Vital Records in Washington State

  Births                   Deaths                   Divorces                    Marriages

The Washington State Library does not have any vital records certificates in its collection.

However, many Washington counties have given the vital records they collected to the Washington State Archives.  The Archives has begun to put many of the vital records in their collection up on their Digital Archives site.

Vital records collected by Washington State are held by the Department of Health.

For information about Vital Records in other States, try VitalRec.com

Some important dates in Washington State Vital Records:

• 1891 - Washington Counties are required by law to keep vital records
• July 1, 1907 - The State takes over collecting birth and death records
• January 1, 1968 - The State takes over collecting divorce and marriage records

 

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Births

Washington Birth Records before July 1, 1907 are held by the County Auditor, after July 1, 1907, they are held by the Health Department

• King County (Seattle) Birth Register 1891-1907
• WA Birth Registers 1891-1907 - this is a list of what is available on microfilm at the State Library; Many of them are available on Washington Digital Archives;  also available on Ancestry.com (State Library has a subscription - You will need to be in the library to use it.  There is no remote access)
• WA Birth Index July 1, 1907 - 1919 - on Ancestry.com (State Library has a subscription - You will need to be in the library to use it.  There is no remote access)
• WA Birth Index July 1, 1907 - 1929 - on microfilm at the State Library *the index is listed by father's name
• WA Birth Index 1920-1954 - on VitalSearch-Worldwide (State Library has a subscription - You will need to be in the library to use it.  There is no remote access)
• WA Digital Archives - Birth Records - Thousands of early Washington birth records have been scanned, and are available online

 

 

Deaths

Washington Death Records before July 1, 1907 are held by the County Auditor, after July 1, 1907, they are held by the Health Department

• Airline Accident Reports 1934-1965 - U.S. Dept. of Transportation records
• Aviation Accident Database 1962 - present - NTSB records
• King County (Seattle) Death Register 1891-1907
• Railroad Accident Investigations 1911-1993 - U.S. Dept. of Transportation records
• Social Security Death Index - U.S. death records from 1960's to the present
• WA Death Registers 1891-1907 - a list of what is available on microfilm at the State Library; Many are available on Washington Digital Archives;  also available on Ancestry.com (State Library has a subscription - You will need to be in the library to use it.  There is no remote access)
• WA Digital Archives - Death Records
• WA Death Index July 1, 1907 - 2004 - on microfilm & microfiche at the Washignton State Library
• WA Death Index 1907 - 1960; 1965-2014 - on Washington Digital Archives. 1907 - 1960 are partial transcriptions of death certificates. 1965-2014 are index entries only. 
• WA Death Index 1940-1996 - on Ancestry.com (State Library has a subscription - You will need to be in the library to use it.  There is no remote access); Ancestry's index has gaps, the largest being 1955-1964.
• WA Death Index 1960-69 - on VitalSearch-Worldwide at no charge (in library use only)
• Washington State online obituary resources - some of the obituary indexes include death dates


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Divorces

Washington Divorce Records before 1968 are held by the County Clerk, after 1968, they are held by the Health Department

• WA Digital Archives - some early Washington State divorce records can be found in their Frontier Justice collection, along with other court records. A state-wide divorce index, 1969-2014 is also available (1968 not available in online index). 
• WA Divorce Index 1968-2004 - on microfiche at the State Library, indexed by the name of both husband and wife (no fiche from 2005-2014). 
• King County Superior Court case ledgers, 1935-1979: The King County Superior Court Clerk originally kept large ledger books that served as indexes to case files. These books were microfilmed and are now available online. To search, you must browse through images (PDF files) of the original index books, which are organized semi-alphabetically. The case file number can be used to request records from the King County Superior Court Clerk. 
  • For divorces between 1935 and 1967, you must search under the "General Plaintiff" index.
  • For divorces between 1968 and 1979, you must search under the "Domestic" index.
  • The ledgers will only provide the filing date of the case--not the final date of divorce. 

 

 

 

Marriages

Washington Marriage Records before 1968 are held by the County Auditor, from 1968 forward they are held by the Health Department

• Clallam County Marriages, 1891-1921
• How to find Washington State MARRIAGE & DIVORCE Records handout
• King County (Seattle) Marriage Index 1975 - present available from the King County Recorder's Office (select Records Search option)
• King County (Seattle) Marriage Records available from WA Digital Archives
• King County Archives - provides a good overview of marriage records in their County.  They also have an index to King County marriages from 1853-1900
• WA Digital Archives - Marriage Records - many records have been put online
• WA Marriage Index 1864-1900 - on Ancestry.com (State Library has a subscription - You will need to be in the building to use it.  There is no remote access)
• WA Marriage Index 1968-2004 - on microfiche at the State Library, indexed by the name of both bride and groom
• WA Marriage Index 1969-2014 - on Washington Digital Archives
• Western States Marriage Index 1840 - 2000 - dates indexed differ for each county