Since people weren't required by law to report births and deaths before 1907 many did not. I've encountered entries where mom and dad were apparently in town one day and decided to register 8 or 10 at once. It's logical that other families decided it wasn't worth the effort. Also, I've noticed that my Catholic relatives (who immigrated from non-Catholic countries) were much slower to register births and deaths -- I'm not sure why. Also, if there was no property to transfer or pension to apply for, registering a death might not seem as important. OR, as I firmly believe, those relatives knew someone would be looking and decided to play hide-and-seek. Monica Odani