Nevada genealogy records

Births and deaths before 1911

From 1887 to 1911, look in the county where the event happened, at the County Recorder or County Health Officer. The Carson City Recorder's office has indexed every birth and death registered by the Ormsby County and Carson City recorder and put the index online.

Some earlier deaths can be found through burial permits. From 1879 to 1911, incorporated cities required undertakers to get a burial permit from the county coroner, issued when a death certificate was filed. Such certificates exist for Virginia City and Gold Hill from 1879 to 1887 and for Carson City from 1893 to 1896, and transcripts of the Storey County coroner's records are on microfilm at the Nevada State Library and the Nevada Historical Society.

For births before 1887, try newspapers and baptism records. The Nevada Historical Society in Reno holds registers of births and baptisms of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Nevada dioceses, from 1862 to 1969.

Birth and death certificates from 1911

The Office of Vital Records in Carson City holds birth and death certificates from 1911. It requires proof of relationship, because Nevada law asks applicants to show a direct and tangible interest in the record. As of 2026, a certified birth certificate costs $25. A certified death certificate costs $25 if the death was in Carson, Clark, Douglas, Lyon, Mineral, or Washoe county and $22 in any other county. Clark and Washoe counties also issue records, and their prices may vary.

For family history, the office offers genealogical searches by appointment. As of 2026, each appointment lasts at most 30 minutes and costs $10 for each name or variant searched. The State Archives also holds a small number of death record volumes from the 1920s to 1954, transferred by the Vital Records office because they are no longer confidential.

Marriages and divorces

Ask the County Recorder of the county that issued the marriage license; to get a copy, you need the exact date. Divorces are civil cases filed by case number with the County Clerk and indexed by plaintiff and defendant. If you do not know the county or the date, the state Office of Vital Records can search its marriage and divorce indexes, which cover events after 1968 until September 2005 and from 2015 to the present, for $10 per name as of 2026. The search confirms the event but does not include a certified copy.

For early marriages, the State Archives has some marriage and divorce records for Carson County, Utah and Nevada territories, from 1856 to 1862. The State Library has marriage records for Douglas, Lyon, Ormsby, Storey, and Washoe counties from 1862 to 1900 on microfilm, for research only; certified copies still come from the county office.

Census records

The Census Bureau has data for Nevada beginning with the 1860 census, for the part of today's Nevada then in Utah Territory; the part then in New Mexico Territory was not enumerated in 1860. Most of the 1890 census was destroyed by a fire in the Commerce Department building on January 10, 1921, but the special schedules of Union Civil War veterans and their widows survive for Nevada.

Nevada also counted school-age children. From 1911 to 1949, census marshals took an annual census of children in each school district, with full names, birth dates, gender, and race, but there was no obligation to keep these reports once the statistics were compiled, so survival is uncertain.

Courts, mining, and naturalization

With few exceptions, the State Archives does not hold county records. One exception is the case files of the Nevada 2nd Judicial District for Ormsby County, 1861 to 1931, with civil, probate, and some criminal cases and a name index. The Archives also has duplicate county tax assessment rolls from 1891 to 1892.

Mining claims were recorded with the County Recorder, and disputes went to the District Courts, whose files are with the County Clerk. The State Mine Inspector's card files of mines in operation, 1909 to 1974, are at the Archives and include mining accident reports from 1909 to 1971.

The State Archives has no naturalization records. In Nevada they may be found with the state district courts and in U.S. District Court records at the National Archives at San Francisco.

Newspapers

Before 1887, newspapers and baptism records are the only possible sources for a Nevada birth. The State Library has microfilm of historic Nevada newspapers, and some papers are free online through the Library of Congress's Chronicling America and the digital collections of the University of Nevada, Reno and UNLV.