Wednesday Wisdom

Not all Birth Certificates are created alike, nor are all delayed certificates clearly marked.
An example is my great grandmother Minnie Estella Miner's delayed birth certificate. Look at the birth date and the date of registration

Full name of Child .........................................................Minnie Estella Miner

Color ...........................................................................White

Sex ...............................................................................female

Name of other living issue living .....................................Harriet M. Hill

Full name of father ....................................................... Reuben F. Miner

Occupation of father .................................................... Deceased

Full name of mother previous to marriage ..................... Mary Lucy Starkey

Hour, day of week of month, and year, of birth .............February 16, 1872

Place, town or township, and county in which born ........Osceola, Polk Co., Wisconsin

Birthplace of father ...................................................... New York State

Birthplace of mother .................................................... New York State 

Name of physician or person signing certificate or affidavit.. Lucy H. Baker

Residence of person last named ................................... 112 N Railroad Ave. San

                                                                                                  Mateo, California

Date of certificate or affidavit ....................................... June 5, 1939

Date of registration ...................................................... June 26, 1939

Any additional circumstances ........................................

Although this is a birth certificate, the 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 censuses are closer to the actual birthday of 16 Feb 1872. This birth certificate was registered 67 years after the fact and her eldest daughter is listed as the person signing the certificate. The delayed certificate did not have any documentation with it. I have delayed birth certificates for her children born in North Dakota and all of those have documentation to support the information.

2012 Genealympics

Earlier I posted my flag now for my placing in 2 events

Number of Generations back for a surname. 

10 Generations back for the Baker Surname. 

Starting with my father Edward, his father James - 2 generations born in North Dakota

Then Henry, James, Edward - 3 generations born in Ontario Canada

Then Benjamin, James, Benjamin and Joshua - 4 generations born in Colonial America

And finally the immigrant Alexander - 1 generation born in England 

Through DNA testing using my brother Tony's DNA it has been discovered that our Alexander Baker is not the one married to Alexander Baker who married Elizabeth Farrer

Medal Award: Diamond for at least 10 generations

Number of Descendant from a great-great-grandparent

James Edward Baker and Elizabeth Mattice

80 descendants 

with an explanation- I usually only go down 2 generations on Collateral lines

and this does not count Spouses who married into the family

 Medal Award: Bronze for between 50 and 100 descendants

(maybe I can carry down 1 or 2 lines for a silver, if I do I will re-post this)

Two Babies Named Eli

            Several years ago I was at a dinner at my great Aunt Amelia’s house. There were several cousins from my mother’s generation there and as we talked someone mentioned that they remember something about two babies born with the same name and that one died at a young age. The thought was that Grandma Charlotte Boche (my 2-great grandmother and Amelia’s mother) had two boys with the same name. Something about she had one and he died and then named the second one the same name, but no one could remember any details.

            While I was looking at a microfilm of Pennsylvania births, I came upon a possible answer to the question; “Were there really two babies with the same name?” I found that there were two Joseph Eli’s born in October of 1902. On 2 October 1902, Charlotte Ducley Boche had a son, who lived to have a family. The second Joseph Eli was born to my grandmother Orpheline Mary Boche Bionaz, my great-grandmother and Charlotte’s oldest daughter, who was born 7 October 1902. This Joseph Eli died at a young age. I still do not know when he died, but I do know he died before the 1910 Census. He is not listed in the 1910 Census and the census states that Orpheline was the mother of 3 children, with only 2 still living. A picture taken about 1908 of Orpheline’s children only has Charlotte and John, the two children listed in the 1910 Census, and no Joseph Eli in it. Also, John E. Bionaz, Orpheline’s husband, Petition for Naturalization dated Sep 1908, does not list a child named Eli, it only lists Charlotte and John as his children. I do not know if these are the two babies with the same name that was mentioned that day so many years ago, but they could be.