South Dakota genealogy records

Statewide vital records since July 1905

The law implementing South Dakota's vital records system took effect in July 1905. The system holds birth, death, fetal death, marriage, divorce and annulment, and burial records. The Department of Health leads it, with the 64 county Registers of Deeds helping to build and keep it, and the state and county offices each hold a set of standard birth, death, and marriage records. Some county offices have records filed before 1905; the Department of Health lists these exceptions on its page for each county.

By state law, vital records filed in South Dakota are not open for public inspection. That means no browsing of the registers: you search the free birth index, or you ask the state or a county office to search for you.

Birth records and the free 100-year search

The state and county offices have all birth records filed after 1905, issued from a central database that every county can reach. People born before 1905 could also file their births later. The Department of Health's Birth Record Search Site, required by South Dakota Codified Law 34-25-8, contains every birth record it has on file with a birth date more than 100 years ago, more than 452,000 records when we checked in 2026. You can search by any of its fields and leave unknown parts of the date blank.

The site warns that records before 1905 are not complete, and that if a birth is not on the site, a record was never filed with the office. For a birth less than 100 years ago, you order an informational or certified copy and must meet the eligibility rules for a certified one.

Deaths, marriages, and divorces

The state and county offices have death records filed after 1905. Each county normally keeps copies for deaths in that county, while the Department of Health holds the originals for every event in the state after 1905. Marriages after 1905 are in the county where the license was bought or where the marriage took place, and the Department of Health has all of them.

Counties may let research members of the South Dakota Genealogical Society, with its research cards, use their indexes of death certificates and marriage records. The state's own index is more complex, so state staff do all searches, for the 15 dollar fee. Divorce decrees come only from the Clerk of Courts in the county where the divorce was filed, divorce certificates only from the State Office, and tribal marriages and divorces only from the tribe.

Copies, eligibility, and fees

The Department of Health issues three kinds of copies. An informational copy is printed on plain paper with the statement that it is for informational purposes only. A certified copy has a raised seal and can be used legally. A photostatic copy is a photocopy of the original record; the department says it is intended for genealogy and generally gives the most information, and it can be certified or informational.

Certified copies go to the person named, a spouse, child, parent, guardian, next of kin (grandparents and siblings), an authorized or designated agent, or someone with a personal or property right. As of 2026 each certified or informational copy costs 15 dollars, the fee is due before any search, and it is not refunded if no record is found; you get a Notification of Records Searched instead. Genealogy requests must be mailed to the State Office at 221 West Capitol Avenue in Pierre, with an application signed before a notary or a clear copy of a government photo ID. Other requests can also go to any county Register of Deeds.

Censuses and State Archives indexes

Dakota Territory was organized on March 2, 1861, and at first covered both Dakotas, most of Montana, and part of Wyoming. The Census Bureau notes that the 1860 census counted the area as unorganized Dakota, together with land now in Montana, while its 1870 and 1880 figures are for the area of the present state. North and South Dakota were admitted together on November 2, 1889.

The South Dakota State Archives has free online indexes for several special censuses. A special 1885 census of Civil War veterans living in Dakota Territory, in what is now South Dakota, lists 5,875 Union soldiers from 45 counties on 421 census sheets. The archives also has indexes to the 1870 agricultural census and the 1905 state census, along with naturalization records, a newspaper surname index, and the WPA Veterans Cemetery Index.

Land records

South Dakota is one of the 30 public land states, where the federal government transferred land to private owners. Patents can be searched on the Bureau of Land Management's General Land Office website, which includes only patented land. A cancelled or relinquished entry can hold as much information as a patented one; for those, contact the National Archives with the township and range. The tract books for South Dakota, arranged by township, range, and section, are at the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., and some National Archives field offices.