In the early 1900s in the USA most babies were born at home and did not have
a birth certificate. In lieu of no birth certificate which secondary
document would be best accepted for a birth date? Immigration records might
be acceptable for those born in Europe but not American born children.
Death records show birth year that their children know - not always accurate.
Marriage certificates say what the couple think is correct. U.S. Census birth
years often change every 10 years. Would military records be more accurate?
Or did people change those years also to fit their personal needs?

Thank you for your opinions. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Trudy Barch, Chicagoland

Hi Trudy,

You could look for religious records, or school records.

Also, some of these people might have a delayed birth certificate, created
at some later date when the person needed a birth certificate, like for a
passport, or applying for social security.

The LDS has filmed the Chicago Delayed Births 1871-1948 index. It is not on
line, but you can read about it here
https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/263696?availability=Family%20History%20Library
[MOD. NOTE: shortened URL - http://goo.gl/LLyfjm ]

Other places may have similar records.

Sometimes the best you can do is just an estimate based on the records you
mention.

Lisa
lisa.lepore2@...
#110233
Mendon, MA

From: Trudy Barch cousintrudy@...

This happened with my grandfather, Ben SNYDER. He was born in Baltimore in October
1888, but there is a one month gap in the birth certificates, and since he was
born within that gap, he wasn't able to get one when he applied fora passport in
1960. I have 2 letters he received >from the Census Bureau which are transcriptions
of the 1900 and 1910 censuses. Of course, they spelled his name wrong on one!
The letter is on Census Bureau stationary, form number FL10-622 (formerly AdS-469).
The letter has a pale green Census Bureau seal watermark, with the statement
"Any alteration voids this transcript" written in red across the page, and is
signed by the director of the Bureau.At the bottom is the following statement: "The
Bureau of the Census does not issue birth certificates, but this record is often
accepted in place of one." The letter gives the names of the entire household and
their relationship, but gives the age, place and month & year of birth only for
my grandfather.

I can post one of these letters in ViewMate if anyone is interested.

Another alternate record would be his WWI draft registration card. My grandfather
gives his birth date as December 1, 1888.

Steve Snyder
Reston, Virginia USA

From: Trudy Barchcousintrudy@...
In the early 1900s in the USA most babies were born at home and did not have
a birth certificate. In lieu of no birth certificate which secondary
document would be best accepted for a birth date?

These messages also remind me of a story in my family. One story we always heard
growing up was that my great grandfather and his friend each had a child born on
the same day. As the story was told to us, the 2 fathers were waiting together for
the births of their children. They were very happy of course, and went out
celebrating after they got the news. Well, eventually I got around to looking up
her date of birth and found that she was recorded on one day, and my grandfather
the next.

My grandfather's name was terribly messed up. He was recorded as a girl, so the
date could be wrong as well. They had the same doctor, so maybe he was confused by
the time he recorded the births? I guess I'll never know for sure.

Since any of these records can be wrong, I would probably choose the date on the
draft registration or marriage record since these are the dates the person would
have likely sed himself, and make some notations about the lack of an actual
record.

Lisa
lisa.lepore2@...
#110233
Mendon, MA