Philadelphia birth records?

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Rich Heimlich

Philadelphia birth records?

Legg inn av Rich Heimlich » 31 jan 2005 02:40:32

Is anyone fully familiar with the process of getting birth records for
genealogy purposes from PA for Philadelphia circa 1880's?

I've read and heard that it's a nightmare but I have two family
members born in Philly that I really could use birth certificates for.
One was born about 1886 and the other around 1888.

What's the process and potentially the best way to get this rolling?
One of these is really screwing up my data at this point.

Jeanne Connell

Re: Philadelphia birth records?

Legg inn av Jeanne Connell » 31 jan 2005 14:55:10

On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 20:40:32 -0500, Rich Heimlich
<agrajag@comcast.net> wrote:

Is anyone fully familiar with the process of getting birth records for
genealogy purposes from PA for Philadelphia circa 1880's?

I've read and heard that it's a nightmare but I have two family
members born in Philly that I really could use birth certificates for.
One was born about 1886 and the other around 1888.

What's the process and potentially the best way to get this rolling?
One of these is really screwing up my data at this point.


The website for the Philadelphia Archives is
http://www.phila.gov/phils/carchive.htm

For a birth certificate for that early that's where you would contact.
But be aware that some people didn't have birth certificates at that
time. My father was born in Phila in 1903, was born at home and never
had a birth certificate. I have dealt with the archives for death
certificates with pretty good luck.

Jeanne

Rich Heimlich

Re: Philadelphia birth records?

Legg inn av Rich Heimlich » 04 feb 2005 05:39:03

The website for the Philadelphia Archives is
http://www.phila.gov/phils/carchive.htm

For a birth certificate for that early that's where you would contact.
But be aware that some people didn't have birth certificates at that
time. My father was born in Phila in 1903, was born at home and never
had a birth certificate. I have dealt with the archives for death
certificates with pretty good luck.

Thanks for this. I went there and must say, it was quite an
experience. First, having been to a lot of these of late, this one was
a WRECK. Much of the microfilm was either in terrible condition,
missing entirely, too dark to read or simply strewn about haphazardly.
Second, the place looked like no one there cared at all about
organization. It took me 20 minutes to find the 2 missing segments of
the Naturalization booklets. The reception people were also rather ...
flighty. The other archives I've been to pretty much were filled with
librarian-types. These two were clearly there because Wal-Mart passed
on their skills.

That said, I found exactly what I went there to find. Granted it took
longer than it should but I got to actually handle original books once
I got the receptionist to get the books to cover for the
missing/broken films. Quite a few mysteries solved.

Jeanne Connell

Re: Philadelphia birth records?

Legg inn av Jeanne Connell » 04 feb 2005 16:16:15

On Thu, 03 Feb 2005 23:39:03 -0500, Rich Heimlich
<agrajag@comcast.net> wrote:

The website for the Philadelphia Archives is
http://www.phila.gov/phils/carchive.htm

For a birth certificate for that early that's where you would contact.
But be aware that some people didn't have birth certificates at that
time. My father was born in Phila in 1903, was born at home and never
had a birth certificate. I have dealt with the archives for death
certificates with pretty good luck.

Thanks for this. I went there and must say, it was quite an
experience. First, having been to a lot of these of late, this one was
a WRECK. Much of the microfilm was either in terrible condition,
missing entirely, too dark to read or simply strewn about haphazardly.
Second, the place looked like no one there cared at all about
organization. It took me 20 minutes to find the 2 missing segments of
the Naturalization booklets. The reception people were also rather ...
flighty. The other archives I've been to pretty much were filled with
librarian-types. These two were clearly there because Wal-Mart passed
on their skills.

That said, I found exactly what I went there to find. Granted it took
longer than it should but I got to actually handle original books once
I got the receptionist to get the books to cover for the
missing/broken films. Quite a few mysteries solved.



Sorry you had such a tough time. I was never there in person....I
always dealt with them by mail. But eventually I got what I
requested.

Jeanne

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