Waynanc(a)aol.com wrote:
Below is a copy of the letter I recieved from Indianapolis when I wrote
questioning why people have such a hard time getting birth certificates for
St. Joseph County when doing research. If this is not what you were told when
you requested information let me know as I need to get back in touch with her
For what it's worth, when I requested birth certificates for my
husband's father and grandmother, I got back a photocopied notice saying
(in part) "We do not search for birth records for genealogy research,
only death records." I should note, I provided the exact dates of birth
for both. This was in March 1997; perhaps they've changed their policy
since then (if so I would like to know).
With respect to copies of birth "certificates," the county
follows the state
guidelines for providing certified copies of birth records. Under Indiana
Perhaps someone should let them know that genealogists generally don't
need certified copies, and in fact would prefer photocopies of the
original record -- particularly in St. Joseph Co. The death
certificates I got contain many errors, including a marked tendency to
mistake "n" for "u". That sort of thing doesn't matter that much,
but
it does make me question the accuracy of transcription, particularly
when it comes to information that doesn't agree with my other sources.
Thanks for your effort in this area; I'm sure we would all appreciate
access to these records. I should also say that the Dept. was very
helpful to me when it came to the death certificates, searching twice
for a woman who, it turned out, died in another state altogether.