Data Fields in Wisconsin and Michigan Vital Records

Birth, marriage, and death records contain numerous items of information, but not all items appear in all records. The contents of vital records change depending upon the rules of the state in which the event occurred and when the record was created. If you want to know which Wisconsin and Michigan vital records contain what information, this is a good place to look. I have examined over 3500 vital records from these states and analyzed the frequencies with which various information is supplied during different time periods. Look here for further information on what records were analyzed. To find when a certain data item may be available in a birth, marriage, or death record, look below. The percentages given in the tables here are based on a relatively small sample of records which is not totally random, so the true values applying to all records across the geographical area will be slightly different, especially when very low frequencies of occurence of a data item on records is reported. However, the numbers should be a good enough guide to what you can expect to find in vital records your research turns up.

Maiden Name

Some records do not have a field that specifically says "maiden name", but often the maiden name of a married woman is given nonetheless. Very often an old record will specify "maiden name," but the person collecting name information will only write the married name. Birth records with mother's maiden name are the norm. Marriage records usually give the legal name the bride is using at the time of the marriage. If she was married previously, the second and subsequent marriage records will often be in the name of her last husband. If she changed her name back to her maiden name after a divorce, the next marriage would be under her maiden name again. Even if she did not change her name back, you can usually get the bride's maiden name from the surname of her father on the record, though that is making an assumption that is not guaranteed to be correct. In Wisconsin at least, the most recent marriage and birth records do have specific fields for the woman's maiden name in addition to her current legal name. Death records also are filed under the legal name of the deceased, in some cases actually naming the husband of a woman rather than her own name, such as "Mrs. Timothy Harrington." The maiden name on death records of married women can normally be determined from the last name of her father if it is listed, with the same caveat as for getting maiden names of previously married women from father's names on marriage records. In addition, many death records of married and widowed persons give the names of their spouses, and sometimes the spouses' names will show a wife's maiden name. The death records of a couple's children will often name the mother's maiden name.

First Name of the Subject of the Record

The first name is basically always supplied, except in three specific cases:

It's a death record and the identity of the deceased could not be determined, or the deceased was a newborn who was never named
It's a birth record and the parents never supplied the name they chose for the child
The first name is indicated only by an initial in a marriage record.

The name of a newborn may not be supplied if the child died very shortly after birth. Also, in days past sometimes the parents would simply neglect to return the name they decided upon at a later date if it wasn't already known at the time the rest of the birth information was collected.

In Wisconsin, 70% of birth records before Oct. 1, 1907 supply the first name of the individual. From 1907 through 1939, 94% of birth records give the first name. From 1940 forward, nearly all birth records supply the first name. Michigan birth records are closed to the public so data for statistics cannot be gathered.

A few marriage records only give the names of the bride or groom by their first and middle initials, or the first initial and middle name if they (apparently) were called by their middle name. I found these frequencies of first names being given only by first initials:

First Names of Bride and Groom Given Only By The Initial
State	Date of Marriage	Groom	Bride
Wisconsin	Bef. 1877	4%	1%
	1877 - 1881	3%	0%
	1882 - Oct. 1907	2%	0%
	Oct. 1907 - 1943	1%	0%
	1944 - 2005	<0.2%	0%
Michigan U.P.	Bef. 1888	0%	1%
	1988 - 1945	1.5%	0.5%
	1946 - 2005	0%	0%

Middle Name

Middle names are hard to determine because people often didn't use them much in old records. If you hold that the birth record gives their name correctly, then hardly anybody had middle names in "the old days," but it often happens that an old birth record will give no middle name, while another vital record giving the name of the same person will show they had a middle name. If you cannot find a middle name in a person's birth, marriage, or death record, it's important to also check the birth and marriage records for their children. It's not unusual for the only place the middle name or initial is given to be in the names of the parents in their children's vital records.

So what are the chances of being able to find a middle name using only birth, marriage, and death records? Using a subset of the data analyzed for other tables on this page (286 individuals with surname Harrington, records primarily from Dane County, Wisconsin), here's what I've found. I've broken the data down by year of birth.

Person with Middle Name in Some Vital Record
Birth Year	Full Middle Name	Middle Initial Only	No Information
1820 - 1903	45%	22%	33%
1904 - 1926	80%	6%	14%
1927 - Present	100%	0%	0%

Here are statistics on the middle name information you'll find in different types of vital records. For birth records, again I have no data on Michigan birth records, and birth records for which no first name is given at all are disregarded in newborn's statistics.

Child's Middle Names in Wisconsin Birth Records
Record Year	Full Middle Name	Middle Initial Only	No Information
1860 - 1879	60%	10%	30%
1880 - 1903	67%	7%	26%
1904 - 1919	77%	5%	18%
1920 - 1939	78%	3%	19%
1940 - 1959	97%	2%	1%
1960 - 2004	99%	0.5%	0.5%

Parents' Middle Names in Wisconsin Birth Records
Record Year	Full Middle Name	Middle Initial Only	No Information
1860 - 1879	23%	9%	68%
1880 - 1919	16%	17%	67%
1920 - 1939	25%	13%	62%
1940 - 1948	53%	23%	24%
1949 - 2004	92%	1%	7%

Most of the birth records from 1949-2004 which have no information on parents' middle names, above, did not list the parents' names at all.

