A piece of advice I like to share with those researching their families is to go after all the vital records you can! Online indexes can be helpful – but getting the actual record is important for many reasons.
Last week, my geneafriend, Renate Yarborough-Sanders, and I held the first session of a summer series called “Let’s Talk North Carolina Genealogy” and we had such a blast! Our featured guest was Diane Acey Richard and we discussed birth records in North Carolina. This series is Renate’s brainchild and we have already seen such a great response!
One of the resources mentioned on the show was a database on FamilySearch called “North Carolina, Center for Health Statistics, Vital Records Unit, County Birth Records, 1913-1922.” Not a very descriptive name, but you know what’s in there? Actual images of birth certificates! Including ones for Wake County, which even has their records missing from the other NC birth index databases on FamilySearch. FamilySearch is actively adding to the database each month and there are currently more than 89,000 certificates. You can check the coverage here.
Here is an example from my own family – the birth certificate of my great-uncle, Lorenza McNair. The actual certificate has two errors – he is incorrectly stated to be a girl and his name is not spelled correctly. I knew both of these facts already from the index, but I am glad to have the actual certificate; I’d never gotten around to ordering it from the county Register of Deeds office.
On the certificate, I learn that his parents, my great-grandparents, lived on what is described as the WL Stallings Farm. This turns out to be the property of Wright L. Stallings, former Edgecombe County Sheriff. This gives me an additional aspect to research – for learning more about the Stallings family.
Check the database out if you have North Carolina people you are researching that were born during this time frame!