Verifying the Vitals

I have had three big holes in my family tree for some time. Two of which were on my paternal line and they were hard to miss: my paternal grandparents. The third, my maternal grandfather’s maternal line. I have never been in contact with my birth father or his family. And was never all that curious about them until a few months ago when I came across my moms high school year books, which I had seen many times in the past. I happened to see a dedication to him from his mother and her then current husband. That little three line message sparked an urge to find out who I come from. As funny as it seems, I have always felt that I came from my maternal line without any further input. There was never a sense of being incomplete (nor is there a sense of that now), just a strong curiosity. So I set off with the most basic information: My birth fathers name, his birth date, his mothers first name and a vague idea that my grandfathers name could be Max.

As you can see, not much to go on. I googled hundreds of variations to no avail. I checked city directories but came up with little that I could be certain of. Not helping matters was that my paternal line has a very common surname. Then I checked checked http://www.intelius.com and did a basic people search. The search returned a list of several hundred people, a few though were in the right areas and I ordered a basic report for a few dollars that gave the basic information for the individuals. From this information I gained my paternal grandmothers first and middle names and a birth year. I plugged this information into ancestry.com and got a public records hit that gave me a birth date and information that led me to believe that she was no longer married. Then I hit a dead end. I didn’t have her maiden name. I didn’t have my grandfathers first name.

Then the moment of clarity hit me and I realized that I needed to obtain the most basic document that I should have went for first. Vital records! Amazing that I have a fairly routine procedure when I start research on a new person, but completely ignored it with my paternal line. I figured that obtaining my fathers birth certificate would be a walk in the park. I headed to the local health department (in Tennessee, local health departments can provide computer printouts of state births). Unfortunately the lady behind the counter said that she could be of no help since I didn’t have my grandfathers name or my grandmother’s maiden name (apparently a search of a name and birth date with one parents first and middle name and a second parents middle name isn’t an option). And furthermore, the information that I was looking for could only be found on e long form birth certificate that must be ordered through Nashville and they too would only be able to help if I could track down my missing information.

Back to square one. I have my fathers birthdate and name, my grandmothers first and middle names and a part of my grandfathers name. My next shot at finding the information that I needed was to find a birth announcement for my father. I emailed the library in the area and received a quick response that there were two people with my fathers name born on that day and both announcements were along the lines of “Born to Mr. And Mrs. So and so, a baby boy named…” This did give me two possibilities for my grandfathers first name.

Feeling lucky, I mailed off a form and a hefty sum to the state department of vital records. A month and a half later, having practically forgotten about placing the order I received an envelope in the mail. To my surprise, I had picked the right birth announcement to pursue. I had in my hand my fathers birth certificate… my grandparents names and birth dates .. number of aunts and uncles that I had at the time of his birth. Within an hour I had used census records to trace my paternal paternal line back several generations. A few months later I have the line throughly researched and documented.

Now for the problem. My paternal grandmother was born after the 1930 census. I requested her birth certificate but was denied for not being her child. I’ve search high and low and emailed dozens of possible cousins with no luck. This has become my existential brick wall that no amount of resourcefulness was breaking down. Then I happened upon the rewets of verification of birth facts request form on the states department of vital records website. For fifteen bucks I can request a verification of any birth that has occurred in Tennessee and not just a simple, yes they were born on that date but a full written transcript of the birth record. So hopefully in a month I’ll have one less brick wall and a few more lines to research and document.

My other gap in my family tree, my maternal grandfather’s mother.. Well all I had to do was ask. Simple enough. Ten seconds of conversation and I had names and the state they were born in. The same could be said about the simplicity of asking the same questions of my paternal line, but sometimes genealogy is complicated. I hope someone is asking the questions though so that when I get around to it there will still be answers.

If you have had to get creative to find info on a living relative leave a comment.