Middle Names in Marriage Record Brides and Grooms
State	Record Year	Full Middle Name	Middle Initial Only	No Information
Wisconsin	1839 - 1860	5%	14%	81%
	1861 - 1881	12%	38%	50%
	1882 - 1930	18%	30%	52%
	1931 - 1952	45%	29%	26%
	1953 - 1967	68%	25%	7%
	1968 - 2004	96%	3%	1%
Michigan U.P.	Before 1893	0.4%	6%	93%
	1893 - 1913	3%	24%	73%
	1914 - 1972	21%	42%	37%
	1973 - 2000	60%	17%	23%

Middle Names in Marriage Record Parents
State	Record Year	Full Middle Name	Middle Initial Only	No Information
Wisconsin	1839 - 1860	0%	3%	97%
	1861 - 1881	1%	12%	87%
	1882 - 1930	3%	13%	86%
	1931 - 1952	5%	19%	76%
	1953 - 1967	3%	27%	70%
	1968 - 1988	13%	42%	45%
	1989 - 2005	90%	5%	5%
Michigan U.P.	Before 1888	0%	0%	100% - no parents' names
	1888 - 1902	0%	4%	96%
	1903 - 1945	1%	14%	85%
	1946 - 1972	13%	18%	69%
	1973 - 2000	54%	20%	26%

Middle Names in Death Records
State	Record Year	Full Middle Name	Middle Initial Only	No Information
Wisconsin	Prior to 1913	12%	23%	65%
	1913 - 1948	23%	22%	55%
	1949 - 1967	41%	29%	30%
	1968 - 2005	60%	24%	16%
Michigan U.P.	Before 1914	3%	7%	90%
	1914 - 1939	23%	15%	62%
	1940 - 2004	27%	41%	32%

There are few middle names in parents' names on death records. Even their middle initials appear only about 5% of the time, less in earlier records.

Date of Birth

Birth records give the most reliable date of birth, but 19th-century birth records often do not exist for an individual you are interested in, and in most states, including Michigan, birth records aren't available to any but the person themself, their parents as their representatives, or their direct heirs with proof of same. Death records give slightly less reliable birth dates, so the birth dates from death records, especially the year of birth, should be corroborated if possible. Some marriage records give exact birth dates which are probably more reliable than those from death records. Other marriage records and some death records give only the person's age at the time of marriage or death, but that lets you narrow the birth date at least to within a 12-month timespan. Of course, a person may be mistaken about their age or deliberately give a false age, and this wasn't that unusual in early times. Wisconsin birth records usually give the age of both parents at the time of the birth, which lets you determine their birth dates within a year. However, it is not uncommon for a set of birth records for children from the same parents to give inconsistent birth dates when calculated from this source. Modern birth certificates supply the exact birth dates of the parents.

Many death records give the age at death in years, months, and days, which is equivalent to giving the exact birth date. Some Websites will calculate the birth date from that information for you automatically.

Birth Dates From Death Records
State	Record Year	Exact Birth Date	Age to Year or Month Only	No Information
Wisconsin	Before 1900	68%	27%	5%
	1900 - 1947	85%	14%	1%
	1946 - 1981	99%	1%	0%
	1982 - 2005	100%	0%	0%
Michigan U.P.	Before 1893	35%	62%	3%
	1893 - 1899	21%	73%	6%
	1900 - 1933	56%	42%	2%
	1940 - 1951	100%	0%	0%
	1952 - 1962	65%	35%	0%
	1963 - 2000	100%	0%	0%

Birth Dates From Marriage Records
State	Record Year	Exact Birth Date	Age In Years	No Information
Wisconsin	Before 1908	0%	1%	99%
	1908 - 1918	0%	85%	15%
	1919 - 1943	0%	98%	2%
	1944 - 1967	93%	5%	2%
	1968 - 2005	>99%	0%	0%
Michigan U.P.	1856 - 1966	0%	99%	1%
Michigan U.P.	1967 - 2000	65%	35%	0%

Wisconsin birth records from October 1907 until 1988 were always to give the parents' ages, and that's pretty much what one finds. However, there are occasional delayed birth registrations for births after 1907, and delayed births usually do not give the parents' ages at the time of the birth.

Birth Dates of Parents From Wisconsin Birth Records
Birth Year	Exact Birth Date	Age In Years	No Information
Before Oct. 1907	0%	1%	99%
Oct. 1907 - 1988	0%	>99%	<1%
1989 - 2004	100%	0%	0%

Names of Parents of the Subject(s) of the Record

Birth records always have fields for the names of the parents, but whether the names of both parents are supplied or not is a different matter. Normally both names are supplied, though. Marriage records usually name the parents, but in early records maiden names of the mothers of the bride and groom were often not given. Death records have fields for the parents' names, but sometimes there is no one left to give the names of the parents of the deceased, so they may be blank. Death records often do not give the maiden name of the mother.

