Pat Crimmel wrote: > I am looking for birth information on 5 Smith children born between 1867 > and 1874. David Smith and his wife Prothesa Pettman Smith traveled from > England arriving in White Bear Lake between late 1866 and early 1867. > While living in or around White Bear they had five children. I'm looking > for birth information on these children. I'm new to this site and wonder > if someone can tell me where to start looking. I have noticed that part > of White Bear is in Washington County. I do not know which county this > family was living in at the time of the birth of the children. > The first MN law requiring the civil recording of birth info was passed in 1870. It was done at the lowest level of government -- villages and townships. When state-wide recording became mandatory in 1911, with a copy to be sent to the State Dept of Health, adherence was much better. Of course, religious organizations kept their own records even earlier, as did some of the governmental organizations. So -- there are a couple of places to check. First glean what you can from the federal and state census records for that area. You have at least 1870, 1875, 1880, 1885, 1895, 1900, 1905, 1910, 1920 and 1930, assuming that the children lived that long. Armed with the name of the governmental body in which they lived, you'll be able to search for White Bear township or White Bear village or ??? to see if records still exist. Early records for Ramsey county have been microfilmed by the Gen. Soc. of Utah, and are available through the Family History Libraries. Also, start hunting for the church they attended and search for baptismal records. Head for the MN HIstorical Society site <www.mnhs.org/>, where there is a free index to birth and death records. Both of these are from the State Department of Health, so you find a birth record from the 1860s and 1870s there, but sometimes birth information appears on death records and if they stayed in the state and had children, you may be able to get that info too. There is also a historical society in White Bear, link to historical organizations through the MHS site. They might be able to help you out as well. Lots of places to look! Mary Bakeman Listmom, Ramsey MnGenWeb Park Genealogical Books http://www.parkbooks.com/ > Thank you > Pat Crimmel > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >