Source Information

Ancestry.com. Missouri, U.S., Birth Registers, 1847-2002 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007.
Original data: Missouri Birth Records [Microfilm]. Jefferson City, MO, USA: Missouri State Archives.

About Missouri, U.S., Birth Registers, 1847-2002

This database contains birth registers from Missouri covering the years 1847 to 2002. The database is not comprehensive for all years. Information contained in this database includes the following:

  • Child’s name
  • Child’s gender
  • Child’s race
  • Birth date
  • Birthplace
  • Father’s name
  • Father’s age or birth date
  • Mother’s name
  • Mother’s age or birth date

Note: Not all entries will contain all of this information. There may also be additional information listed in the actual birth registers and can be found by viewing the register images.

Where to Go From Here:

With the information provided in this database, you may be able to obtain a copy of a birth certificate. If possible, it is important that you do this as there may be additional information recorded on the certificate. For information on how to order birth certificates see the below sections.

More About Birth Records in Missouri:

No vital records were kept on the state level before 16 August 1909. For birth records filed after that date, requests should be made to Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Bureau of Vital Records, P.O. Box 570, Jefferson City, MO 65102. The 2018 search fee for a birth record was $15, which includes one certified copy of the record, if found. The application for copies of birth or death certificates can be requested from the Missouri Vital Records website.

A non-compulsory birth registration law was adopted in Missouri in 1863 and provided that county recorders of deeds could record births upon request. These births are recorded in the regular deed books (or in marriage books) and are not indexed. Registration was sporadic.

In 1883 Missouri passed a state law requiring the recording of births and deaths at the county level. Ten years later this law was inadvertently repealed. At any rate, compliance was poor. Most counties do have these registers, but there is enormous variation as to how complete and/or comprehensive they are.

St. Louis and Kansas City Births:

In the city of St. Louis births were recorded from 12 July 1870 through 1910. It is estimated that only about 60 percent of the births that occurred during this period were recorded. These St. Louis City birth registers have been microfilmed and are available through Missouri State Archives. Certified birth certificates from 1870 to the present in the City of St. Louis can be requested by writing to St. Louis City Vital Records/Recorder of Deeds, City Hall, Room 126, 1200 Market St., St. Louis, MO 63103. Request forms are available here. The fee in 2018 was $15. Kansas City also has intermittent early birth records (1874-1910). The 2004 fee was $3 per search and $3 per copy, and the address for inquiry is Kansas City Vital Records, 2400 Troost Ave., Ste. 1200, Kansas City, MO 64108.

Taken from Marsha Hoffman Rising and Pamela Boyer Porter, “Missouri,” in Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources, 3d ed., ed. Alice Eichholz. (Provo, Utah: Ancestry, 2004).