I would agree with Linda. My grandmother who is in her 70's has a delayed certificate of birth from Cherokee County, NC. I asked her about it, and from what I understand it was the exception rather than the rule to register a child's birth. Remember that this was and still is a very rural area where home birth was the norm even up until the 1940's when my father was born in Cherokee County. Additionally my great grandmother served as a mid-wife (1920's - 1940's), and my understanding is that it was the mid-wife's responsibility to report any births to the county courthouse. As such they only did this in batches since it was a several hour journey via horse and buggy. I hope this helps, Joan Duvall Linda Hoxit Raxter wrote: > Not everyone managed to get a delayed birth certificate. In fact, I > think most folks from the 19th century managed to get through life > without one. We just had a lady from our community die at age 103 > without a birth certificate. > > Most people never seem to have encountered a reason to get a birth > certificate. And more men tended to need them (to get Pension Plan > benefits). You might get lucky, but odds are against her getting one. > > Also consider that the information on the delayed birth certificate is > rather limited in comparison to a regular birth certificate and not > always accurate. It lists the parents and date and place of birth. There > are also three sources of proof which can be useful. But the birth date > & parents should also be listed on the death certificate which would be > easier to find. > > -- > Linda Hoxit Raxter > http://www.rootsquest.com/~alextree lraxter@citcom.net > Alexandra's Family Tree House - Western North Carolina Cemeteries > ALHN Transylvania County, NC - Transylvania Heritage Today > > Get Paid to Surf the Web! > http://www.alladvantage.com/go.asp?refid=HLE-312