This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: lhillman Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.newyork.counties.kings/16364.1.1.1.1.4.2.1.1.2/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Well...this is an interesting thread! A couple of comments... I have a 1890/Manhattan birth certificate for twins. It is one piece of paper with TWO, consecutive certificate numbers and the names of both children, a boy and a girl. For what it's worth, both children are indexed on the NYC and Family Search sites. I also have a WI birth certificate for a female child with the name of Louis (not Louise) who was baptised Maria Carolina Wilhemine. (The parents names and birthdate on both documents are the same and the birth certificate gives the right address for the family.) I have no idea how that got so mixed up other than to assume that the parents changed their minds about the name and/or the midwife made something up. I had desperately hoped that this was a case of twins as it would finally locate the couple's 'missing' child who is known to be a boy, but no such luck! As an aside, your comment about these indexes not being complete may be somewhat misleading to new researchers so if I may add on to it...the index can only list the documents that were filed with the city. If a birth certificate was never made, and in this time frame MANY weren't, the document won't be found because it doesn't exist. We must be careful to not apply modern standards to hundred-year old activities. And that circles back to the point made by earlier posters - baptism and birth are two separate events, not usually ocurring on the same day. It is entirely possible that the Iaccarinnos were visiting friends and family in Brooklyn and little Moses popped out unexpectedly. Back to the main story...the plot thickens! I looked at the 1900 census entry for Salvatore and Lucia, enumerated in Hoboken as Jeccorina, Salvitor and Lucy. (I assume that this your family.) Lucy is noted as being the mother of 6 children, all of whom are living and enumerated with her: Annie - b. October 1888 Katie - b. March 1890 Gabriel - b. October 1891 Mary - b. July 1894 Louise - b. May 1897 Christine - b. November 1899 Do you see the problem? There is marginally enough time to have had a baby in October 1893 and then again in July 1894. It means that Lucy would have had to have gotten pregnant nearly immediately after the birth of the twins and and then delivered Mary prematurely. Certainly, this a a possibility - a full term pregnancy is considered to last, on average, 270 days. Assuming that Mary was born on July 31, 301 days elapsed between her birth and that of the presumed twins. But obviously, as we move earlier into July that window narrows and so one has to also question the probability of such events. This being said, while you are waiting on the Municipal Archives to find your certificate, I would also go back to the church that holds the baptismal certificate and ask if they have a record of the (presumed) twin's birth/death. I'd also ask for (if you don't already have them) baptismal certificates for the other children as well as the death record for Moses. Be sure to ask for all indentifying information including baptismal date, parents occupations and address, baptismal sponsors, and in the case of Moses, the cemetery name. The point is to compare information and make sure that - hard as it is to believe - there are not TWO Salvatore Iaccarrino and Lucia Ruggerios. It happens more often than you think, particularly if the names in question are common to the ethnicity of the family. Finally, PLEASE post back when you have the information. I'm very curious to hear the end of this story! Lynn Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.