Write to the Kerr County Courthouse, 700 Main St., Kerrville, TX 78028 – addressing it to the appropriate County Office (see below). With your request, you must include the correct money charged for the service you require (check or money order).  You may be asked to provide a copy of your driver’s license for ID purposes.

The “County Clerk” has birth and death records from 1903 and has marriage, probate, land, and Civil Court records from 1856.

The “District Clerk” has divorce records.

For the current charge for Birth or Death records, contact the County Clerk at (830) 792-2255 or write to the address given above.  Unless you can prove a relationship, there is a 75-year silence period on birth records. You must wait 25 years before acquiring a Death Certificate unless you are closely related.

Ordering Vital Records from the State of Texas

Send your application to:

Texas Vital Statistics
Department of State Health Services
P.O. Box 12040
Austin, TX 78711-2040

Include as much information as possible.  Name, date of birth, date of death, spouse’s name, parents’ names, county of residence…all of this information is needed to find the correct record.  The price for obtaining a Death Certificate is $22.  If a search is done and nothing is found, the Bureau of Vital Statistics Office will keep the fee for performing the search.  The price for obtaining a Birth Certificate is $22.  (Check the website as there are other prices depending on the type of request.) Again, you must provide as much information as possible in order to obtain the record you want.  Unless you are closely related, you will not be able to get a Birth Certificate until 75 years after the date of birth.  You must wait 25 years to obtain a Death Certificate unless closely related.

  For more information visit:  http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/vs or phone 888-963-7111
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Birth and Death Indexes at the Texas State Library

Write to:
Texas State Library & Archives
P.O. Box 12927
Austin  Texas 78711.

Names in the Birth Indexes are in one alphabetical series from 1903 – 1909.  The remaining indexes (1910-2010) consist of separate alphabetical lists of names for each year.  

Names in the Death Indexes  from 1903 through the most recent year available (currently 2010). There is one cumulative index for the years 1903 through 1940, one index for 1941 through 1945, and one index for 1946 through 1955. Beginning with 1956-2010, each year is indexed separately.
The Genealogy Collection’s staff will make copies of entries in the indexes upon written request.    They will charge for the number of pages copied.    Because charges for copies and work change, it is recommended that a call be made or an e-mail be sent asking what the latest charges are for making these Birth or Death Index copies.

For more information: https://www.tsl.texas.gov/arc/vitalfaq.html or https://www.tsl.texas.gov/arc/genfirst.html (genealogy page)

e-mail – ref@tsl.texas.gov
telephone – 512-463-5455

You can order the pages for a surname (or up to 5 surnames) which will give you the information about the county and full name at the time of birth or death.  After that, ordering the document from the Bureau of Vital Statistics will be easier and will be more likely to get good results.