General Information
Wisconsin State Law prohibits the online reproduction of a complete vital record.
You can view the full record on microfilm at the Society or you can buy a copy (see instructions below.)
Vital Records
Pre-1907 Wisconsin Vital Records
The Society has millions of vital records recorded in Wisconsin before October 1, 1907. The collection includes approximately:
- 1 million birth records and 27,000 delayed birth records
- 1 million marriage records
- 400,000 death records
Wisconsin law required counties to register birth, marriage and death events with state officials starting in 1852, but the law was not strictly enforced until roughly 1880. Most records date from 1880 or later.
It is possible that some records only exist at the county level and are not in our state-level collection. The Society does not own vital records after September 30, 1907.
Attribution
For a credit line: Wisconsin Historical Society, Creator, Title, Unique Identifier.
The Unique Identifier can be found at the top or bottom of the page for each item. The name of a downloaded file is NOT the unique identifier.
For bibliographic citations please consult the UW-Madison Libraries Citation Research Guide to ensure compliance with appropriate style guidelines.
Accessing Vital Records
Copies of vital records are stored on microfilm in the Society's Library. You must visit the Library in person to print copies of the vital records; if you are unable to visit in person, you may want to hire a researcher to print the records or order the records from the Wisconsin State Vital Records Office.
Jacob Learn
circa 1860-1869
Waist-up ferrotype/tintype portrait of Jacob Learn, a Private in the Wisconsin 29th infantry, Company K. He enlisted in August 1862 and died on August 19th, 1862 of disease in Carrollton, Louisiana...
