Vital records are the recorded documentation created by and kept under government authority that document the main life events of an individual. Vital records include birth certificates, marriage licenses and/or certificates, divorce certificates, and death certificates and are an integral component in your family history research.
Author: Melissa Willis
Over a Cuppa: Five
Oh hello there! I’m so glad to share a cuppa with you! How the heck are you?
Can I offer you some hot, black tea? The kettle is hot if you’d prefer coffee, too, or maybe herbal or iced tea is more your style, especially considering the continuous heatwave we’re experiencing?
How to Document the Undocumented
One thing that comes up time and again when researching how to document one’s family history are the legal documents that can and should be used to confirm an ancestors identity and their relationships to others. These documents include vital records (birth, death, adoption, and marriage certificates), probate records/Wills, newspaper notices/Obituaries, and Census records, much of which can be found or ordered online if not held within your personal family records.
But what if you don’t have access to such records? Or what if they simply don’t exist?
This is the conundrum I’ve found myself in with multiple passed loved ones spanning three generations on my mom’s side. And so, as I’ve asked myself how to document the undocumented, I thought, “I surely can’t be alone, can I?”!
1256 Lexington Ave, New York City
My childhood was peppered with stories of my mom’s own childhood growing up in New York City. She’d tell me all about the sights and smells and sounds, about pounding the pavement and watching the world go by from the roof tops. She always tried to give me a sense of direction by including cross streets and landmarks.
NYC was big and wild and so very full of all of her adolescent adventures (the good, the bad, and the ugly) in addition to being a world apart from my own upbringing or understanding.
Over a Cuppa: Four
I’ve spent a lot of time over the past couple of weeks reflecting on the balance between being a living, breathing, dynamic human and being a content creator. These times we’re living in are so wild, with continuous access to each other 24/7 and a seemingly insatiable desire to consume more and more…
Ideas… Stories… Items… Photos… (etc.)
It’s exciting and fun and inspiring!
And it can also be exhausting.
So, as I reflect on my place in the patchwork of it all, I’m trying to remind myself of the importance of creating because I *want to create, because I’m inspired to create, not because I’m standing on some hamster wheel and feel like I have to…