In a message dated 7/23/2005 11:20:16 PM Eastern Standard Time, phyllis@shelbycountyindiana.org writes: Oliver Wells, 1906 44th birthday http://www.rootsweb.com/~inshelby/newspaper/news_wells.htm How much clout would this carry as a record of a birth date? When my grandmother went to get her birth certificate in order to get a passport (around 1970) she discovered the records had been lost in a fire. She had to fill out an affadavit stating that to the best of her knowledge she was born in 1898 or 99 and the only proof she had that this was even close was her high school graduation date. The state accepted it and issued her a birth certificate. I suppose they might have consulted census records if necessary, but they didn't. Or even baptismal records, but they didn't do that either. If it's good enough for the government........... Jill