Hi , When requesting a birth certificate from the Commonwealth of Pa , Dept of Vital Statistics in New Castle, be sure you request the * long form*. Requesting a "birth certificate" other than the long form will result in your receiving the certificate with the raised seal such as needed for passport and other uses. The long form certificate identifies the parents. Prior to 1906 birth, death records are housed in the county court house of the person's residence or county. It doesn't matter if the dob or dod is not known. These records are on microfilm and indexed. Pat Westmoreland County , PA Coordinator USGENWEB http://www.westol.com/~pita/ On Sun, 27 Apr 1997, Thomas Danicki wrote: > Hello > > I've just had my first experience trying to learn more about distant > relatives by requesting their birth certificates from the Commonwealth > of Pennsylvania's Dept. of Health. My efforts were unsuccessful (and > frustrating!) because I did not (and still do not) know their precise > dates of birth. After this disappointing experience, it makes me wonder > if there is really any point in trying the birth certificate route? If > I knew all of the information about the person requested on > Pennsylvania's "Application For ... > Copy Of Birth Or Death Record", I don't see why I would want the birth > certificate. It seems to me that if a governmental unit wanted to > facilitate retrieval of vital records, the records would be filed > alphabetically, not by "date of event". > > Has anyone here had any positive experiences via the birth (or death) > certificate route? > Does anyone know if Pennsylvania's filing system is typical of most > other states? I can truly appreciate the value of "protecting a > person's privacy" -- but then why pretend (mislead, really) that such > vital records are of genealogical value? > > -- > > Thomas J. Danicki danickit@concentric.net, Rochester Hills, Mich. 48306 > U.S.A. > > "...you've got that stunned Brian-Wilson-is-a-god look on your face!" > - Bruce Johnston, per _Endless Summer Quarterly_ >