When researching...can i obtain a copy of a birth/death certificate?

Question

anywhere for free?

Answer 1

NO

Answer 2

UK answer.

Not in the UK you cant, we don't have any thing for free. The cost of a full certificate is  ÃƒÂ‚£7:00 and you can get them from register offices or the GRO, with the GRO they are £7:00 ordered on-line, £8:50 for phone orders and then you can get an express service as well.

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/

hope this helps.

You will need the GRO numbers from the indice on www.ancestry.co.uk to order from the GRO.

Answer 3

Generally, no. But the older the records are the odds are a little better that they've been filmed and sent to the State Archives where you can make your own copy (it's usually after 100 years). The other thing that's often possible is that you can visit the County Clerk's office and view the record in person. You don't get a free copy, but you can copy everything down long hand. Even major municipalities like Cook County (Chicago) will let you view the books in person without charge.

It obviously doesn't help if you're not close to the state where the records are held, but it's the closest you can get to free records.

Answer 4

Not for free.  You need to go to the records department or city hall where they were born and where they died and request a copy of them.  In most places they don't go back more than 100 years.

Answer 5

In the first place, even if in your family a generation is only 20 years, only the recent generations would ever have had a birth/death certificate!

Early certificates were kept locally, until the various Government agencies realized that a courthouse fire would destroy all records and decided on keeping them centrally (often the state capital), making them even more vulnerable. (Think of military records destroyed at St. Louis...)

While the first impulse is to say "no", believe it or not many genealogy sites have copies of birth/marriage/death certificates posted. If you are lucky, you might find one.