Nebraska genealogy records

Births and deaths

Nebraska Vital Records has birth and death records from 1904, the state office says, and the federal Where to Write guide (last reviewed in 2015) puts the start in late 1904. Before that, the state office says, some counties kept records in ledgers before 1904, so a county office is worth asking about an earlier event.

The first years of birth registration are thin. From 1904 to 1911, births were usually filed only under the father's name and did not list the child's name; the purpose was to register the birth, not to create a birth certificate. Birth certificates began in 1912. Beginning in 1941, a person born in Nebraska before 1905 could ask to have a birth record put on file, which is called a delayed birth record, and delayed birth records granted by the courts before October 1, 1985 were filed with Nebraska Vital Records in Lincoln.

Family history requests and who can order

The state's family history page says only records that are 50 years old or older may be requested for family history, under its rules, Chapter 3, paragraph 3-004.06, Genealogical Use. Its main vital records page words the same rule as releasing all vital records for genealogy when the requester shows that the person on the record has been dead for at least 50 years. As of 2026, the office says genealogy requests for historical records take up to 12 weeks to process. If no record is found, you get a "no record" letter and the search fee is kept.

Outside the genealogy rule, you must meet the office's proper purpose test and prove your relationship if your name is not on the record; for a parent's record, for example, you send your own birth certificate. The office says you may only get a death certificate for your spouse, parent, or child, and marriage and divorce certificates for yourself or your parents. As of 2026, a mailed request costs 17 dollars for a birth certificate and 16 dollars for a death or marriage certificate, with a photocopy of a government-issued photo ID; orders can also be placed online. Nebraska Vital Records only has events that took place in Nebraska.

Marriages and divorces

Marriage and divorce records at the state office start in 1909. For a marriage before 1909, contact the county where the license was filed or the Nebraska State Historical Society (History Nebraska). For a divorce before 1909, check with the Clerk of the District Court in the county where the divorce was granted.

To order a marriage certificate from the state, give the full names at birth of both parties and the county where the license was issued. The federal Where to Write guide also lists the County Court in the county where the license was issued for marriage copies, and the Clerk of the District Court for divorces.

Territorial, federal, and 1885 censuses

Nebraska Territory was organized on May 30, 1854, and at first reached into present Colorado, Montana, and the Dakotas; it shrank in 1861 when Colorado and Dakota territories were organized. Census data for Nebraska begin with 1860. Nebraska Vital Records does not keep census records.

Under an 1879 law, the federal government offered to share the cost of a census in 1885, and Nebraska was one of three states, with Florida and Colorado, that took one, along with New Mexico and Dakota territories. Its schedules went to the National Archives in 1944 and are on microfilm publication M352. The population schedule lists every household member with relationship to the head, age, marital status, occupation, and the birthplaces of each person and their parents, which helps fill the gap left by the loss of the 1890 federal census in a 1921 fire. The agricultural schedule describes each farm, and the mortality schedule lists people who died between June 1, 1884, and May 31, 1885, with the cause of death, birthplace, parents' birthplaces, and how long they had lived in the county.

Homesteads and land

Nebraska is one of the 30 public land states, and the National Archives holds the land entry case files. Its example is Homestead Entry Number 1, for Daniel Freeman at a Nebraska land office, dated January 20, 1868. Under the Homestead Act of 1862, a claimant had to be the head of a household or at least 21, and a citizen or someone who had legally declared the intent to become one. To get the patent for a 160-acre parcel, the homesteader had to live on the land, build a home, make improvements, and farm it, and every claim produced a case file.

Search patents by name on the Bureau of Land Management's General Land Office website, which only includes patented land. Cancelled or relinquished entries can hold as much information, and the National Archives has name indexes to them for several Nebraska land offices, such as Alliance (about 1869 to 1950), Broken Bow, Lincoln, North Platte, O'Neill, and Valentine. The tract books for Nebraska are at the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., and some field offices.

Newspapers

Nebraska Newspapers, a free site from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries in partnership with History Nebraska, offers full-text search of selected Nebraska newspapers. Since 2007 the project has digitized papers such as The Omaha Bee, The Commoner, and Pokrok západu for the site and for Chronicling America at the Library of Congress, and it has added selected Czech American titles.