Wisconsin Birth Records With Maiden Name of the Mothers
Record Year	Percentage with Maiden Name
Before Oct. 1, 1907	91%
Oct. 1, 1907 - 1939	98%
1940 - 2005	>99%

The percentage of parents' names listed in the table below is calculated by taking the number of names of parents that are given in a subset of records and dividing by (number of records x 4), then converting to percent. If there are 100 marriage records in a time period, there should be 400 parents listed. If there are only 80 parents' names given, then the table would show 20%. The percentage does not mean that that is the percentage of records that show at least one parent. That's less useful in finding out how much information you are likely to get from a record, because in many earlier records, anywhere from 0 to 4 parents' names are supplied for the bridal couple. Of course, if the percentage is 0%, it implies no records for the time period name the parents of the bride and groom.

The "mother's maiden name" column is the percentage of the mothers' maiden names that are given. Each marriage record should have two mothers' maiden names, if the field is included. If there are 100 records, there should be 200 maiden names, but if there are only 50, then the percentage is given as 25%. If no parents are named at all, then obviously the maiden names of the mothers won't be given in the record, either.

Additional statistics for names of couples' parents broken down for fathers' and mothers' names are available on a companion Web page.

Marriage Records With Parents' Names
State	Year of Marriage	Parents' Names	Mother's Maiden Name
Wisconsin	Before 1860	44%	5%
	1860 - 1875	80%	10%
	1876 - 1881	89%	22%
	1882 - 1907	98%	74%
	1908 - 1918	97%	92%
	1919 - 1943	99%	97%
	1944 - 2005	99%	99%
Michigan U.P.	Before 1888	1%	1%
	1888 - 1897	82%	78%
	1898 - 1945	96%	92%
	1946 - 2000	100%	98%

The percentage of parents' names listed in the table below takes the number of names of parents that are given and divides by (number of records x 2). If there are 100 marriage records in a time period, there should be 200 parents listed. If there are only 80 parents' names given, then the table would show 40%. The percentage does not mean that that is the percentage of records that show at least one parent, because although usually either both or neither parent is given, in many records only one of the parents' names is known.

Additional statistics for parents of deceased people broken down for fathers' and mothers' names are available on a companion Web page.

Death Records With Parents' Names
State	Year of Death	Parents' Names	Mother's Maiden Name
Wisconsin	Before 1897	59%	10%
	1897 - 1907	74%	7%
	1908 - 1881	89%	22%
	1882 - 1907	98%	74%
	1908 - 1948	87%	75%
	1948 - 1962	94%	76%
	1963 - 2005	96%	95%
Michigan U.P.	Before mid-1897	82%	0.5%
Michigan U.P.	mid 1897 - 1999	96%	94%

Place of Birth

Generally a birth record provides the most reliable indication of birthplace for the subject of the record, but birth records are often not available. All birth records should name the locality of birth of the child, either the city, village, or township. Occasionally the recorder will forget to note the place of birth or think it will be assumed from the address in a metropolitan area, but you can expect the birthplace to be present in any birth record. Most Wisconsin birth records also name the birthplaces of the parents. Some marriage records name the place of birth of the bride and groom, or only the groom. Some death records name the place of birth. In marriage and death records, and for the birthplaces of parents in birth records, the place may be either a locality, or it may be restricted to the state, or perhaps the county and state will be recorded. Some Wisconsin marriage records give the state of birth of the parents.

Different records asked for different degrees of specificity at different times. With all the possible places to get a birthplace you'd think it would be easy, and indeed sometimes it is, but for births in the early and mid-nineteenth century it often happens that there will be something like eight records that show the birthplace, but only one gives the locality. You may see "New York, New York, New York," and then you'll find a birth certificate of one of the children that puts the place as Chenango Co., NY. If you only have a state of birth, be sure you've pursued all the options from vital records before you settle for the state alone.

It used to be that nearly all children were born at home. Now, of course, most people are born in hospitals. People who live in rural areas may travel some distance to get to the hospital, and so the place of birth since hospital births became prevalent doesn't really tell you where the family lived when the baby was born. Modern birth records give the locality of residence of the parents, which is more relevant to the person's life than just the place of birth. During some time periods, the mother had to provide a mailing address which was recorded, either a street address or a rural route.

Be aware that old addresses may not be valid. Some cities renumbered streets at some point to make addresses consistent with rules that were applied in the early- to mid-twentieth century. New buildings may have been built to replace old ones at the same address.

Locality of Residence in Wisconsin Birth Records
Year of Birth	Includes Residence	Gives Street Address
Before Oct. 1907	5%	0.5%
Oct. 1907 - 1939	93%	33%
1940 - 1984	91%	62%
1985 - 2005	100%	0%

In the three tables below, the "locality" columns tell how often a county, city, village or township is named as the birthplace. The "state" columns show how often either the state or nation of birth was named, without more specific information.

The early Michigan data may be biased since the Michigan records upon which the Upper Peninsula statistics are based are all for Irish immigrants. Possibly there would be additional locality information for people born in the U.S. However, most people in the Upper Peninsula at the time were immigrants from some country or other.

