Looking for records. The story has it that my grandmother was born

[LuckyLib]

in Grand Rapids, MI. But no birth records, nor are there any Catholic church records to report that. She was born in the 1890's -- good chance she was born at home and it was never recorded? Any ideas?

[CBHagman]

1. It depends on the laws in the state.

For example, Pennsylvania, where my grandmother was born, did not officially keep birth records until 1906, if I recall correctly, and so it's hit or miss before that.

You haven't mentioned which specific resources you're using, whether Census, library, vital records office, baptismal registry, etc. Quite possibly you should get the very first Census entry available for your grandmother, make a note of the recorded age, names of parents, and your grandmother's birth year, and work backwards from that. It's not guaranteed, but sometimes unexpected information turns up. Don't be surprised at inaccuracies or new revelations.

It can be a challenge to find baptismal records from way back, but it's not impossible. Do you have your grandmother's exact birthdate? Catholic children were traditionally baptized immediately, so once you have the date, you can at least give that to the holder of the records. Again, it can be hit or miss.

Family Tree magazine does state research guides. You can check to see if there's anything for Michigan.

If I think of any particular Web addresses, I'll pass them on.

Good luck.

[LuckyLib]

3. Thanks. I'm picking up where my Dad left off on this, and have to review his records in depth.

[CBHagman]

2. Web addresses for Michigan resources.

I haven't gone through and tested these personally, but they're something to play with.


Rootsweb listing for Michigan:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~migenweb/

Vital records:

http://www.vitalrec.com/mi.html

http://www.daddezio.com/records/room/RR-MI-NDX.html

http://genealogy.about.com/library/vital/blmichigan.htm

Catholic links:

http://home.att.net/~Local_Catholic/CatholicUS-DetroitMI.htm

Family Tree magazine's state guide to Michigan appeared in the October 2005 issue. You can check the library or order a copy of the magazine.

http://www.familytreemagazine.com/magazine_oct05.asp

Good luck!

[LuckyLib]

4. Thanks again. I'm picking up this branch of family research, after

doing a bit a few years ago. Can you recommend books or websites particularly helpful with geneaology research? I've used Ancestry, found some great census information on another branch of the family. Also found Ellis Island data had some records. But don't know where to go from there.

[CBHagman]

5. Here are my top recommendations -- and I'm no expert.

First, let me explain that my main research goal in the past six years has been to learn about my paternal grandmother's family, and when I started I had two photographs of her from different eras and a prayer card from her funeral mass. That's it -- no documentation at all -- though I did have some anecdotal information about my grandmother's hometown, ethnicity, family, and career.

But the card had the exact date of death, which proved to be the crucial item in jump-starting my search. I wrote to the appropriate state to request a death certificate, and that opened the floodgates, for there on the document was much of the missing information: her birth date, her birth name (somewhat different from the name we all knew her by), the first and last names of both her parents. The document also confirmed the name of her hometown, so my next step was to shift the focus of my research to that town and county.

All of that came to me thanks to the card from her funeral mass.

So the point of all this is...

1. Get as many actual vital records as you can. This is going to mean sending written requests, likely through snail mail. Privacy laws vary, so be prepared to submit a copy of your identification and some sort of statement that you are a blood relative. One of the most complicated procedures I faced was getting my own father's birth certificate.

Vital records can contain errors (e.g., the wrong age, a misspelled surname), and sometimes information is omitted. But there is absolutely no substitute for them. You cannot reconstruct your relatives' lives by online work alone.

You can look up instructions for requesting vital records and also print out application forms from the Web.

2. Trace your relatives through the Census. Not all years have been made public (I think we're up to 1930), but you can get started with what's there. Be prepared for mistranscriptions, misspellings, inaccuracies, etc.

See if your library allows access to HeritageQuest from your home computer (with library card and password, of course) or from the library itself. You'll be able to look up Census entries, though be warned that you might need to play around with spellings, locate people by identifying the head of the household, and so forth. My Hungarian great-grandfather, who was Istvan (Stephen) in the old country, was Steve in the Census and Stone in the transcription for HeritageQuest. :rofl: You run into problems like that with EllisIsland.org, too.

3. Trace your relatives through the city directories. These are available through local libraries, the Library of Congress research rooms, paid genealogy websites, and sometimes free at county genealogy websites.

4. Use genealogy magazines and books to find tips on untapped resources and what to do when you hit a brick wall. I don't subscribe to Family Tree magazine, but it's been a godsend in terms of getting me through research and providing ideas.

5. Form a relationship with the pertinent local genealogical society. For a fee you can get look-ups. Sometimes they also have research facilities, newsletters, and message boards.

6. Find other researchers and actual relatives on genealogy message boards (surnames, ethnicities, locales, etc.). I've found several cousins that way, and as you might expect, we help flesh out each other's records.

7. Newspapers are your friend. Which newspapers might have recorded family news or events? You can get a treasure trove of information in an obituary. Once you know a death date, find an archive, library, or genealogical society with access to the right newspapers and see if there's an obit to be found. From the obituary of my great-aunt, for instance, learned my great-great-grandmother's maiden name.

