Rich County (Utah). County Clerk Birth reports, 1895-1902; 1968; 1986.

This series contains a bound folder of reports submitted by physicians and midwives recording births from 1898 to 1902. Each entry includes such information as birth date, sex, color, race, parents' names, place of residence, and name of informant. This series also includes three loose birth reports likely submitted by the same midwife in 1900 and documenting births from early as December 1895. Though the county clerk used these documents to compile the official birth register, not all births included in these reports are found within that register. This series also contains a notice of birth from 1898, three responses to requests for birth records in 1968, and a 1986 request for a birth certificate.

Beginning in 1898, State law required physicians and midwives to report each birth at which they assisted professionally. In their absence, parents were required to make a report. They then reported quarterly to the county clerk or in the case of incorporated cities, to the local board of health and they would in turn report to the county clerk. (Revised Statutes of Utah 1898, Title 57, p. 474-475) Despite these requirements, not all births were recorded.

In 1905, the state passed a law requiring each county to file a uniform certificate with the State Bureau of Vital Statistics in lieu of maintaining a birth register.