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