 Vital Record - A term that refers to birth, marriage, divorce, and death records created by governments (FamilySearch wiki).
Vital records are amazing! They often contain names of parents, birth places and other valuable life events that can be extremely helpful in your research. Earlier records didn’t always provide all that extra details but they could have family listed as witnesses. Need to know what records are available? Check out the Redbook by Ancestry. https://www.ancestry.com/wiki/index.php?title=Red_Book:_American_State,_County,_and_Town_Sources find the state you need and then search under state resources. Not all vital records are online or at FamilySearch. You might need to order the vital records from the local governments. You can use https://www.vitalchek.com/ for a small fee.
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  CensusCensus An official count and description of the people living in a country, colony, state, county, township, or city (FamilySearch Wiki).
In most countries census records were taken every few years. In the US and British Colonies they happened every 10 years. Some states even took censuses in the years in between. The purpose was to help with taxation, population count and governing. What is great about them for genealogists, is that most of them named (or at least referenced) everyone in the household. More recent ones even included relationships which can help put families together. They give you a snapshot of the family at that time. You can often find great pearls of information such as occupations, deceased children, extended family, immigration details and marriage info. They are the perfect launching point for all genealogy. |
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