Birth, Death Certificate Copies Now Available Downtown

3/10/2005

It's now easier than ever to research birth, death and marriage records in Wake County. A portion of Wake County Vital Records recently relocated from the Wake County Human Services' Sunnybrook location near WakeMed to the third floor of the Garland H. Jones Wake County Office Building, 300 S. Salisbury St., in downtown Raleigh.

Certified copies of birth and death records are now issued downtown from the same building that houses the Wake Register of Deeds office, while birth and death registrations continue to be filed at the existing location on Sunnybrook Road.

"The benefit is a central location, having all vital records under one roof, including marriage records," said Wake Register of Deeds Laura M. Riddick. "Genealogists will have a larger vault in which to do their research. Register of Deeds will scan in birth, death and marriage records and make them available and searchable internally."

Prior to this change, Wake was one of only three counties, along with Durham and Mecklenburg, to register and certify birth and death certificates in the same office; all other North Carolina counties register these documents at their health departments, with certified copies issued by registers of deeds.

Wake County Vital Records staffers assist customers in accessing and researching its births and death records, which date back to October 1913 (prior to then, the state did not use birth records or certificates). Records since 1954 reside in a computerized database.

"This move allows us to provide the best possible service to the citizens of Wake County," said Gibbie Harris, Community Health director, whose group manages birth and death certificate registration at Human Services.

For more information, click here or contact Wake County Vital Records at 250-3860 or Wake Register of Deeds at 856-5460.

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