........and let's not forget all those poor souls who needed proof of age to collect their Social Security retirement in the 1940s and 1950s and had no birth certificate...... nor baptismal certificate because the church had burned down or some such. Those army discharge papers were a godsend particularly in cases where the recipient had filed them locally with the town/city clerk. Maureen ----- Original Message ----- From: <GrlsWthGuitars@aol.com> To: <nywestch@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, March 30, 2007 1:46 AM Subject: Re: [NYWESTCH] marriage license > > > I don't think there would have been a requirement since there wasn't > really > a requirement that people have birth certificates until after 1900. From > what I can tell, few states required them prior to about 1905 and even > then they > don't seem to be reliably found until around 1915. I have several > marriage > certificates from the late 1890's that have incorrect information for a > mother's maiden name. > Oh, and I just remembered. My grandparents were married in Port Chester > in > 1921. My grandfather, born in 1898 didn't have a birth certificate and > in > later years always used his army discharge papers from WWI as proof of > his age. > Not only are there errors about where his parents were born, but he had > been > married before and they accepted his statement that he hadn't seen his > 1st > wife in over 9 years but had never officially been divorced and granted > the > marriage license. > > During WW2 my other grandfather, who also didn't have a birth certificate > and didn't have the benefit of military service, had to get a delayed > birth > certificate. He had to submitt a certified copy of his baptismal record, > a > record from when he started school, and a sworn statement by his oldest > sister > who was present at his birth. This was in 1942 when he went to work at a > defense plant. So that means that when he got married in 1919 he didn't > have a > birth certificate. And this was in Wisconsin, which was one of the first > states to require civil registration beginning in 1904 (or was it 1907?). > > When I started down this wonderful road of family research, I was > cautioned > that the only information that could be relyed on on a document was the > information relating to that specific event. All other information should > be > considered suspect until verified by a second source. > > > Kathi > IBSSG > New York - Thompson/Crane/Bramm/Fleischer > Wisconsin - Meissner/Steng/Diem/Zeininger > > > > > > In a message dated 3/29/2007 11:32:13 AM Pacific Daylight Time, > joygrl_203@yahoo.com writes: > > Does anyone know if it was a requirement to show a birth certificate when > you applied for a marriage license in the early 1900's? I am trying to > figure > out if the parents names provided was guess work or came directly from > their > birth certificate. > > Thanks, > Joy > > Joy McMillan <joygrl_203@yahoo.com> wrote: > It would be great to get this issue settled. My mother and I have had > nothing but returned checks and the run around from Yonkers. Thanks for > taking an > interest. > > > > > > > > > ************************************** See what's free at > http://www.aol.com. > *************************************** > Have you checked out the Westchester County GenWeb site yet? > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nywestch/ > *************************************** > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NYWESTCH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message