• GA Home
• GA Genealogical Records
  • Census Records
  • Church Records
  • Court Records
  • Land Records
  • Military Records
  • Vital Records
• GA Maps
• GA Archives & Societies
• GA Newspapers
• GA Periodicals
• Search GA Databases
• Blog

Georgia Birth, Marriage, Divorce and Death Records

See Also Researching in Vital Records - Vital records, as their name suggests, are connected with central life events: birth, marriage, and death. Maintained by civil authorities, they are prime sources of genealogical information; but, unfortunately, official vital records are available only for relatively recent periods. These records, despite their recent creation in the United States, are critically important in genealogical research, often supplying details on family members well back into the nineteenth century.......

Georgia attempted to require registration of births, marriages, and deaths on a county level in 1875, but the law was repealed in 1876. Some vital records for fourteen Georgia counties for 1875 have been microfilmed and are available at the Georgia Department of Archives and History.

In 1919 Georgia law required the registration of all births and deaths in the state. As in many other states, Georgia's county governments were slow to respond to the new law and most did not comply until 1928. A few major cities required birth and death registration early:

• Atlanta—births, 1896; deaths, 1887. Fulton County Health Department, 99 Butler Street, S.E., Atlanta, GA 30303.
• Savannah—births, 1890; deaths, 1803. Chatham County Health Department, P.O. Box 14257, Savannah, GA 31406. Early death records have been published by the Georgia Historical Society.
• Macon—births, 1891; deaths, 1882. Bibb County Health Department, 770 Hemlock Street, Macon, GA 31298.
• Columbus—births, 1869; deaths, 1890. Muscogee County Health Department, 1958 Eighth Avenue, Columbus, GA 31901.
• Gainesville—births, 1865; deaths, 1909. Available on microfilm at the Georgia Department of Archives and History.

Birth and death records in Georgia can be requested from the Georgia Department of Human Resources, Vital Records Unit, Room 217-H, Health Building, 47 Trinity Avenue, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30334. If your request is urgent, call and charge certificates to a Visa or MasterCard. There is an additional fee for this service.

Like in most other states, marriage records in Georgia are created at the county level. Some Georgia counties kept early marriage bonds before 1805; however, Georgia law did not require marriage licenses to be recorded until 1805. Officials were careless in adhering to the law and some marriages were consequently not recorded. Some records were also lost in various courthouse fires. All recorded Georgia marriages to 1900 are available on microfilm at the Georgia Department of Archives and History and the FHL. The former also has some loose, original county marriage records. Heritage Papers' periodical Georgia Genealogist contains published marriages to 1810. Mary B. Warren's Georgia Marriages 1811 Through 1820 (Danielsville, Ga.: Heritage Papers, 1988) continued publishing the marriages.

From 1793 to 1832, divorces in Georgia were subject to legislative approval after being approved by the county superior court. The divorce files continue to be in the custody of the county superior courts. Divorces, name changes, and decrees of feme sole granted by the Georgia legislature are abstracted in Robert S. Davis, Jr., The Georgia Black Book II (Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1987).