Birthplace of Parents in Wisconsin Birth Records
Year of Child's Birth	State	Locality
Before 1878	29%	0%
1878 - Oct. 1, 1907	23%	43%
Oct. 1, 1907 - 1929	80%	8%
1930 - 1933	50%	43%
1934 - 1960	30%	66%
1961 - 2005	81%	9%

Birthplace Locality for Bride and Groom in Marriage Records
State of Record	Year of Marriage	Groom's Birthplace		Bride's Birthplace
State of Record	Year of Marriage	State	Locality	State	Locality
Wisconsin	Before 1853	0%	0%	0%	0%
	1853 - 1862	36%	16%	0%	0%
	1863 - 1880	30%	54%	1%	1%
	1881 - Sept. 1907	22%	73%	19%	65%
	Oct. 1907 - 1918	93%	7%	89%	11%
	1919 - 1940	53%	44%	51%	44%
	1941 - 1943	27%	70%	23%	71%
	1944 - 1959	0%	98%	1%	96%
	1960 - 2004	99%	1%	99%	1%
Michigan U.P.	Before 1863	33%	0%	33%	0
	1863 - 1867	0%	0%	0%	0%
	1868 - 1891	90%	10%	83%	14%
	1892 - 1945	39%	59%	31%	68%
	1946 - 1999	5%	94%	7%	92%

Birthplace Locality in Death Records
State	Year of Death	State of Birth	Locality
Wisconsin	Before 1910	50%	38%
	1910 - 1928	76%	19%
	1929 - 1967	35%	62%
	1968 - 2004	94%	<1%
Michigan U.P.	Before 1876	54%	46%
	1876 - 1893	71%	22%
	1894 - 1933	91%	5%
	1934 - 1964	59%	36%
	1965 - 1987	87%	<1%
	1988 - 1999	15%	77%

State of Birth Named for Parents in Wisconsin Marriage Records
Year of Marriage	State Named
Before Oct. 1, 1907	0%
Oct. 1, 1907 - 1918	87%
1919 - 1967	0%
1968 - 1981	94%
1982 - 2005	0%

Occupation

The occupations of parents used to be given on birth records, though the earliest records (before 1907 in Wisconsin) only have a field for the occupation of the father. The occupations of bride and groom are given on marriage records, though again the earliest records only record the groom's occupation, if that. The occupations on those records are the occupation at the time of the record. Death records also list the "trade, profession, or nature of industry," but in this case it's the occupation in which the person was engaged most of their life rather than at the date of death. ("Retired" sometimes appears on death records, but the person filling out the death certificate is instructed not to use the word "retired.") Women have most commonly given their occupation as "at home", "housewife", "mother," "domestic," or "housework", etc. in vital records, and I don't have data on the frequency with which records list those occupations of women. I didn't write those occupations down since they were so common and it saves on writer's cramp. However, I do have data on frequency of records which give the women's occupations as other than "housewife", etc.

Many early records were relatively unspecific about occupations. "Laborer" was a common occupation, and could mean anything from ditch-digging to factory work. Later the listing of occupations became more specific, even the place of employment being named in some records. Farming was the most common occupation in Wisconsin and the U.S. before the mass migration to cities, and you'll find it listed on many early vital records. Prominent industries in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, besides farming, included mining and lumbering.

In Wisconsin, occupation and employment information is part of the information on some birth and marriage records which is "confidential" since the late 1960s and so not viewable by the general public.

Wisconsin Birth Records Naming Occupations
Year	Father	Mother
Before 1911	75%	0%
1911 - 1934	88%	3%
1935 - 1967 (more detailed)	96%	2%
1968 - 2005	0%	0%

Occupations in Marriage Records
State	Year of Record	Groom	Bride
Wisconsin	Before 1853	0%	0%
	1853 - 1907	94%	0%
	1908 - 1918	99%	35%
	1919 - 1940	98%	41%
	1941 - 1967	97%	68%
	1968 - 2005	0%	0%
Michigan U.P.	Before 1868	0%	0%
	1868 - 1891	98%	5%
	1892 - 1945	98%	32%
	1892 - 1945	98%	32%
	1946 - 1984	94%	67%
	1985 - 2000	0%	0%

The statistics on occupations in death records below do not distinguish between men and women, but are biased because women whose occupation was "own home" or something similar do not have the record of their occupation included in the percentages. (No slight intended.) Children in death records never had an occupation listed, except that rarely one may see "student". The frequent death of young children caused an especially low percentage of listing of occupation in Michigan's early death records. Adult males' occupations were normally given, however.

