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| Maine Vital Records |
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Maine Office of Vital Records, Office of Vital Records, 221 State Street, Station 11, Augusta, ME 04333-0011. Check or money order should be made payable to Treasurer, State of Maine. Personal checks are accepted. To verify current fees, the telephone number is (207) 287-3181. You may obtain certified copies also via the Vital Chek Online Services 
Event: Birth or Death; Cost of copy: Certified $10.00, Uncertified $6.00; Address:
See Above
Remarks: State office has had records since 1892. Records for 1892-1922 are available at the Maine State Archives. For earlier records, write to the municipality where the event occurred. Additional copies of same record ordered at same time are $4.00 each.
Event: Marriage, Divorce,
Cost of copy: $10.00; Address:
See Above
Remarks: State office has had records since 1892. Records for 1892-1922 are available at the Maine State Archives. For earlier records, write to the municipality where the event occurred. Additional copies of same record ordered at same time are $4.00 each.
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Most early birth records contain very little biographical information. Typical early New England town and church records, for example, give little information beyond the name of the child, date and place of birth, and parents’ names. Some localities listed only the name of the father.
While early birth records can be discouragingly lacking in information, by the mid-nineteenth century birth records in the United States began to include more information. Even though births were not widely recorded during the early years of America’s existence, the records that do exist may be the only source of a birth date for an individual and should always be consulted.
Delayed births are also important vital registrations that you should consider for obtaining biographical information. When Social Security benefits were instituted in 1937, individuals claiming benefits had to document their birth even if the state of their birth did not require registration when they were born. Individuals who were not registered with state or county agencies at the time of their birth often applied for a delayed birth registration. Obtaining passports, insurance, and other benefits also required proof of age. Applications were accompanied with full name, address, and date and place of birth; father’s name, race, and place of birth; and evidence to support the facts presented. The evidence could be in the form of a baptismal certificate, Bible record, school record, affidavit from the attending physician or midwife, application for an insurance policy, birth certificate of a child, or an affidavit from a person having definite knowledge of the facts. Delayed birth records are usually filed and indexed separately from regular birth registrations, and it may be necessary to request a separate search for them.
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Because of the importance of the legal distribution and control of property, most states and counties began to record marriages before births and deaths. The recording of a marriage is a two-step process. Traditionally, couples apply for a license to marry, and the applications are usually filed loose among other applications or in bound volumes. Marriage returns are filed once the marriage has taken place. The latter document is the proof of a marriage (not the license application).
Marriage applications are often filled out by both the bride and groom and typically contain a significant amount of genealogical information. They may list full names of the bride and groom, their residences, races, ages, dates and places of birth, previous marriages, occupations, and their parents’ names, places of birth, and occupations.
Marriage certificates are issued by counties after the marriage ceremony is completed, and these are usually found among family items. While the certificates tend to have less biographical data than the application, the name of the individual officiating at the wedding may lead you to religious records by revealing the denomination. The religious records, in turn, may reveal the names of witnesses and other useful information.
Early American records sometimes include marriage bonds, which served as a protection for the future children of the marriage. A bond obligated a prospective groom to pay the bond if he were discovered to be a bigamist or imposter or otherwise ineligible to contract a valid marriage. As long as the marriage was legal, the bond was void. Bonds generally include the groom’s name, name of the surety, the sum, and the date of the agreement.
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Early death records in the United States provide little more than the name of the deceased, the date of death, and the place of death. Obituaries and cemetery, court, and other records often provide more information about the deceased than do most official death records created before the last quarter of the 1800s.
By 1900 death records included more details. They often include the name of the deceased; date, place, and cause of death; age at the time of death; place of birth; parents’ names; occupation; name of spouse; name of the person giving the information; the informant’s relationship to the deceased; the name and address of the funeral director; and the place of burial. Race is listed in some records, and modern death certificates generally include a Social Security number.
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Maine has the most uneven group of vital records in all of New England. The first settlements were dilatory in recording vital events as was the custom of other Massachusetts communities. Only five towns (Biddeford, Kittery, Kennebunkport, York, and Wells) have such seventeenth-century records. By the eighteenth century, over 200 towns picked up the habit and followed it reasonably well until Maine became a separate state in 1820. Following statehood, records were not consistently kept at first, but most towns have good marriage intentions and births. Few deaths are recorded in town records.
After 1864, state legislation required that town clerks forward births, deaths, and marriages to the secretary of state. There was never total compliance although all those which were sent before 1892 for about eighty towns are available at the Maine State Archives. By 1892, the State Board of Vital Statistics was established by the legislature as the depository for returns of vital events, and mandatory recording became a reality. Consequently, vital records after 1892 are available through that office
Maine State Archives also has the 1892-1955 birth, death, and marriage records on microfilm with a helpful bride's index from 1892 to the present and groom's index 1956-present. The death and marriage index from 1955-present is also available there, but not birth records which can only be obtained from the Office of Vital Records. The FHL has some of the microfilms after 1892, but they may not be as current as those at Maine State Archives since they are updated regularly from the Office of Vital Records files.
The New England Historic Genealogical Society has microfilm copies of Maine pre-1892 vital records, some additional reels through 1955, and death records through 1970. The FHL has the microfilm copies of records before 1892 and some after 1892, but they are not as current as those at the Maine State Archives, which are updated regularly from the Office of Vital Records files.
Certified copies of all vital records after 1922 may be obtained from the State Board of Vital Statistics
A few of Maine's vital records have been published. A project undertaken by the Maine Historical Society issued all pre-1892 vital records for eighteen towns which included sources outside the town clerk's office-diaries, church records, newspapers, gravestone information, family records, Bibles, and private records. Transcripts of town records for York 1681-1891 were published serially in New England Historical and Genealogical Register from 1955-69.
Marriages for the early statehood period were sometimes recorded at the county level, as mandated by the legislature in 1828. Such records have not yet been fully assessed, although some are on microfilm at Maine State Archives. The most complete listing of available Maine vital records continues to be the updated Microfilm List of Maine Town and Census Records (1980) distributed by the Maine State Archives. Recently funded by a grant from the National Historic Records Commission, the Maine State Archives will be broadening its scope to survey all of Maine's town records.
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