This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/hFB.2ACE/1721.1 Message Board Post: The info on the certificate comes from ledger books - so what you got is what is in the book. Back in 1885, there were few, if any, standards as to what information would have been entered. I have never seen one (and have been through Ingham County's books looking for my ancestors) that gave more than parents' names and township they lived in. I suppose for a very recent immigrant to the area, they might say where they were from. Marriage records from then were not much better, though those give ages. Your next option is to look for church records - baptism, etc. A death certificate, being more recent, might be helpful, although the information on that comes from whoever reported - often a relative - and is only as accurate as they knew or were willing to tell. Also, newspapers of the time and place - the State Library in Lansing has a lot on microfilm. Look for wills of relatives that might mention your great-grandmother. That is what makes genealogy so frustrating - and interesting. You have to piece it together.