Occupation Listed in Death Records
State	Year of Death	Includes Occupation
Wisconsin	Before 1957	41%
Wisconsin	1958 - 2005	66%
Michigan U.P.	Before 1897	22%
	1897 - 1940	51%
	1941 - 1999	71%

Names of "Other Children" on a Wisconsin Birth Record

In Wisconsin, there was a field in records prior to 1907 in which the person filling out the information was to write down the names of other living children of the mother named on the birth certificate. Since births from the late 1800s were commonly not reported, I suppose this was intended to be one way of getting other children's births on record, if not in detail. When the information was supplied, it provides an excellent source of comparison with census records, since you can then usually be sure that you are looking at the correct household in the census even when the parents' names are John and Mary Smith. Usually the names are listed in order from oldest to youngest, but not necessarily. Sometimes the names are given as [first name, middle name], [first name, middle name], etc., which can be confusing if the person did not use commas between the names, as I have seen sometimes.

Unfortunately, the attendant at the birth did not always collect the names of the children for the record. Approximately 32% of Wisconsin birth records from before 1907 list the names of other living children. More often than not there are no extant county birth records for the other children named.

Ordinality of the Child On A Birth Record

Wisconsin birth records from October 1907 through the end of 1962 ask the birth attendant to note information which incidentally helps a genealogist determine whether they have accounted for all the children born up to that time. Records will ask, in so many words, whether this is the first, second, etc. child of the mother. You have to be careful because the earlier records are to include the child just born, later records are to exclude the child just born, and the first records including the information didn't even specify which. One can only suppose the birth attendants were sometimes confused by the instructions, and this is born out because, if you examine all the birth records of a large family, there is likely to be at least one ordinality field on one birth record that is obviously incorrect. In any case, though the information isn't always filled out on the birth certificate when it should be, it is there about 90-95% of the time.

Usually this information is given by naming the number of living children (inclusive, exclusive, or unspecified) and also the number of children who had died previous to the birth of the child named on the record. Sometimes the number of children who were stillborn is asked as well.

Place of Death

The only vital record giving the place of death is, obviously, the death record. A Wisconsin or Michigan death certificate or registration always records some locality. Often an address where the death occurred is given. Modern death certificates will note whether the person died at a nursing home or hospital and give the address of that place, and also give the person's residential address separately. Early twentieth century death certificates may give an address, but it may not be clear whether that's a residence or hospital - it will just say it's the location where death occurred. Regarding those addresses, there may have been a convention I am not aware of which would make it clear what the address refers to. An obituary or a city directory from the time period should clear the question up if it's of interest.

Because the hospital where a person dies is not necessarily near where the person lived, it's very useful to obtain a copy of a twentieth century death certificate to see what residence is named. The location of the residence is of more import to most people than that of a medical institution where care was received.

Place of Residence

Every type of vital record may tell where a person resided, and even include the street address - it just depends on the time period. The only drawback, if you see it as such, is that you don't wind up with a statement like "this person lived here from 1910 until 1923." Each record only tells you where the person lived at the time of the record. Some death records will tell you how long they had lived at that location, but one is never sure if they are referring to that particular address or just the city, and the definition of "to reside in" is open to interpretation as well. Those designations can be very helpful, however. Aside from those death records, all you get is snapshots of the person's life. If a person had several children spanning many years' time and you have all the children's birth records, you can then often get a better picture of how their residence changed during that timespan as the parents' addresses change. Vital records can leave big holes in residence during childhood and middle- to old age, though. Once a person's children are grown and moved away, the next vital record you get, aside possibly from a divorce record, is the death certificate.

If you know where a person lived, at least the township or city, the land records at the county offices can usually tell you when the person arrived there and when the property was sold, assuming they actually owned the property. City directories can be a big help in giving approximate time ranges, too, though they aren't necessarily updated correctly each year to show the address they ought to show as a person moves around and they rarely manage to list every adult male as they mean to (or adult female in some cases).

The frequency with which you'll find residences in birth records is shown above. Data on other records and years for residence information follows. The locality of residence is only considered given in these tables if it names the township, city, or village. If it only names the county the locality is not considered given, although having at least the county can be very helpful. Only 1.5% of early Wisconsin marriage records only mention a county name as place of residence. Normally either the township, city, or village is named, or the place of residence isn't mentioned at all.

Be aware that old street addresses may not be valid in the present. Some cities renumbered streets at some point to make addresses consistent with rules that were applied in the early- to mid-twentieth century. Residential areas may be rezoned commercial and torn down. New buildings may have been built to replace old ones at the same address.

Residence Information in Marriage Records
State	Year of Marriage	Groom		Bride
State	Year of Marriage	Locality	Incl. Street Address	Locality	Incl. Street Address
Wisconsin	Before 1851	14%	0%	14%	0%
	1851 - Oct. 1, 1907	95%	1%	2%	0%
	Oct. 1, 1907 - 1918	99%	0%	96%	0%
	1919 - 1926	100%	3%	100%	3%
	1927 - 1940	100%	35%	100%	33%
	1941 - 1957	98%	41%	100%	36%
	1958 - May 1982	100%	79%	100%	77%
	Jun 1982 - 2004	97%	<1%	97%	<1%
Michigan U.P.	1856 - 1949	97%	0%	97%	0%
Michigan U.P.	1950 - 2000	97%	52%	97%	54%

Many death records give the deceased person's residence in addition to the place of death. Some early Michigan death records even give the residence of the parents of the deceased. In the table below, records that give a street address for the residence of the deceased are included in both of the columns under "Deceased", while if only the locality of the deceased's residence is given without the street address, the record is only included in the column labeled "Locality" under "Deceased." For the parents' residences, records are included in only one of the two columns under "Parents of Deceased," depending on whether the specific locality is given, or only the state or country of residence. For the parents' residence, not including the precise locality is usually associated with the parents' residence being outside the state of death. If the parents resided inside the state of death and their residence was recorded, the locality of their residence was usually (but not always) included.

