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Tina's New Hampshire Adoption PageAs of May 2004, New Hampshire is an Open Records State!Congratulations New Hampshire!
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New Hampshire Dept. of Vital Statistics Bureau of Vital Records 6 Hazen Drive Concord, NH 03301 (603) 271-4651 |
| Make check or money order payable to Treasurer, State of New Hampshire. |
| One may visit the bureau and do research in person. They have a room, staffed by volunteers, where one may use the actual records. This is handy for people doing descendant genealogy because they may ask for all the records for one surname. The hours are from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm Monday through Friday. |
| In New England, the town clerk is the principal record keeper on the local level. The earliest records are called proprietor's records. Town records generally begin with the founding of a town and are kept to the present. Town records may contain records of births, marriages, burials, cemeteries, appointments, earmarks, estrays (records of stray animals), freemens' oaths (men becoming eligible to vote), land records, mortgages, name changes, care of the poor, school records, surveys, tax lists, town meeting minutes, voter registrations, and "warning outs" (of town). |
| The original records are in the respective town clerk's office or the New Hampshire Historical Society. |
| Update: Adoptees aged 18 and over can now request their original birth certificates by writing to the Dept. of Vital Statistics. As more information becomes available, it will be posted. |
| The laws of New Hampshire state that identifying information must be shared with an adult adoptee (age 21) if the birth parent(s) has signed a release form. Information will not be released unless such a form is on file with the agency and the agency has attempted to contact the birth parent(s) to reaffirm the desire to be contacted. Non- identifying information is available to adult adoptees and adoptive parents. |
| N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann 170-B:19 |