My father was born in the Comox Hospital in 1920 but his birth wasn't registered until he started school in 1926 when he needed proof of age. When he joined the Army he needed a birth certificate and Vital Stats turned up 2 birth dates for him 9 days apart so he always celebrated 2 birthdays each year. His next older brother also did not have his birth registered until he started school. I'm not sure if it was lack of a Vital Stats office in small communities or people just didn't know they had to register a birth with a government office. My grandmother probably thought that the baptism record would suffice as it did in Finland. Would be interesting to know what the regulations in the 20's were. Arlene

----- Original Message ----- From: "Arlene Halme" Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 9:10 PM Subject: [CAN-BC] Birth Registration > My father was born in the Comox Hospital in 1920 but his birth wasn't > registered until he started school in 1926 when he needed proof of age. > When he joined the Army he needed a birth certificate and Vital Stats > turned up 2 birth dates for him 9 days apart so he always celebrated 2 > birthdays each year. [snipped] All this chat about birth certs made me think of what happened with a younger sister of mine. She was born in May 1951, in Halifax Nova Scotia. My mother went to register, as my Dad was in Korea. The baby was to be named Mary Kirsten Catherine [surname]. The male clerk at the registry office argued with my mother, telling her she was mis-spelling Kris' names. He insisted her name was to be spelled Mary Christina Katherine! Mum thought she'd won the argument as the piece of paper (not the birth cert) did have the spelling she intended on it. Years later, in 1971 Ontario, Kris wanted to marry and needed her birth cert, so she sent away to NS for it. They told her they had no one by the name she gave .. Mary Kirsten Catherine. Took several months, a couple of phone calls, plus an aunt living in Halifax who also went to the office to discover the problem. They had a set of triplets registered to the same parents (ours'!) with one name each ... Mary, Christina and Katherine! Cost Kris a small fortune (involving a lawyer too) to set the records straight ... and our local church/priest, when he heard the story, accepted her bapt. cert, obtained from NS, as proof so she could marry. Toni ... Ontario.

Have seen many different troubles with birth registrations. Now I have a few of my own. My father was born Dec 6 1880 in Winnipeg and he was not registered until after his marriage to Mother and his first born (twins) and he wanted to buy life insurance and they would not sell it to him without a birth Certificate. His aunt Mary had to swear to the facts being right and that she was present when he was born. My other Grandfather made it a practice to register several at a time as it was a fifteen mile trip to a town he usually didn't go to. So waited till he had enough to make the trip worth while. And getting closer in time when I was born in 1926 in a small town. We had moved to town for the winter and the Dr sent in his report with Daddies rural address which was different than the town. Well Daddy had registered me as the place I was born in the town. Than he started getting letters about him not Registering me as no registration had been made for me in the Rural address. He was threatened with jail time if he didn't straighten up his act. Well don't know the exact troubles as I was a bit too young but I got registered and still here after 79 years. Hugh ----- Original Message ----- From: Arlene Halme <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 8:10 PM Subject: [CAN-BC] Birth Registration > My father was born in the Comox Hospital in 1920 but his birth wasn't > registered until he started school in 1926 when he needed proof of age. > When he joined the Army he needed a birth certificate and Vital Stats > turned up 2 birth dates for him 9 days apart so he always celebrated 2 > birthdays each year. His next older brother also did not have his > birth registered until he started school. I'm not sure if it was lack > of a Vital Stats office in small communities or people just didn't know > they had to register a birth with a government office. My grandmother > probably thought that the baptism record would suffice as it did in > Finland. Would be interesting to know what the regulations in the 20's > were. > > Arlene > > > ==== CAN-BRITISH-COLUMBIA Mailing List ==== > Every two months or so, please repost your interests, > telling us what you know and where you've looked > and what you still need to find out. > >