Residence Information in Death Records
State	Year of Death	Deceased		Parents of Deceased
State	Year of Death	Locality	Street Address	State	Locality
Wisconsin	Before 1897	3%	0%	0%	0%
	1897 - 1938	47%	25%	0%	0%
	1939 - 1967	97%	55%	0%	0%
	1968 - 2005	97%	82%	0%	0%
Michigan U.P.	Before 1878	58%	0%	9%	69%
	1879 - 1887	19%	0%	11%	52%
	1888 - 1891	50%	0%	15%	46%
	1892 - 1913	11%	0%	15%	48%
	1914 - 1938	5%	0%	14%	0%
	1939 - 1959	36%	30%	0%	0%
	1960 - 1999	77%	70%	0%	0%

Marital Status of a Deceased Person

Death records usually specify the marital status of the deceased. All Michigan records ask for this information. The earliest records in Wisconsin merely ask for the name of the husband or wife, and if one was supplied the spouse might be living or might also be deceased. If no spouse's name was supplied, the person might still have been married and the person filling out the form didn't know the spouse's name. Later several options were given, including married, single, widowed, or divorced, and the person filling out the form was to select one. If it was a child, sometimes the person filling out the form would neglect to specify the marital status, but obviously it would be "single". During some periods, the more specific option "never married" was available instead of "single." Modern records ask for the name of the surviving spouse, if there is one. Some records also give the age of the surviving spouse. If the spouse had died previously, the name is not given on the most recent records but may be on older ones. If the spouse is a woman, her name is occasionally given using her maiden name.

In the table below, the marital status column gives the percentage of records for which the marital status was indicated or can be assumed to be "never married" due to the young age of the deceased. Numbers in the spouse name column are the percentages of deceased people of either sex for whom the marital status was given as "married" and for whom the spouse's name was supplied. The wife's maiden name column gives the percentage of deceased married men for whom the wife's maiden name was given. The deceased spouse column gives the percentage of deceased people stated to be widowed for whom their already deceased spouse was named. On some of the older records one may find a deceased person stated to have been married, when in fact their spouse had died earlier and so the deceased would more accurately have been described as "widowed." I have not distinguished these latter cases in this table - if the death registration or certificate says the person was married, the information was included along with information for married people whose spouses were alive at the time the death record was created.

Marital Information in Death Records
State	Year of Death	Marital Status	Spouse Name	Wife's Maiden Name	Deceased Spouse
Wisconsin	Before 1897	50%	71%	10%	100%
	1897 - Oct. 1, 1907	92%	92%	20%	92%
	Oct. 1, 1907 - 1921	86%	8%	0%	0%
	1922 - 1948	97%	81%	19%	26%
	1949 - 1959	96%	8%	0%	6%
	1960 - 1962	95%	57%	0%	0%
	1963 - 2005	95%	97%	77%	3%
Michigan U.P.	Before 1935	93%	0%	0%	0%
	1935 - 1959	98%	29%	6%	10%
	1960 - 1999	95%	68%	33%	24%

Note: Death records tend to be very busy with information. The marital status field is hard to spot on some death records because of this, and so is one field for which I probably occasionally neglected to note what was on the original record. The problem is similar for all fields discussed on this page, but it seemed to be a special problem with this field - there were many cases in which I double-checked to make sure I had all the information, and noticed I hadn't noted the marital status. When I forgot to double-check, this field was the most likely to have been missed. My method of noting information made it impossible to distinguish between records for which I did not note the field's data and those for which the field was actually not filled out. Thus, the numbers in the "marital status" column could possibly be higher than the table shows, especially for modern records. The statistics for the other columns would be nearly unaffected by this flaw, however. Also, the data for some columns of this table is based on fewer records than other tables here and so the percentages will tend to be more variable than in other tables from what you'd find if you looked at all the death records in the geographical area covered.

Place of Burial

Most twentieth-century death records and later specify where a person was buried; before that, this information was not given. The word "cemetery" doesn't usually follow the hand-written name filled in as the cemetery, and when the field gives the name of a city or township one isn't sure whether the person has actually written down the name of the cemetery, or just where the cemetery is located. If all you have is a cemetery name like "St. Bridget's" or "Forest View," or even, Heaven forbid, a non-specific name like "Catholic Cemetery", you still have to figure out where it is. In any case, you've made big progress! If you're at the courthouse, sometimes there is a list of the county's cemeteries right there. Otherwise there are many places to go to figure out just where that cemetery is located. You'll want to contact the cemetery to verify the person is definitely there, since surprises happen, and to determine whether there is a headstone. Also to find out what other persons were buried in the same plot. Best to write the sexton to ask for a cemetery map with the location marked before you go traipsing over there - hopefully there is a map! (Hopefully there are still cemetery records and they were well-kept... Hopefully somebody knows how to contact the sexton...)