8. The genealogy website www.familysearch.org is extremely useful, since it has the Social Security death index and various other resources. It even has family trees (And you never know who else is working on your family tree). But always confirm the information through another source. As with HeritageQuest or EllisIsland.org, there are sometimes errors.

http://www.familysearch.org

9. Use state and county genealogy websites through Rootsweb and GenWeb.

http://www.usgenweb.org/

http://www.rootsweb.com/

I guess the whole point of this is that while the Web is a good servant in the genealogy quest, there's no way around the fact that you are going to need official documents, plus input from other family members and/or researchers. But the simplest things can lead to an official document.

Good luck. I hope you find out everything you wanted to know.

[CBHagman]

6. And one more thing.

The author of the following piece has some key observations to make on the accuracy of vital records (and where to get them). I have indeed seen inaccurate reporting of ages (okay, lying), insertion of the wrong name (i.e., the informant's name substituted for the deceased's name), and even crossed-out names ("We're not going to name the baby THAT!").

She also has a couple of links for finding records.

http://dgmweb.net/genealogy/Ancillary/OnE/ReliabilityDeathCertTombstone.shtml

[catchnrelease]

7. That is so true

A good article on the pitfalls of death certs. When I first got the death certificate for my great grandfather I was really excited, as it contained the names of his parents and their birthplaces. What a coup!!! The mothers name was given as Katherine O'Neil born in Ireland. I can't tell you how much time I spent looking for information/record of this woman. Eventually by using the Fed. censuses I found the correct family in Iowa but the mother was listed as Mary. Well, I know that it's common in Catholic families to give Mary as the first name, but the person is known by their second name, so I'm thinking Mary Katherine.........nope. Come to finally find out that great-great grandma was NOT Katherine O'Neil, but Mary McMahon. (Confirmed that by getting the death certificate of the brother of my gr-grandfather which said mother was Mary McMahon) The informant on the original certificate was the hospital records, so now I wonder who the heck was Katherine? Was she a relative at all, or as this article states, maybe she was the person who filled out the paperwork, or a name from someone else's records that got written in by mistake. UGH, so much time wasted. Also, looking at my own grandmothers certificate, I see mistakes in information that were given by my mom, who didn't know the correct spellings of the names at the time, and therefore change the actual name. (Given as: O'Dwyer but should be O'Dower)

CB, your suggestions are great, thanks. I agree that much of what you have to do is by requesting records via postal mail and waiting........ And this past year I've had great luck by finding distant cousins via things like Roots-web and Ancestry family trees which helped fill in lots of gaps.

[CBHagman]

8. Thanks, catchandrelease.

I can empathize with your surprise name experience. In my family's case, there's a great-great-grandmother whose birthplace keeps shifting from document to document. The 1880 Census lists it as Ireland, another one lists it as England, and yet another as New Jersey. Her youngest daughter, my great aunt, apparently filled out the death certificate and lists said birthplace as New Jersey. Yet family lore suggests Great-Great-Grandma's family was from what is now Northern Ireland...but that there were also English-born relatives in that branch of the family tree. :banghead:

When in doubt, get another document!

[fudge stripe cookays]

9. Hmmmmm.....

according to this site, they were starting to register in Michigan in 1867. http://birth-certificates.net/michigan.htm So the ancestors did a no-no by not registering. But we all KNOW how well that worked!

Always remember to start at the top (state level), then work down to the county level. Have you checked the county level yet? Sometimes it works when the records were not registered by the state.

Here is my favorite little tool for finding counties:
http://resources.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/townco.cgi

Enter the city and state and it spits out your county. According to this, you have two possibles for Grand Rapids: Kent and Ontanagon.

Here is Kent's page:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~mikent/
And the Kent County clerk:
http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-17449_18635_20736-56602--,00.html

Here is Ontanagon:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~miontona/
Ontanagon County clerk:
http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-17449_18635_20736-56641--,00.html

Good luck!
fsc :hi:

[LuckyLib]

10. Much appreciated, fsc! I'm really new to this, and have to squeeze it in in my working Mom spare

time. Every bit of information helps.

[fudge stripe cookays]

11. No worries!

I hope it helps!

I was lucky enough to have a cousin who is a certified genealogist to help me along as I got more confident and wanted to start looking this stuff up. It always helps to have a mentor when you're doing this stuff, and I remember being a newbie!

I've got it down to science now. PM me if you have any questions.

:hi: fsc

[vanboggie]

12. Kent County has great resources

Fudge Stripe Cookays has given you a great site with http://www.rootsweb.com/~mikent /

I think most were home births back then, so your grandmother's birth should have been recorded in the census of that time period. I'm from the area and the Kent County site has very complete resources and a great group of very helpful genealogists. You should be able to get some answers there. There should be Catholic church records. I, too, have limited time, but PM if I can be of any help. I know my way around the local online resources at least!