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Utah Marriage, Death, Birth Records

In Utah, the civil registration of births, deaths and marriages developed slowly, culminating with a state-wide system of recording births and deaths beginning in 1905. Certificates for births and deaths from then until the present can be obtained from the Bureau of Vital Statistics and Health Statistics, Utah State Department of Health, 288 North 460 West, P.O. Box 16700, Salt Lake City, Utah 84116. According to Utah state law, birth and death certificates are closed to researchers for seventy-five years without the written approval of the subject of the record.

In 1860, the Utah legislature empowered (but did not require) Salt Lake City and Ogden to maintain a register of births and deaths within their respective cities, a practice already begun by Salt Lake City in 1847. In 1880, the power to register was extended to all incorporated cities, but not all cities undertook the responsibility, nor were most births registered for areas that did register births. In 1898, the state legislature provided for a central county records, requiring county clerks to keep separate birth and death registers. Most of these records do not have indexes, although the Professional Chapter of the Utah Genealogical Association is currently preparing indexes to the 1898-1905 birth and death records. Those for Salt Lake City, which date back to 1847, are being indexed separately.

Nearly all of the early county birth and death register books have been microfilmed and are accessible through the FHL. Some of the original books are still at the county seat, while others have been transferred to the Utah State Archives and Records Service. The County Resources section indicates dates of availability by county.

Since marriage was seen as a religious sacrament, the civil registration of marriages was not required in Utah until 1887. The Edmunds-Tucker Act, which outlawed polygamy, required that everyone married in any Territory of the United Stated, “shall be certified by a certificate stating the fact and nature of such a ceremony.” In 1889, the territorial legislature accepted the general structure of the act and required the person solemnizing the marriage to return the license and certificate within thirty days of the ceremony.

A few marriage records were created before 1887 and may be found in the county justice of peace or probate court records. Early marriage records were usually interfiled with other court matters, but others may have been recorded in land records, as is the case with some early Beaver County marriage records. Marriage for the pre-1887 time period may have been preformed by an L.D.S. bishop or clergyman of a non-Mormon denomination. From 1889 to the present, a marriage application is completed in order to obtain a license which is issued by the county clerk. County issued licenses for some time periods are available on microfilm through the FHL. even though some original books have since been transferred to the Utah State Archives and Records Service.

The practice of both open and secret polygamy has a great impact on genealogical research in Utah.

In addition to government produced vital records, there is a variety of records, not recorded in original registers, such as midwives' and physician's records, which contain vital records. Many have been microfilmed and are accessible through the FHL under the heading of Utah, [County], Vital Records. The L.D.S. Church also maintains an extensive array of vital statistics in its own church records. For a comprehensive discussion of various types of records see Laureen Richardson Jaussi and Gloria Duncan Chaston's Genealogical Records in Utah.

Court jurisdiction for divorces in Utah changed back and forth between probate and district courts in the county. By 1877, the district court gained sole jurisdiction. Before statehood, divorce records may be found in either county probate court records, federal (territorial) district courts of L.D.S. Church records. From 1896 to the present all divorces are filed through the county's district court and are held in the county clerk's office.

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Below is a list of online resources for Utah Vital Records.