List members seem surprised that NYC has civil birth records prior to the certificate format circa 1864. As a matter of fact, one-line midwife ledger entries for births begin about 1846. An index exists for these early births. Today, I researched an 1861 birth of a HAMILL child at the NYC Municipal Archives. The descendant found an indication of this birth via a search at Family Search.org. Take a look at the kinds of details that may be extracted from a NYC Birth Index search from 1861. Did you notice that three of the seven births exclude a father's name? Notice too that in seven births there are five surname spellings variations! I have seen some that include the mother's maiden name. I've also found more births of Irish-Catholics than I'd imagined since birth reporting was not required then. One note of interest: This data came from an unusually clear microfiche. Most are not this easy to read, and, most films have missing months. But, it's great to know this is a viable resource that may have a happy ending. 1861 MANHATTAN BIRTH INDEX (microfiche order) 1) HAMEL, Louisa, female born 19 April 1861; Volume 8, page 172 Born: 71 Pearl Street; parents= John & Julia 2) HAMIL, female born 16 August 1861; Volume 8, page 178 Born: Wards Island; parents: father = blank, & Catherine 3) HAMIL, Thomas, male born 20 July 1861; Volume 8, page 177 Born: Bellevue Hospital ; parents = Thomas & May 4) HAMIL, female born 31 March 1861; Volume 8, page 171 Born: 319 West 36th St.; parents = Patrick & Catherine 5) HAMMEL, Mary, female born 7 June 1861; Volume 8, page 15 Born: 91 Delancy St.; parents = John & Elizabeth 6) HAMMILL, female born 25 March 1861; Volume 8, page 171 Born: 123 East 11th St.; parents: father = blank & Jan 7) HAMMELL female born 15 March 1861; Volume 8, page 170 Born: Wards Island; parents: father = blank & Rachael Barb MizScarlettNY@aol.com