NYC Birth certificate

Poipu04 · Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 3:17 pm Post subject: NYC Birth certificate

Can someone tell me what information would be on a turn of the century birth certificate? I just saw that IGG updated their database and I found my great-aunt, so I am hoping to learn more about the family and my elusive GGF. The certificate is from 1908.

charliemis · Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 10:17 pm Post subject: Re: NYC Birth certificate

My Mom was born in upstate NY in 1911 ......it listed my Grandparents names, their country of Origin and my GF and GM's occupation plus their address.

Poipu04 · Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 11:04 am Post subject: Re: NYC Birth certificate

Thanks, Charlie! I can't wait to get my hands on this because my great aunt was orphaned and did not now she had a birth certificate. The entire sibling group used baptism certifcates as their identity documents.

Poipu04 · Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 10:54 am Post subject: Re: NYC Birth certificate

Charlie, do you know if the parents had to sign the birth certificate in this era? I just sent away for it (procrastination) and sure would love to see if my ggm signed it. I have a mystery with his marriage certificate signature for his first marriage being very different from his signature on a second marriage certificate.

charliemis · Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 8:43 am Post subject: Re: NYC Birth certificate

....there are signatures only by the doctor and the registrar...not parents.

It lists the city and address; sex; if multiple births (twins, triplets); Legitimate (Y/N), actual DOB of child, Father's name, Mother's Name [maiden], address (repeated for each parent), Color or race, age, birthplace of each parent, occupation of each parent, number of children (total number of children, total number of living children)

Poipu04 · Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 11:21 pm Post subject: Re: NYC Birth certificate

Thanks, Charile! It will still be interesting to see even if there is not the father's signature. At least I will get what their address was in 1908. That may be helpful in locating them in a census.

charliemis · Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 12:03 am Post subject: Re: NYC Birth certificate

I went to upstate NY a few years back to see the area where my Mom's family settled after coming to the US from Italy and where my Mom was born. Her brothers were born in the hamlet of Greigsville, Town of York (next to Retsof which had the salt mine where my GGF, GF and his brothers and some other relatives all worked); it was basically an intersection with a "blinking traffic signal" and not too much more. The "company owned" town of Retsof had long been disassembled (it had a big section called Little Italy as most the mine workers were Italian immigrants) and NOTHING was left standing --- only a couple foundations that were overgrown by weeds. There were about 10 regular houses on the single street that still is called Retsof; even the old company church had been replaced by a more modern church. The Town Hall was down the road in another small village (one real traffic signal)......all-in-all, not too much to see. I was lucky in that someone had written a book and I was able to obtain a copy of it from the original printing company as it was no longer being published...just one run.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...,_New_York

We drove about 30 minutes south to Hornell (aka Hornellsville) where my Mom was born and found that her street was gone and had become part of a city park since the area must have been a "run down" part of town.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...,_New_York

Lastly I had the family address in Lower Manhattan, NYC where they moved after the death of my Grandfather....that street and all the tenement buildings were demolished and became part of the Alfred E. Smith Housing Project built in the late 50s. To cap it off, I was finally able to locate the NY State Census of 1915 to find that their building was skipped over (I had docs with their correct address) so I couldn't find them in any Census [1910 Federal or 1915 State] while they lived in New York.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...nhattan%29

They did appear in later census reports after they moved to Pennsylvania.

Poipu04 · Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 2:07 pm Post subject: Re: NYC Birth certificate

I did already visit one address where my ggm died, which was the corner of Kenmare and Mott in NYC. I think there is a pretty good chance that the building that is standing was there at the turn of the century, although now it is a Chinese market. LOL. I looked up NYC building records online and although certain years were lost in a fire, the range of years for that particular building were correct. In any event, the buildings across the street were definitely of the right time period, so at least I know what their view looked like!

charliemis · Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 4:25 pm Post subject: Re: NYC Birth certificate

I actually purchased a copy of the picture of the tenement where my Mom and her family lived on Roosevelt St. from the NYC tax department....they used the pictures for tax assessment............it cost $35.....at least I was able to see it that way.

I had posted a link to their website about 1 year ago.

Poipu04 · Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 12:40 pm Post subject: Re: NYC Birth certificate

Oh, yes, I am familiar with that service. I think that may be how I determined the approximate age of the building that is still standing there. I also think I may have look at some real estate appraisal sites that provided an approximate age of the builing. However, another address on Houston St. has long been razed Sad

charliemis · Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 2:32 pm Post subject: Re: NYC Birth certificate

The building in the picture I purchased was demolished in the late 50s or early 60s......they have been taking the pictures for a long time.