This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------F5124B9E835C5D62E9894765 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I got my response today and unfortunately they found no record of my grandfather's birth. Oh well, it was worth a shot. I at least have his baptismal record from St Paul's but I was hoping for an official civil document. I hope everyone else has better luck with this contact. Birmingham had quite a thriving Italian community at the turn of the century. I'm trying to find a copy of the book "Italians in the deep South : their impact on Birmingham and the American heritage" by Frank Joseph Fede. The NOPL doesn't have it so I may try inerlibrary loan. Though I know there are no more Caravellas in Birmingham, I'm sure I must still have some cousins in the area. Research is very difficult from New Orleans so I may just have to wait till I can get out there. My family, as well as many others that settled in Birmingham, were from Ustica, an island just north of Palermo. If you're interested, please visit my site at www.ustica.org/genealogy. Ciao, Chris --------------F5124B9E835C5D62E9894765 Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 Message-ID: <39DBBAC1.48968A2E@home.com> Date: Wed, 04 Oct 2000 18:18:25 -0500 From: Chris Caravella <chris.caravella@home.com> Organization: @Home Network X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.61 [en]C-AtHome0407 (Win98; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Jefferson Couty Alabama <ALJEFFER-L@rootsweb.com> Subject: Vital Records Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Raymond, I came upon this address quite by luck. I was passed around a lot but I beleive the number is (205)933-9110. The clerk took my address and mailed me a form to fill out. The address is Jefferson County Department of Health Bureau of Health Statistics and Vital records 1400 Sixth Avenue South PO Box 2648 Birmingham, AL 35202-2648 The cost is $12 per search/certificate and $4 for additional copies - money order or cashiers check only. Also only the next of kin can request a certificate. That means my dad actually had to sign for my grandfather's birth certificate or he could have written a letter giving me authority. I'm not sure how flexible this rule is but in my case I didn't need to worry about it. I hope that by writing directly to the county they will search pre-1908 records. There was no mention on the form of a search limit. I'll let everyone know how it turns out. Ciao, Chris "Hi Chris, I am also looking for a birth certificate for my grandfather who was born in Birmingham in 1892. I spent two days in August of this year in Birmingham & Montgomery searching through their archives. Unfortunately, I was not able to find anything on my grandfather. Interestingly enough, no one else has mentioned the Jefferson County Dept of Health. It sounds like a new lead for me and perhaps others. Chris, could you provide their address and phone number. Thanks in advance. Raymond Simmons "My grandfather was born in 1896 in Birmingham and I need to get a certified copy of his birth certificate. I know the regular channels only supply births from 1906 on, but I saw on AlGenWeb that Jefferson County had births back to 1882. I called around and got the Jefferson County Department of Health, Bureau of Health Statistics and Vital Records and I was sent a form (I live in New Orleans)." " --------------F5124B9E835C5D62E9894765--