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October 2003 |
Question:
I
am conducting a genealogical search of my family and am trying to find
information on my great-grandparents who lived in this county. I know
that the Clerk of Court’s office keeps historical records such as land
deeds and marriage licenses that could help me in my search. How far back
do your records go, an how should I go about getting them?
Answer:
Many people
utilize the Clerks' offices to find out about their ancestors. Our records
date back to 1855. If you are looking for information prior to 1978, you
should go to the Manatee County Historical Records Library, 1405 4th Avenue
West, Bradenton. The library is the home of our county’s earliest records.
Marriage licenses, probate files, court documents and deed records as
well as some tax records, city directories, and other pertinent information
can be found there. Clerk’s employees staff the library. It was established
in 1978 and is the oldest historical archive in the State of Florida run
by a Clerk of Circuit Court’s Office. You can also come into the Clerk’s
Office on the main floor of the courthouse and speak with someone in the
Official Records Department who will direct you to the documents you are
looking for. For later documents, you may also be able to conduct a preliminary
search online. While the actual records are not available online prior
to July of 1981, there is an index that will tell you what records are
available in the Clerk's office. You can access the index, which is dated
from 1/1/1978 to present, on-line at our
website. Records that may help you include court records as well as
land deeds and marriage licenses, as you have mentioned. Happy hunting!
*Death records can
be found at the Manatee County Health Department, division of Bureau of
Vital Statistics. They start in 1970. Birth records are considered confidential
and cannot be obtained except by the person for whom they were issued
or their parent or guardian if they are a minor, or by court order.