You say birth certificates begain in DC in 1874 ?? My mother's mother Margaret Agnes Murphy (according to her death certificate filed in baltimore, MD) was born on March 17, 1876 in Georgetown, DC... As a child I was told also that she was born in Georgetown.. When I got help from the DC archives (teh gentleman so many List members recommend we contact there to get real help and he was very helpful)..on trying to find a certificate for her bitth they were unable to find any such record .. No such person born that entire year and a year or so afterward. too. I have never been able to find a Murphy family there at that time period that exactly matches the first names of her and her two sisters I knw of.. and the possible first names for the father as given to me long ago by my now dead Uncle. Same goes for the first name of her fatehr given in her death certificate. The mother's name in that death certificate is so smeared we have no idea what it is.. The closes thing I can find to meeting the requirements is a family headed by a John Murphy living in 'Mechanicsville, Maryland' in the 1880 Census with 4 year old daughter Margaret A. born in DC and some siblings that could be her sisters... Turns out that Olney in Montgomery Co., MD was once known as Mechanicsville so I believe that is where thsi family was in the 1880 census. Her death certificate stated her father was one Thomas Murphy, while my Uncle had suggested he might be named either henry or William, and that he was a blacksmith in Georgetown.. I'm not sure which relative supplied the info for the death certificate as all her children have been dead now for many years.. The questions I now ask are these: 1. were birth certificates REQUIRED for every child born in DC as early as my grandmother's 1876 birth..?? Or were they just optional ?? or the birth might not be recorded on such if the child was born at home rather than in a Hospital back then ?? 2. When did Birth Certificates begin in Montgomery Co., Maryland ??? 3. back then in march of 1876 was Georgetown a part of DC ???Or was it instead part of Maryland ??? and if part of Maryland, then what Maryland County was it part of ??? Hoping someone might be willing and able to tell me the answers to the above..... Thanks.. 8-) Joe [email protected]