This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: ANDERSON Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Wl.2ADIB/8783.1.2.1.1 Message Board Post: The only thing you'll get from a copy of the original application is the applicants handwriting their name, date of birth, place of birth (if I remember correctly) and the names of their parents and of course their SS#. If you want all this pay the fee. Purchasing a copy of the "original" birth certificate from a local registrar's office is less expensive than through the State. You will get informative info on what doctor attended the birth, birthdate, name of baby, mother, father. I buy as many birth certificates as I can afford to budget. Got most of all my deceased family. Hard getting any from 1880, unless you got to the Historical Society and get some type of newspaper article on birth notices.