Connecticut's 169 towns function without county government. By 1650, registration of births, marriages, and deaths had become the town clerk's responsibility. After July 1, 1897, copies of vital records from every town were sent to the Connecticut State Department of Public Health's Vital Records Section External. There is no statewide index to records between 1850 and 1897. For those, you will need to know the town in which the event occurred. Census records and city directories may help identify the town.

The Lucius Barnes Barbour Collection External serves as an index to and an abstract of most pre-1850 Connecticut vital records. Begun after establishment of the State Department of Health, Barbour aimed to abstract and collect all vital town records up to about 1850. There are two formats to this material. The first is a statewide paper slip alphabetical surname index containing a complete abstract of each vital record taken from the books in each town. The second format is the separately bound volumes of abstracts of vital records for most towns, prepared from the slips. The Connecticut State Library has prepared a Guide to accessing the Barbour records via FamilySearch External. Since not all vital events were recorded in the town office before mandatory recording, other sources should be consulted, including church and cemetery records.

The subscription resources marked with a padlock are available to researchers on-site at the Library of Congress. If you are unable to visit the Library, you may be able to access these resources through your local public or academic library.

Using Ancestry Library Edition for Connecticut

Begin your search through Ancestry's vast collections, by viewing the list designated as Connecticut records External.

Using FamilySearch for Connecticut

FamilySearch provides useful state and county wikis that make excellent starting points for research. The Connecticut Wiki External includes links to each of its counties.

FamilySearch has digitized many of its microfilms containing county courthouse records including birth, death, and marriage. Not all records have been indexed yet, so search engine results may NOT show you the full range of FamilySearch data. You must browse the FamilySearch catalog External listings for each county to view the full set of records available. The vast amount of accessible original records is well worth your time to explore.

There is no fee to use FamilySearch, but you must create a free, personal account to access the databases and digital records.

Contact the Connecticut State Vital Records Office to learn more about accessing state-level records and explore additional options for obtaining copies.

Below are selected print publications for statewide vital records. The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

To locate additional published materials, go to the Print Resources section of this guide for search tips on locating published county courthouse records, abstracts, and indexes that may aide you in locating original records at the county level.