Birth Certificate Issues - funny story

[Climbergirl]

I thought that since birth certificates come up often here, you guys would enjoy this.

My grandmother is 87 years old. She was born at home (as most people were then . My mom is planning on taking her to Niagara Falls which you need a passport for (they are leaving in 3 weeks - my grandmother finally agreed). My mom asked for my g'ma birth cert and she says "I don't have one". Really. She does not have one. She has the family bible, which (funny enough), the county health department does not take anymore. My mom had to have the state do a search, and she really does not have a birth cert! What is funny is that there is a list of things you can use to prove your birth, one being census records. They have my grandmother's name listed backwards and the year of birth wrong!

How crazy is that? She gets Social Security, is on Medicare, has a Social Security card, driver's license, etc. But NO birth certificate!

My mom is now working very hard to find all sorts of documents so she can get my grandmother a passport. Sometimes, I really love the fun of my family

[Calleiah]

My grandmother was born at home too. They did file a birth certificate, but my grandmother had never seen it or had a copy till about 10 years ago... when she found out she'd been celebrating her birthday on the wrong day for 70 years! She's always celebrated March 2nd, her BC says March 3rd! She jokes she's old enough to deserve to celebrate both days.

[averlee]

My grandpa, who was born at home, had no birth certificate, either, and the local records office from the county had burned down in the 30s. Also, they were not sure what day he'd actually been born, because it was the middle of the night and the only clock was broken.

[Laggie]

That's awesome! Rebel Grandma!

Can she get an enhanced Driver's License instead? Or are you flying?

[laohaire]

Originally Posted by Calleiah

My grandmother was born at home too. They did file a birth certificate, but my grandmother had never seen it or had a copy till about 10 years ago... when she found out she'd been celebrating her birthday on the wrong day for 70 years! She's always celebrated March 2nd, her BC says March 3rd! She jokes she's old enough to deserve to celebrate both days.

Isn't it possible the BC is wrong?

My MIL celebrated my SIL's birthday on the wrong day for a few years until MIL's BFF pointed out the error. MIL realized BFF was right, she was thinking that she checked into the hospital on November 22 (evening) but SIL was born on November 23. Well, that's not a BC story, but anyway

[Ambystoma]

Originally Posted by Calleiah

My grandmother was born at home too. They did file a birth certificate, but my grandmother had never seen it or had a copy till about 10 years ago... when she found out she'd been celebrating her birthday on the wrong day for 70 years! She's always celebrated March 2nd, her BC says March 3rd! She jokes she's old enough to deserve to celebrate both days.

My great-grandfather found out about 2 years before he died that he and his brother's birthdays had been "switched" at some point by their mother. She had like 10 kids, though, and almost all boys born close together, so I guess it was hard to keep track??

[Climbergirl]

I just find this so interesting and funny

My grandfather was adopted (left in front of the hospital) and so his birth certificate noted he was adopted on x day. So, he used to make up all sorts of birthdays to suit his needs. The military has 2 different ones (reserves and army). The state had another. The county issues a driver's license to him when he was 12 and gave him the date that made him 16 (smooth talker back then - he drove himself to the county seat to get said driver's license).

It is a really fun to see how we have changed as a society in the past 100 years!

[caned & able]

My mom had a friend who did not want to register the birth of her home born son with the state because years ago, she was very much against military conscription. Later she realized that doing this would give her much grief in registering him for school, going to college, and later he may not be able to get a driver's license or passport, so she had to go to the state legislature to get his birth certificate.

She learned that if she had waited much longer, it would have taken an act of Congress to get him a birth certificate.

Or so she was told.

[Kidzaplenty]

Fun thread.

[russsk]

My mom had me fingerprinted when I was little, and the form lists the year of my birth as 1982. I was born (I think!) in 1981 and the fingerprinting took place in 1983. I sometimes give my mom a hard time about this, because she also changed my name when I was little, so who knows if I was SKC born in 1981 or LLO born in 1982???

[Belle]

My grandpa's brother was born at home. My great-grandma knew that his first and middle names were Carl and Howard but she couldn't remember which one was which officially. (They called him Howard) When he was trying to enlist in the Air Force they needed his legal name. So they tracked down an original copy of his birth certificate and his name was... "Baby Boy" So that was his name in the Air Force.

[Beltane]

I love all these stories!

[annethcz]

My grandfather was born at home and did not have a birth certificate until he went to enlist in the army (WWII). His father (my great grandpa) had to go with him and sign a document certifying who my grandpa was and when/where he was born.

[caned & able]

My grandmother needed someone to verify her existence when she signed up for social security. It involved her younger sister signing an affidavit attesting to their lifelong relationship as sisters.

[witchypants]

This thread is grand!

[HeatherB]

Love these stories!

A more recent one - my half-brother was born at home (at a point when I was pretty sure that was crazy - I was, after all, 7!). We all knew his birthday was the 19th, but, apparently, his birth certificate says otherwise! Now, so my sister tells me, he believes his birthday is really the day on the certificate, even though we've ALWAYS celebrated on the 19th. You would think his parents would know, and that a clerical error would be more likely! It's not like he's 95.

[MamaJenese]

Originally Posted by caned & able

My grandmother needed someone to verify her existence when she signed up for social security. It involved her younger sister signing an affidavit attesting to their lifelong relationship as sisters.

This exact thing happen to my mother when she wanted a paassport! Her sisters both swore affidavits.

[crabbyowl]

One of DH's good friends has two different years listed as his birth year on his birth certificate. In one place it says he was born on a certain date in 1976, and in another place it says he was born on the same date but in 1977. He's pretty sure he was born in 77, but his passport and visa say 76, so he's "officially" a year older than he probably actually is.