Cemeteries Named in Death Records
State	Date of Death	Cemetery Named
Wisconsin	Before 1948	67%
	1949 - 1962	94%
	1963 - 2005	100%
Michigan U.P.	Before 1940	0%
	1940 - 1951	24%
	1952 - 1957	46%
	1958 - 1999	71%

Cemetery Location Given Without Cemetery Name
State	Date of Death	Location Only
Wisconsin	Before Oct. 1, 1907	25%
Oct. 1, 1907 - 1948	46%
1949 - 2005	2%
Michigan U.P.	Before 1934	0%
1934 - 1939	19%
1940 - 1951	14%
1952 - 1999	6%

Undertaker

Having the undertaker's name off a death certificate can be a key to finding a lot of information. If the undertaker's records are still in existence and you can locate them, you may be surprised at how detailed, interesting and useful the information can be and it's worth giving it a try. Undertaker's parlors come and go, and often combine with other parlors and later wind up separate again. They seem to tend to be family businesses and to stay in the family for a long time. The place to start looking, though, would be the local genealogical society. Also check the phone book for an undertaking parlor still in existence with part of the same name as the one named in the death record, and if you find one, give them a call.

Undertaker's Name in Death Records
State	Date of Death	Undertaker
Wisconsin	Before 1897	0%
	1897 - Oct. 1, 1907	73%
	Oct. 1, 1907 - 1948	94%
	1949 - 2004	98%
Michigan U.P	Before 1914	0%
	1914 - 1934	2%
	1935 - 1941	24%
	1942 - 1999	69%

Social Security Number of a Deceased Person

From the time social security began, people's social security numbers were reported on their death records with increasing frequency. With the social security number some sorts of public information might conceivably be more readily associated unambiguously with the relative you're interested in, especially in the future. It's probably worth noting it just in case.

Social Security Number in Death Records
State	Date of Death	SSN
Wisconsin	Before 1941	0%
	1941 - 1948	14%
	1949 - 1962	24%
	1963 - 1967	58%
	1968 - 1977	82%
	1978 - 2004	93%
Michigan U.P.	Before 1961	0%
	1961 - 1974	29%
	1975 - 1999	83%

Note: I don't have many Michigan death records from the second half of the twentieth century, so the statistics for Michigan's Upper Peninsula could be quite different from what you'd see if you looked at all the records from the U.P.

Date of Burial

The burial date is given on most twentieth-century death records. With the death date in hand, the date of burial isn't so interesting unless it happens to have been much later than the date of death - that would indicate there's probably a story to uncover. However, if you contact a cemetery sexton it's probably helpful to them if you give them the date of burial along with the date of death from the death certificate.

Wisconsin death certificates from 1978 forward don't have an explicit date of burial field. Similarly for Michigan death certificates from somewhere around 1989 on. Instead, the undertaker's representative signs the certificate, and the date of his signature is given. I don't know if the undertaker is directed to sign the certificate immediately after burial or if it can be signed before burial or later. I also don't know whether this was the practical use for the date of burial field even before the years the burial date field disappeared.

Date of Burial Given on Death Records
State	Year of Death	Burial Date
Wisconsin	Before Oct. 1, 1907	0%
	Oct. 1, 1907 - 1948	94%
	1949 - 1977	91%
	1978 - 2004	0%
Michigan U.P.	Before 1934	1%
	1934 - 1940	17%
	1941 - 1988	62%
	1989 - 1999	0%

City or Town of Marriage

The city or town in which a marriage takes place is virtually always given in a marriage record. The only records in which one might not be surprised to find it missing are the very earliest records.

Contrary to expectation, a marriage certificate may possibly not be found in the county in which the marriage took place, but instead be in some other county. Apparently if a couple lived in a different county from where the marriage was to take place, the couple could get a license where they lived, get married elsewhere, and then the officiant would sometimes return the information to the county where the marriage license was obtained and that county would neglect to send a copy on to the county where the ceremony took place, or else the receiving county would neglect to add the record to their books. The record would wind up filed in the county where the license was taken out, but not the county where the marriage took place. This situation is rare, however.

