The Ancestor Hunt regularly adds and updates new collection links, as well as searches for and fixes broken links.
(This page's most recent update is December 2024)
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One of the main goals for genealogists is finding birth, baptism, and/or christening information about their ancestors.
Over the past few decades, thanks to volunteers, librarians, and archivists, a great number of indexes to birth and baptism collections have been provided for free online. These searchable indexes provide specific birth, baptism, or christening information, and sometimes scanned images of the actual birth documents themselves. These free online collections have millions of records in them in total.
There are a great number of online and offline collections that may include birth information that is not included in the lists below. These different types can be found in 32 Ways to Find Ancestor Birth Information
If you are interested in baptism indexes that may include the birth date as well as baptism information, make sure to check out Church Records.
The lists below are specific birth, baptism, and christening indexes and record collections available for free online for the state.
Note: Some links listed take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections’ images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital. To take full advantage make sure that you are logged in to FamilySearch. The results may be different if you are signed in, rather than not.
Note: I have included links to Free Ancestry records and indexes. You do not need a subscription but do need an Ancestry account. Without a subscription, you can view indexes. If there is an image associated with a record, in most cases you will need a subscription, but the index does include very usable information.
South Dakota Birth Records
- Aurora County, Birth Indexes
- Beadle County, Birth Indexes
- Bon Homme County, Birth Indexes
- Brookings County, Birth Indexes
- Brown County, Baptismal Records
- Brule County, Birth Indexes
- Buffalo County, Birth Indexes
- Butte County, Birth Indexes
- Charles Mix County, Birth Indexes
- Cheyenne River Agency, Agency Records, 1869-1951
- Cheyenne River, Indian Census Rolls, 1886-1942
- Clark County, Birth Indexes
- Codington County, Birth Indexes
- Crow Creek Agency Birth and Death Records, 1919-1939
- Crow Creek Agency Record of Births and Deaths–Lower Yanktonai Sioux, 1881-1918
- Crow Creek Agency, Census Matters, 1927-1931
- Crow Creek, Indian Census Rolls, 1886-1942
- Custer County, Birth Indexes
- Davison County, Birth Indexes
- Day County, Birth Indexes
- Deuel County, Birth Indexes
- Dewey County, Birth Indexes
- Edmunds County, Birth Indexes
- Flandreau Indian School, School Records, 1906-1937
- Flandreau, Indian Census Rolls, 1892-1939
- Grant County, Birth Indexes
- Gregory County, Birth Indexes
- Hamlin County, Birth Indexes
- Hand County, Birth Indexes
- Hanson County, Birth Indexes
- Harding County, Birth Indexes
- Hughes County, Birth Indexes
- Hutchinson County, Birth Indexes
- Iapi oaye, Vital Statistics
- Kingsbury County, Birth Indexes
- Lake County, Birth Indexes
- Lawrence County, Birth Indexes
- Lincoln County, Birth Indexes
- Lyman County Birth Indexes
- Lyman County, Birth Indexes
- Miner County, Birth Indexes
- Minnehaha County, Birth Indexes
- Miscellaneous BMD Records by County
- Moody County Births
- Moody County, Birth Indexes
- Perkins County Delayed Births
- Perkins County, Birth Indexes
- Pine Ridge Agency Birth and Death Records, 1895-1950
- Pine Ridge Agency Family Statistics Ledger, Late 1800s – Early 1900s
- Pine Ridge Agency Supplemental Census, All Births and Deaths, 1946-1948
- Potter County, Birth Indexes
- Potter County, School Census Records, 1885-1931
- Roberts County, Birth Indexes
- Rosebud Agency Birth and Death Records, 1900-1946
- Sanborn County, Birth Indexes
- Shannon County, Birth Indexes
- Sioux Falls Index to Births, 1880-1990
- Sioux Falls, Surname Index, ca.1700-1990
- Sisseton Agency Birth and Death Records, 1928-1945
- South Dakota Birth Records
- South Dakota, Department of Health, Index to Births 1843-1914 and Marriages 1950-2016
- South Dakota, Pioneer Certificates
- Spink County, Birth Indexes
- Standing Rock Agency Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1880-1942
- Sully County, Birth Indexes
- Tripp County, Birth Indexes
- Union County, Birth Indexes
- United States Births and Christenings, 1867-1931
- Walworth County, Birth Indexes
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!