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

You should be able to get your father's birth certificate from the state since they started recording in 1906. I'm not sure how they search for it. You should be hearing from them in 4 to 6 weeks from the time you sent your request. My dad was born 1910 in Butler, Butler Co., PA. However, I re-sent for his birth certificate because they didn't give me all the information I wanted from it. I wish they would copy the original instead of taking info they want from it. Hope this info helps a little bit. Bev in Calif. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles A. Callari, Jr." <ccallari@rochester.rr.com> To: <PABUTLER-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, April 07, 2003 2:34 PM Subject: [PABUTLER-L] Trouble finding Birth Certificate. > 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 > > > ==== PABUTLER Mailing List ==== > To contact Ed Book, List Maintainer, e-mail to: > pabutler@earthlink.net > To contact Ed Book, List Maintainer, e-mail to: > pabutler@earthlink.net >

Charles, You don't mention if they have responded to your request and what that response was. You would have to ask them exactly how they search. In 1917 birth records were kept by the state and are not in County courthouses. THere were some births that were not recorded and you may find someone like that in the Delayed Birth Records section at www.rootsweb.com/~pabutle2 Also, do you have any idea what church they attended? Pat