RESEARCHING MIDDLETOWN VITAL RECORDS

As part of the Connecticut colony, Middletown was impacted by the orders of the CT General Court.

In June 1644, the court ordered: “that the Towne Clarkes or Registers in the seuerall Townes, within this Jurisdiction, shall ech of them keepe a record of the day of mariedge of euery prson hereafter married within theire libertyes, and of the day of the birth of euery child hereafter borne” (p.105-106, The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut Prior to the Union with New Haven Colony, May 1665.)

By the mid-1660s, the law read:
It is ordered by this Courte and Authority thereof, that the Towne Clarke or Register, in the several towns of this Jurissdiction, shall record all Births and Deaths of persons in theire Towne[…] And the Register of each Towne shall yearely conuey to the Secretary of the Courte a true transcript of the Births, Deaths and Marriages, giuen under theire hands[…] (p. 551, The Public Records . . . May 1665).

While recording was inconsistent until 1 July 1897, Connecticut’s records begin in 1640.

IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHEN THE EVENT OCCURRED:
If the date was prior to 1850, check the Barbour Collection, an index from early vital records until about 1850.
• It’s available on Ancestry at: https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1034 Free access to Ancestry Library Edition is available onsite at Russell Library. Vital records are also available on microfilm and book format at Russell Library (MIDRM 929.3 WHI)

If the date was after 1 July 1897, you have multiple options for accessing the index.
• If the record in question is a birth record and you are either a member of an approved genealogical society or a permitted individual, contact the State Vital Records Office at https://portal.ct.gov/DPH/Vital-Records/State-Vital-Records-Office–Home. Use this option only if records for the period have not been digitized.

• If the individual died between 1897 and 2001, use the death records index on the Connecticut State Library website to find the town: http://www.ctatatelibrarydata.org/death-records/ 

• If the individual died between 1949-2012, use the death records index on Ancestry to find the town: http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=4124  Free access to Ancestry Library Edition is available onsite at Russell Library.

IF YOU KNOW WHEN THE EVENT OCCURRED:
If it was before 1903 for births, 1910 for deaths, or 1912 for marriages, it may be online. Make sure it’s not been microfilmed.

• Go to www.familysearch.org
• Create an account if you do not already have one; log in, if you do.
• Click on “search” and “catalog.”
• Enter the location in the box next to the place name and click “search”.
• Click on the place name and “vital records.”
• Click on the name of the records created by the town clerk.
• Click on the camera image to browse the records volume.
• If the film covers your dates but has not been digitized, you can access the microfilm at the Russell Library or the Connecticut State Library https://ctstatelibrary.org/ 

If the event was after those dates, contact the Middletown Health Department https://www.middletownct.gov/167/Health-Department

Free access to Ancestry Library Edition is available onsite at Russell Library.

Russell Library
October 2025