Local (County) v. State records for Wisconsin?

By Anonymous on Sun, 11/29/2015 - 20:19

Forums

First off I want to say thank you for the GREAT book, and the time/effort invested in not only it, but this forum. From the day I started on family history research I've paid attention to citing my sources, and now after a couple of years I'm enjoying taking to the next level.

I tried starting with easy citations, but I immediately ran into an issue! In the State of Wisconsin (since 1907) the county (usually the Register of Deeds) is responsible for gathering vital records, however they appear to actually be state records. The county gathers them for the state, which then gathers and stores them but both the county and state authorities can issue certified copies, and/or make the records available for review.

I'm leaning towards considering them county (thus local) records since every vital record I have gathered has come from a County Courthouse, and since each are signed by the county registrar. However, it's hard to get past the "State of Wisconsin Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Health" banner across every birth/death/marriage certificate I have and the "State Death Number" stamped on one. Any advice/guidance on how to determine whether they should be treaded as a county record or a state record? Can they be both?

Thanks!

Submitted byniteowl1851on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 03:50

Hi nickinracine! I am not "The Editor" :> but I have seen a similar situation in another state. Specifically, you say "but both the county and state authorities can issue certified copies," ... in my instance, ANY county in the state could issue the certificates for ANY OTHER county in the state. So county X could issue certificates from county Y.  That being the case, and because they also had a "State of" banner on them, I consider them to be state records.

That said, I am interested to see the answer from our Editor!

Thanks for the reply niteowl, I know that each county only has access to its own records and can't display/issue records from other counties. Getting a certified copy from a county still involves opening a bound volume, removing the certificate from the volume, and making a photocopy of that certificate onto official paper with an official seal.

Submitted byEEon Mon, 11/30/2015 - 10:10

Welcome, rickinracine—and thanks for the kind words.  As for your dilemma, let's strip the issue down to the most basic principle of all: We cite what we use.  If you use a copy supplied by a county office, then you cite the record as coming from the county office. If you use a copy supplied by a state office, then you cite the record as coming from that state office.

In some states, in some time frames, the document we would get from the county would be exactly the same as what we get from the state, in every regard. In other states and time frames, the document we get from the county would have some differences. Policies vary between states and, across time, within the same state. So, the safest policy is that basic rule: We cite what we use.