It's been two years in the making, but now a public-private partnership between the Virginia Department of Health and Ancestry has allowed the state to digitize the Commonwealth’s vital records-including some that were believed to be lost forever.
State leaders say this is huge: more than 16-million death, birth, and marriage certificates - as well as divorce decrees - have been scanned and digitized and can now be accessed for genealogy and family history research.
Health Commissioner Dr. Marissa Levine says this is also helpful for anyone wanting to trace their lineage or find out if there's a history of certain illnesses. Barbara New is a genealogist with the Daughters of the American Revolution. She says conducting the research was a significant challenge prior to this collaboration.
"As an example for my own genealogy I've gone to Carroll County, Grayson County, and then some counties in northwestern North Carolina looking for my own ancestors. So, I would have to go to the courthouses themselves and do the physical research in the books as opposed to having it online, readily available in my home, at my laptop."
Birth and death records go back as far as 1912 and marriage records from 1936. Vital Records officials say as the process continues, maintaining the integrity and security of these records will still be a priority.
Scanned images of the original, public documents are available online through Ancestry.com. Access to the indexed information on the records is available free of charge through the state's Division of Vital Records and the Library of Virginia websites.
