Hi, In earlier times people were so busy just staying alive they did not need to know their birth date They probably never celebrated it. My husband grew up in the NC hills and he said that he never even had a birthday cake- they could not afford the store bought supplies. Presents were not a big thing even for Christmas. My grandfather tells of what they had at Christmas. They did hang a stocking. If they were lucky they had a store bought Orange. His mom spun yard and knitted them cuffs to wear in the cold Wisconsin winters. He was glad to get them. He had older siblings that would make things such as a corn husk doll or a wooden boat to put in the stockings. We think in terms of what things are like now. We all go to school now and had to be a certain age when we entered school. We pull out our I D card with our birthdate on it all the time. Just having a bank account or credit cared requires a birthday (and SS #). Also consider when you have two dates whether one might be a birthdate and the other one a baptism date. Most baptisms were done shortly after birth but not always. I have ancestors who were baptised only when it was needed for some reason and it was many years later. Even as late as the 1930s some children were born at home. No one was taking down birthdates. It wasn't until they needed a birth record for some reason that they got a delayed birth certificate. but those did not exist in eary times. Bible records written at the time of birth and baptisms are probably your best bet in the early years of this country. Even if he was an orphan it probably did not happen at his birth. Records just were not kept. Velma