The following teaser is from an article by Margaret Linford, published in the June 23, 2015 edition of swvatoday.com:
There has been quite a bit of excitement in the lives of Virginia genealogists this month. On June 2, Governor McAuliffe announced that a project to digitize and preserve the vital records of Virginia was complete. This was a “two-year, public-private collaboration between the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) and Ancestry.com that fully digitized the state’s vital records.” As part of this project, more than 16 million records were digitized and indexed.
Regarding this monumental project, Governor Terry McAuliffe said, “Having all Virginia vital records digitized means millions of public birth, death, marriage and divorce records are now more easily accessed for genealogy and family history research. This project also provides a long-term conservation solution for preserving the rich history of Virginia’s people.
The release of these records has been eagerly anticipated by genealogists in Virginia for quite some time. Up until now, a portion of the records could be researched by accessing microfilm records at the Library of Virginia or by requesting a copy from the Virginia Department of Health. These methods were time-consuming and involved a small cost. Now, the records are easily accessible on Ancestry.com.
