Since I was instrumental in revamping the rules for First Families of Lorain County this last year, I will insert my input here. There is no mention of having to have CERTIFIED copies of any legal documents. You just need copies of the legal documents to join First Families of Lorain County. A Census record should include the date of the census and the township/city of said census along with the names in question. Remember, women were not included in the census forms until the year of 1850. Proving women in the county is often more difficult because of this prior to 1850. There have been instances of pictures of tombstones along with the name of the cemetery where buried being accepted as proof. I'm sure that our chairman, Nick Melhinch, would agree with this. Margaret Cheney