Bill: Thank you for this explanation. I found it very helpful, and also very interesting as I am a nurse. Great input! Kim Ewers ----- Original Message ----- From: <Texasdog@aol.com> To: <TXERATH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 11:16 AM Subject: Re: [ERATH] Funeral records or funeral homes > Debby, > There were 81 grandchildren and my grandmother died near Afton > in 1925 and one of my cousins got her old doctor's book. To give you an > idea of the informality of birth records in the early 1900s, my grandmother > would keep "births" like in a format that reminded me of how we might > keep scores of "domino games" today. About once a month or every six > weeks, she might travel to Dickens and record the births. This was > recorded on a large sheet of paper that would be lined with rows and > columns. She might have delivered six or eight children during this > period and she would write down the parents, the date, maybe the community, > and if it was a boy or girl or if there were twins. This would > have been during the 1910s or so when she was in her 60s. She might > miss the date by a few or several days, too. For example, she might have > travelled from home for several days spending the night with "blue babys" > or what have you.....and I gather these birth records would have all the > degree of accuracy that a truck driver's expense account and log book > would have today. In other words, paper work was considered a triviality > in that the health of the patients came first and the "birth log" would often > be from "memory" weeks after the fact. I know of at least one occasion > where the "birth log" listed the wrong gender of the baby. Death records > in the rural area might be the in the same manner but up from 1903 until > 1927 when the state took the responsibility from local counties, probably > only 65 to 75% of the births were recorded in the best of years. Death > records were not automatic as they are today. > > > Bill McCarty Odessa, Texas > > http://members.tripod.com/cindyradway/Erath/erath.html > http://members.aol.com/texastag/mccarty.html > > > ==== TXERATH Mailing List ==== > --- Author Retains Copyright --- > -- Copyright 1999 Author -- All Rights Reserved > Post to List: TXERATH-L@rootsweb.com http://www.selfroots.com > Unsubscribe request To: TXERATH-L-request@rootsweb.com >