City or Town of Marriage
State	Date of Marriage	City or Town
Wisconsin	Before 1878	92%
Wisconsin	1878 - 2005	>99%
Michigan U.P.	Before 1868	100%
	1868 - 1870	92%
	1871 - 2000	98%

Venue of Marriage
State	Date of Marriage	Venue
Wisconsin	Before Oct. 1, 1907	7%
Oct. 1, 1907 - 1918	6%
1919 - 1943	16%
1944 - 1967	89%
1968 - 1988	95%
1989 - 2005	11%
Michigan U.P.	Before 1868	28%
1868 - 1870	17%
1871 - 1887	0%
1888 - 1959	<1%
1960 - 2000	25%

Officiant of Wedding Ceremony and Title or Type of Ceremony

If you don't have the venue of a marriage, you may be able to find it based on the name of the officiant or the type of ceremony. Those are of interest primarily for the sake of locating church records that give other information, and are especially important if the venue of the ceremony was not named. If the type of ceremony was Civil (not Religious) or the title of the officiant is given as Justice of the Peace or Circuit Court Judge, etc., then the marriage will probably not be found in any church records. If the type of ceremony is given as Religious, it was probably recorded in some church record somewhere. If the type of ceremony was Catholic or Roman Catholic, or the officiant's title is given as Catholic Priest, you can be pretty sure the record was recorded at a Catholic church. (There is a publication called the "Catholic Directory" which has been issued every year for hundreds of years. For each year of issuance, that publication lists every Catholic church and mission that was open at the time anywhere in the world, and I presume lists the names of the priests assigned to each location. If you can't readily find the correct church in the community where the wedding took place, by using this publication and the name of the Catholic officiant you should be able to identify which church would have originally had the records and you can track them down from there if they are still in existence. Many issues of the Catholic Directory can be found at the Marquette University Library in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Bishop Baraga Archives at the Catholic Diocese of Marquette in Marquette, Michigan, and in the library system at University of Wisconsin-Madison in Madison, Wisconsin, as well as other libraries world-wide.) If the type of service is given as Methodist Episcopal or other Protestant denomination or the official title of the officiant is given as Minister instead of Priest, then you likewise have a hint for where the church records might be. Most marriage records give the place of residence of the officiant, which could be quite helpful in determining where the church where the records are kept might be located.

In the table below, the title hasn't always been separated from the name and so sometimes the title doesn't appear in the Title or Type of Ceremony column. Mostly that applies to the title of "Reverend", where the officiant will sign his name as Rev. John Johnson or some such.

Officiant and Ceremony Type
State	Date of Marriage	Officiant	Title or Type of Ceremony
Wisconsin	Before Oct. 1, 1907	98%	92%
	Oct. 1, 1907 - 1943	97%	19%
	1944 - 1967	100%	81%
	1968 - 1978	100%	31%
	1979 - 2005	100%	92%
Michigan U.P.	Before 1868	96%	76%
	1868 - 1897	98%	85%
	1898 - 2000	100%	99%

Witnesses to the Marriage

Every marriage is to have two witnesses, whether it's a civil ceremony or religious. The witnesses are almost always recorded in the marriage record. These days they are nearly always friends or relatives of the bride and groom. In old days there was often one relative and one person who was not related, often apparently a relative of the officiant who happened to be around at the time. Sometimes both witnesses have the same last name as the officiant, indicating that probably neither witness was related to the bride or groom! The main reason to note the witnesses are to discover what families might be related in some way you haven't yet discovered. If Lucile Czeslevic appears as a witness at Robert Czeslevic's wedding, then Lucile's family is almost certainly related to Robert's. Also, sometimes you may find the married names of female siblings, if they were witnesses at their brothers' or sisters' weddings.

It seemed to be common for a couple who was considering getting married to be witnesses at a sibling's wedding before they were married. If you don't know what happened to a person but they appeared as a witness to a sibling's wedding with another person of the opposite sex whose name you don't recognize, it might be that those two got married later. It's a long shot, but worth checking into.

Witnesses' signatures on modern marriage certificates are often wildly illegible scrawls. In cases where I try to read the signatures and then find the name correctly typed elsewhere on the record, I find I have recorded the name incorrectly about 50% of the time - assuming the person who typed got it right. If the last name is the same as the bride's or groom's it's not hard to figure out, but often unique names on a modern certificate can be extremely difficult to interpret and one knows one is merely guessing. Luckily, even the worst of other writing on vital records is more legible than the signatures one finds for some witnesses at marriages!

Data Fields in Wisconsin and Michigan Vital Records

Data of Genealogical Interest

Surname

Maiden Name

First Name of the Subject of the Record

Middle Name

Date of Birth

Names of Parents of the Subject(s) of the Record

Place of Birth

Occupation

Names of "Other Children" on a Wisconsin Birth Record

Ordinality of the Child On A Birth Record

The Sex of a Newborn Child

Date of Death

Place of Death

Place of Residence

Marital Status of a Deceased Person

Place of Burial

Cemetery Location

Undertaker

Death Certificate Informant's Name

Social Security Number of a Deceased Person

Date of Burial

Spouse's Name

Date of Marriage

City or Town of Marriage

Venue of Marriage

Officiant of Wedding Ceremony and Title or Type of Ceremony

Witnesses to the Marriage

Residences of Witnesses

Military Service

State	Date of Marriage	Residences
Wisconsin	Before 1858	0%
	1858 - 1866	9%
	1867 - Oct. 1, 1907	1%
	Oct. 1, 1907 - 1918	89%
	1919 - 1928	0%
	1929 - 1933	22%
	1934 - 1942	1%
	1943 - 1950	8%
	1951 - 2005	0%
Michigan U.P.	Before 1868	72%
	1868 - 1882	76%
	1883 - 1990	96%
	1991 - 2000	0%