Oyster Bay Town Clerk Rich LaMarca announced that residents who wish to engage in some form of family research may do so through ancestral services offered by his office. Residents can fill out a form to search birth, death, and marriage records for genealogical purposes, and these early vital records might just provide the piece of information about ancestors that you’ve been seeking.

 

Town Clerk LaMarca stated, “In recent years, ancestral research has become one of the world’s most popular hobbies and countless people around the world are actively engaged in some form of developing a family tree. Whether it’s to satisfy a curiosity about oneself, provide children with a sense of who their ancestors were or to compile a medical history, people are trying to get in touch with their roots. Vital records are the cornerstone of genealogical research, and my office is proud to provide dates and locations of events in the life of an ancestor, as well as other useful data.”

 

The Town of Oyster Bay maintains records dating back to 1881.  To protect the privacy of the living, birth records will not be released unless the record has been on file for at least 75 years and the person to whom the record relates is deceased. Death records will not be released unless the record has been on file for at least 50 years. Additionally, marriage records will not be released unless the record has been on file for at least 50 years and both parties to the marriage are known to be deceased.  The fee for a genealogical search varies depending on the number of years requested to be searched and can range from $22 – $162.

 

For additional ancestral information or other services offered by Oyster Bay Town Clerk Rich LaMarca, please call (516) 624-6337 or visit www.oysterbaytown.com.