I received a phone call today from an official of the vital records section of the NYS Health Dept. He had a discussion with the Yonkers registrar and confirmed what I had earlier said to the list. She was requiring indentification in instances when none was needed. On the back of the form for ordering certificates, the rules are stated. I discussed these with the official a few weeks ago after the Yonkers registrar sent me the form from which she had quoted me the rules over the telephone. They are easy to misinterpret, and I believed the registrar was doing that. Some of you have noted that the ID requirement (like a driver's license) was new, so something must have changed in that office. The registrar of Yonkers has not held that position long. So here is where things stand, as told to me today. Genealogy certificates in Yonkers will NOT require any proof of identification from the person requesting the records. Genealogy certificates are as follows: Birth certificates issued more than 75 years ago. Marriage certificates issued more than 50 years ago. Death certificates issued more than 50 years ago. ID can be required for more recent certificates, but it is not necessary to do so. Yonkers can make that decision. My understanding, though I'm a bit uncertain, is that more recent birth and marriage certificates can be sometimes be obtained statewide for Genealogy, but only if the person is dead and proof is supplied to the vital records office. You may also have to be a descendant, but I'm not certain of that. The information was coming faster than I could record notes. Cliff

Cliff, You are the best! Taking on the system and actually getting a favorable response is quite the accomplishment. Now I hope that it does some good and that Yonkers follows the official instructions or if they still "have it their way." Good job. Dick Hillenbrand On 4/23/07, Cliff Lamere <clifflamere@nycap.rr.com> wrote: > > I received a phone call today from an official of the vital records > section of the NYS Health Dept. He had a discussion with the Yonkers > registrar and confirmed what I had earlier said to the list. She was > requiring indentification in instances when none was needed. > > On the back of the form for ordering certificates, the rules are > stated. I discussed these with the official a few weeks ago after the > Yonkers registrar sent me the form from which she had quoted me the > rules over the telephone. They are easy to misinterpret, and I believed > the registrar was doing that. > > Some of you have noted that the ID requirement (like a driver's license) > was new, so something must have changed in that office. The registrar > of Yonkers has not held that position long. > > So here is where things stand, as told to me today. > > Genealogy certificates in Yonkers will NOT require any proof of > identification from the person requesting the records. > > Genealogy certificates are as follows: > Birth certificates issued more than 75 years ago. > Marriage certificates issued more than 50 years ago. > Death certificates issued more than 50 years ago. > > ID can be required for more recent certificates, but it is not necessary > to do so. Yonkers can make that decision. > > My understanding, though I'm a bit uncertain, is that more recent birth > and marriage certificates can be sometimes be obtained statewide for > Genealogy, but only if the person is dead and proof is supplied to the > vital records office. You may also have to be a descendant, but I'm not > certain of that. The information was coming faster than I could record > notes. > > Cliff > > > > *************************************** > 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 > -- Dick Hillenbrand - (Please visit any of my websites below...) Upstate New York Genealogy website: http://www.unyg.com blog (NYS) http://ny-genes.blogspot.com/ blog (not NYS) http://genemisc.blogspot.com/ member: Association of Professional Genealogists (APG)