Yes, this is exactly what I meant when I responded to the original post a couple of days ago. Also, the questioner's person turned out to be around 1870 for the birth and death. The earlier you go, the fewer the birth records. Elizabeth On 4/21/2015 6:23 PM, [email protected] wrote: > I wonder if the birth record for that child was recorded BECAUSE s/he only > lived for a day? Recording deaths was taken much more seriously than births > for some time, and if you're already filling out certificates, maybe you > just do both because of the opportunity? Or perhaps this was the time > period when births were supposed to be recorded but weren't always, and the > parents would have had to file a birth certificate when filing the death > certificate to avoid a citation or fine?