Hi Charles, I'm certain Butler County does not have births in 1917; only through 1905. I would resubmit my request to Butler County and use "Claytonia" as a place of birth or just say "Butler County". It's only about $4 and worth a try. I'll be anxious to hear what others say. Interesting, I never heard of Claytonia before. My father's given name is Clayton and he was born in Butler, Butler Co., PA, in 1910. The mid wife named him. He probably wasn't named for the place though. Bev in Calif. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles A. Callari, Jr." <ccallari@rochester.rr.com> To: <PABUTLER-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2003 9:34 PM Subject: [PABUTLER-L] Trouble Finding Birth Certificate > In a previous communication, I had the following questions: > > "A couple of weeks ago, I sent a request to the PA office of Vital > Statistics > for the birth certificate of my father. I know he was born on 2/26/1917 and > I thought it was in Butler, Butler County. > > My question: if on the form I listed him as being born in Butler, do they > (The PA Vital Statistics folks) look just at that county when searching, or > do they do a global search for anyone with that name/date born in the whole > state of PA? > > Additional question: Do birth records for the 1917 time period exist at the > county level? > > Thanks for any help/advice you can give me with this minor problem. > > Charles Callari" > > ______________________________ > Several people responded with some helpful suggestions, and a couple of > additional questions which I will attempt to answer: > > 1. The PA Dept of Health did respond to my request with a form letter > indicating "No-Record Certification" which means they have no original > record of this birth as being registered. > > Comment: It's entirely possible his surname was misspelled, which means I > should re-submit the request with an alternate spelling. > > 2. As far as what church they attended: I'm assuming it was St. Michael > the Archangel Roman Catholic Church in Butler. Several years ago I made a > field trip to Butler and visited the church, where I was able to obtain his > baptismal record. He was baptized approximately 2 months after birth. They > were extremely helpful there, and led me to several other of his siblings' > records. > > The only other hint I might have is on my grandfather's "Declaration of > Intention" to become a US Citizen, which he filed in the late 1930's. > There, he said that three of his children (including my father) were born in > "Claytonia", which of course, is in the state of PA, and should have been > picked up by the PA Vital records folks (I think). > > Again, thanks for your suggestions and help - I really do appreciate it. > > Charles Callari > > > ==== PABUTLER Mailing List ==== > To contact Ed Book, List Maintainer, e-mail to: > pabutler@earthlink.net >