Dear SJ: It's very important to mention the time period you are talking about. ??? The early records for NYC, for example, never give the parents names but they did, after awhile give the parents places of birth. It wasn't until much later that their names were actually on the form. It makes a big difference whether we are talking about 1940 or 1900 (or before). Again, in NYC, stillbirths are reported separately from regular births or deaths. Usually at the end of that year's roll. Since I don't know what time period we are talking about here I am going to assume you are referring to a NY STATE (for Nassau County) death or birth certificate after 1898, am I correct? One thing you may want to keep in mind is that the child might not have been named at birth. This was not uncommon, particularly if the child was weak and not suspected to live, or stillborn. It's a problem finding these records if all you have is a surname. But, for a burial permit to be issued to bury the child a stillbirth or death certificate would have been issued. Depending on the form though, the parents names may or may not have been entered on it. And, the age at death was usually the norm, not the date of birth. It wasn't until much later that actual birth dates were on the form. The standardization of such information came in bits and pieces over the years. You may have much better luck trying to locate baptismal records for those children who died very young. The parents names should be in those records! And, if they were Catholic, there may never have been a birth certificate registered at all (even well into the 20th C.), but there more than likely would have been a baptism. Now, the cemeteries are not concerned with anything but the name of the deceased, age, and the date of death and burial in most cases. Their record keeping is not required to include a genealogy on anyone, just the facts of the burial. And, of course, who owned the plot and paid for that burial. In other words, their business and the laws that they have to abide by just don't require them to keep such information. With that said, you can glean quite a bit from full interment lists that the cemetery may have on a particular plot. From it you can track down other vital records for siblings or other relatives buried in the same plot. For those who may have died much later than the child in question, the information on the dc form could include much more than for a prior time period. And, that could be your breakthrough if you can establish the kin connection. Whole family genealogy. Otherwise, the stillborn and infant death situation is one that takes extra work to nail down, if it can be done at all. The farther back you go, the harder it is. Infant mortality was so high in the 19th century, for instance, that a couple could have had a dozen or so children with only one or two surviving. I've found several infants of one couple scattered over three different cemeteries! They did what they had to do and they did what they could afford at the time. They did the best they could. I don't think that when they buried their children they thought that one day you and I would go looking for them! I don't mean to be flip about it, but if I try to put myself in their shoes... I see a different picture. I've also come to realize that none of these records were created with you or me in mind. They were not created for genealogy. They all had a different purpose in a different time. That we have what we have, and that we have them at all is the blessing (or the curse) of our obsession! It's our job to be creative and seek out all of the records we can to piece the puzzle together. You'll make yourself crazy if you struggle over why they did this or that on a record... :) They had their reasons and we weren't one of them. Best regards. Nancy. Nancy Coleman [email protected] Professional NYC & LI Research Services www.GenealogyPro.com/ncoleman.html [email protected] Coordinator, Nassau County GenExchange http://www.genexchange.org/county.cfm?state=ny&county=nassau List Administrator, LI-Rooters http://www.genexchange.org/MailListForm.cfm?cat=NY ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2002 7:25 PM Subject: [NYNAS ] JUST GOTTA KNOW - Why no Parent listed when Stillborn????? > This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. > > Surnames: Sweezy's -- stillborn - Where are their parents?? > Classification: Query > > Message Board URL: > > http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/lRB.2ACE/434 > > Message Board Post: > > Consistently I've found that when a child is stillborn or even a year or little less, there are no parents listed for the child at death at the cemetery. Why is that??? Often times, there is no date of birth for the children born alive but may have died soon after. Why is that??? I'm tired of trying to analyze the reasons why these children seemingly are forgotten in time. Lastly, if I were to request a death certificate on a child who HAS a name, will I actually be able to get parents listed on a death certificate? Would there be a death certificate for a stillborn?? Please, please, if anyone can help with this query, I'd be very grateful. > > > ==== NYNASSAU Mailing List ==== > For some online databases, search > www.usgenweb.org > www.familysearch.org > www.gencircles.com > www.rootsweb.com > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >