Thursday, September 24, 2009

Genealogy

I am an amateur genealogist and am trying to work on about twenty branches of our family tree at the same time. I'm pretty organized and am doing well at finding information.

My big problem is my paternal grandfather's side. We can't really verify his mother's correct name. It seems no one in the south used their real name. I have seen census records with Lillian, Lulamay, and Mattie L M for her name.

My great-grandmother on another branch: Her name was Violet Anora, but she used Polly. And of course, my entire family is from the south, so there're all like this. Trying to research "Polly's" brothers-all my father could remember that they were called was Uncle Fuzzy and Uncle Tater and surprisingly, they made alot of moonshine. Even more surprising, I found Uncle Jake's grave-marked "Tater" on the gravestone.

So anyway, I'm going to try to order my grandfather's birth certificate from AL. Here's what the website says:

Records Available: The Alabama Center for Health Statistics began filing birth certificates in 1908 for persons born in Alabama.

Restrictions: By Alabama law, birth certificates are confidential records with restricted access for 125 years from the date of birth. They may be obtained by the following persons, upon payment of the proper fee:spouses, children


Now, I'm not a rocket scientist or anything, but if you've only kept records since 1908, 125 years have not even passed yet in order for me to order a copy. Okay dokey!!

3 comments :

  1. We are the government, and we are here to help you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Could you have your parent order the certificate? They should legally be able to since they would be the next of kin. I had my mom do this for my grandfather.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ya know, I never thought about it, but neither my grandmother nor her sister went by their real name. Hmmmm......

    I hope you find what you are looking for and have confidence that it is the right people.

    ReplyDelete

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