Vital Statistics
Registration of births, deaths, and marriages at the Portage County Register of Deeds prior to 1907 was voluntary and vital records were not filed for most events. It has been estimated that less than 50% of the records were prepared and submitted for permanent filing before that time.
SPAGS has a number of resources for searching for these vital statistics in Portage County. Our two largest are the "Portage County Death Registration" for the years 1876-1907 which has links to images of the registrations; and the "Portage County Early Marriage Index" which contains all the marriages in Portage County recorded at the Register of Deeds (and from some local histories, biographies, etc.) prior to 1900.
Births
Pre-1907 Birth Index
Some Early Births from the Portage County Birth Index at Register of Deeds
Portage County Birth Registrations, 1876-1897
Some Birth Records transcribed by Portage County researcher Myron Felckowski
Birth Announcements taken from local newspapers
Wisconsin Births and Christenings, 1826-1926 (from FamilySearch.org)
Deaths
Pre-1907 Death Index
1876-1907 Portage County Death Registrations
Wisconsin, Death Index, 1959-1997 (from FamilySearch.org)
Wisconsin Deaths and Burials, 1835-1968 (from FamilySearch.org)
Some Early Deaths taken from the Wisconsin Pinery
1913 List of Deaths
1915 List of Deaths
Some Death Records transcribed by Portage County researcher Myron Felckowski
Marriages
Portage County Early Marriage Index (Portage County Courthouse)
Portage County Early Marriage License-Records Index (UWSP Archives)
Early Marriages taken from the Wisconsin Pinery
Some Marriage Announcements transcribed from local newspapers
Some Marriage Records transcribed by Portage County researcher Myron Felckowski
Marriages Indexed from some of the early local newspapers
Wisconsin Marriages, 1836-1930 (from FamilySearch.org)