Vital Statistics Collection

About this collection

Presently all of Kauai, Molokai,Niihau and Maui vital statistic records are online.
The Vital Statistics Collection includes three types of records; births, marriages and deaths from 1826-1929.

Note: The Vital Statistics Collection have been scanned in black and white to provide viewers access to the information presented in these documents, however some records have been scanned in color to help distinguish various types of marking on the original document.

Each record has a unique call number, which is made up of the book and page that the original document comes from. This is used to reference the original document within the Vital Statistics Collection. Though in some cases for example K-32 (folder 32 in the Kauai records), the letter following the folder number as listed in the index has been disregarded.

Finally, there are names where the surname or family name have not been identified and/or displayed in several ways. This would affect your search if you are browsing by the last name.

For example the names on a record might appear as in the following, which is then listed in the "Names" browse tab under:

Chung Bong Kwan = Chung Bong Kwan

K. Tong Kai = Kai, K. Tong ANDTong Kai, K.

Therefore you may want to do a Search by name rather than browse if you are unable to find a record in the Names section.

Births: There are very few records of births and they consist of listings submitted by school teachers who kept registers of births to be submitted to the Department of Public Instruction. Records before 1864 are mainly statistical. The records contain mostly the name of the child, district, and birth date, though some reports show the sex, parents' names and place of birth. The sex of the child is indicated by (k) for male, and (w) for female next to the name, those that do not have these indicators mean that the record does not state whether the child was male or female. Those records that give the parents names are indexed and listed after the child's name. Some records do not list the child's name thus if the sex is known it will state male, female or if unknown just child.

Marriages: The majority of the records in this collection are of marriages, consisting of records from marriage license agents who issued licenses to marry, ministers who conducted the ceremonies, school agents who were required to file reports and the Territorial Treasurer. These records are organized by the groom's name, which is indicated by (k), followed by the bride's name. Thus the names are alphabetized by the groom's (last, first) name only under the Names button.
Note:
M-59. Record Book of Marriages of Rev. Sereno E. Bishop, Lahaina & Hana, 1854-1864 is not included in this collection because the Archives does not have the original records.
Originals are at Hawaii Mission Children's Society.

Deaths: There are also very few records of deaths and they consist of listings submitted by school teachers who kept registers of deaths to be submitted to the Department of Public Instruction before 1896, then by agents to the Department of Health after 1896. Records before 1864 were also mainly statistical. Death records minimally show the name, date of death, and district. There are some reports that show the sex, residence, place of birth and cause of death. Those records that indicate the sex of the person is displayed by (k) for male and (w) for female.

How to find information in the Vital Statistics Collection collection

There are 3 ways to find information in this collection:
search for particular names by clicking the Search button
browse documents by Names by clicking the Names button
browse documents by Location by clicking the Location button

Hawaii State Archives
Kekauluohi Building, Iolani Palace Grounds, 364 S. King Street, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
Phone: (808) 586-0329 Fax: (808) 586-0330 E-mail: archives@hawaii.gov