. He died in Lawton in 1919. No record found for him, but they did find one for his wife in 1913. Email me if interested.
Hi Amy:
ALL birth and death records are held at the Bureau of Vital Stats here in Oklahoma City. There is no public index. AND, unlike Texas, neither birth nor death records are kept at the county level.
Supposedly vital records were kept beginning at statehood in 1907, but the reality is they are not consistently held until the mid 1930s. It IS interesting that they found a 1913 record but not a 1919 one, but whoever said Oklahoma was consistent?
The best I can offer you is to look up your ancestor’s death in the Lawton newspaper if you don’t already have that.