Last year I wanted to go to an event in Canada, which now requires a passport, so I hauled out my Bureau of Vital Statistics white-on-black photostat of my birth certificate. Though it got me into school and other things that required identification (including DAR and UDC), I was told that this form of proof would not be accepted, that I had to have a "standard" birth certificate issued by the Commonwealth of Virginia. So, I drove to Richmond (a hundred miles each way), paid the $12 fee, received my "official" paper, and filed for my passport. Still, I was refused without more "proof" of my birth. Seems that the birth certificate from the state didn't count because... having been born at home and delivered by a family friend who was a doctor... I was not registered with the folks in Richmond until five years after my birth... in other words, when I was about to start school. Wasn't needed until then, was it? Thus, as the census record on which I will appear hasn't been released yet, and there was no family member living from the generation previous to mine, I had to get my older brothers (aged 12 and 9 at the time of my birth) to sign affidavits before notary publics, and get my school records from my hometown to prove my existence. Shucks, I thought I was real all along! Carolyn -- Carolyn HALE BRUCE Virginia Beach, VA To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html