Reference: Greenwood, Val D. “Vital Records.” In The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, 4th ed.,279-. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 2017.
Delayed birth certificates, although mostly considered secondary evidence, in addition to establishing a person's birth date and location, can provide clues that help establish relationships as well. In Tennessee, the applicant needed to provide documentation of their age as well as two witnesses who could verify the applicant's parents. I was able to finally crack a brick wall when I found a delayed birth certificate for an ancestor's sibling who had moved out of state. I had lost track of this sibling after the 1870 census, when she was last enumerated with her parents. The delayed birth certificate gave me her husband's name and showed me that they had moved to Illinois sometime after the births of at least two children. No wonder I couldn't find her in Tennessee! The information from the delayed birth record gave me enough clues to start researching again, and with information now available online, I was able to piece together what happened to the other sister that I hadn't been able to track as an adult.
Source: "Tennessee, Delayed Birth Records, 1869-1909," Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed November 11, 2018), entry for Condy Huston Dabney, 1890; citing Tennessee Delayed Birth Records, 1869–1909. Nashville, Tennessee: Tennessee State Library and Archives.
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| Condy Huston Dabney, Delayed Birth Certificate, Front |
Condy Huston Baker was born in Coal Creek, Tennessee on May 2, 1890, the son of German Dabney and Sara Adkins. The certificate was applied for in Harrisburg, Illinois, where Condy was living at the time of application. Notice the supporting evidence at the bottom of the first image. The first table lists what was used for evidence, and the second table shows what evidence those documents provided.
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| Condy Huston Dabney, Delayed Birth Certificate, Back |
The back of the application contains statements from the two witnesses. Samuel Disney and Martha Jane Disney claimed to have known German and Sarah their entire lives, and had lived in the same neighborhood when Condy was born.
Samuel also stated he was Condy's cousin. This was a key piece of evidence, as Sarah's mother was a Disney, but I had been unable to find evidence to support that claim. With the clues provided in this delayed birth record, I was able to find other evidence that the maiden name of Sarah's mother was, indeed, Disney.
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