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08 April 2013

Delayed Birth Records

If there is not a "regular" civil record of your ancestor's birth, determine if the office has a record of "delayed" births. These records were those created years after the actual event when it was realized the person had no birth record made at the time of their birth and they needed a copy of their birth record. Delayed birth records were usually made based upon the testimony of those alive at the time of the birth or documentation submitted from other records (ie. church records, government census records, etc.)

4 comments:

  1. I have heard of these but have no idea how to go about finding one. Can a future TIP offer suggestions on where to look?
    Might a delayed birth record been created when a person went to apply for Social Security, for example. And if so, would the record typically be filed in the year of birth or the year of submission of proof?

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    1. Applying for Social Security (either benefits or just a number, if applying for a number as an adult) was one time when people would realize they needed to do this. Usually these are filed in a separate series of records. But, some counties would "insert them" where they should have been filed. That depends on the clerk.

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  2. I found these for my grandparents in Hancock Co IL where they were both born at home, but are these supposed to be filed in the actual county/location of the birth, or the current area of residence? My husband's grandfather (the biggest brickwall I have) lived in Lake Co IL at the time he would have needed this - would he have filed there?

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    1. Fortunately my Hancock County grandparents (all four of them) had original birth certificates and were born at home between 1903 and 1924, but perhaps I got lucky or they were late enough that they were recorded.

      I'd look first in the county where he was born and then in the county where he lived==for the one you asked about.

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