My paternal grandfather, John H. Clay, was born in 1885 in McDowell County, NC but no original birth certificate is available because North Carolina did not require that counties record the births until the early 1900's. How can I resolve this issue? Could there be a family Bible or some other written documentation kept by the family? As I could not locate anything, I made a trip to the McDowell County, NC courthouse in hopes that my grandfather applied for a delayed birth certificate. I had his death certificate so I had knowledge of his birth date and to my delight there in the records was his delayed birth registration. But wait a minute, why is information on the certificate crossed out, written over and said to be "corrected"?
Above you will see what I found and why I might have been confused.
1. NAME AT BIRTH: His name is correct
2. BORN: His birth date was correct but was changed to Oct 11 instead of the 26th.
3. FATHER: He was born out of wedlock and the father unknown to him so this should be blank. Possibly this was given at the time of registration in order to hide his out of wedlock birth.
4. MOTHER: Sarah Clay is correct as she was the daughter of John Jake Clay and Abigail Padgett Clay. Why is CLAY crossed out and SMITH written in by hand.
5. ABSTRACT OF EVIDENCE: The typed information appears to be the original facts supplied by John H. Clay. His marriage record was noted [but no information noted on the form]. Birth certificate of applicants child [John had four children but no specific child is noted]. "Affadavif of personal knowledge of birth signed by Ed Pangle whose birth is 1867" [Ed Pangle lived in the same area as John and other evidence supports Ed as a cousin to John].
Written by an unknown person to the Abstract of Evidence: " Raleigh corrected this 4-29-53 saying application for J. H. Clay, McBee, SC sent 4-9-53 same as this one"
My grandfather never lived in McBee, SC so how did this change take place? Well it took some very similar information and a clerk in Raleigh who made an erroneous assumption that this new application was the one that had already been done.
What I believe took place is this:
My grandfather, John H. Clay applied for a delayed birth registration in May of 1942 at his local courthouse in McDowell County, NC. It appears that he had enough proof and the registration took place and was correct according to the information he supplied. A new application was sent by the cousin in April 1953. [ This may have gone to the local courthouse first and sent to Raleigh for verification but we will never know for sure]
1. NAME: The new application was submitted by his first cousin who was also named John H Clay.
2. BORN: The first cousin was born on Oct 11, 1885 in McDowell County, NC. [ same year, 15 days apart]
3. FATHER; The name of the father of the first cousin was James Clay [This James Clay and Sarah Clay, mother of the original applicant were brother and sister]
4. MOTHER: Sarah Smith is the correct name for this birth [ I have a marriage certificate for James Clay and Sarah Smith]
5. ABSTRACT OF EVIDENCE: The "correction" made in Raleigh was a gross error on their part.
LESSON: MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO VALIDATE THE INFORMATION ON ANY BIRTH OR DEATH CERTIFICATE.
I did make an effort to have this birth registration corrected for my grandfather but was told at the local courthouse that I would have to have that done in Raleigh. In Raleigh I was told that it would have to be corrected at the local level. I asked for a copy of the validating information supplied by either applicant and was told that those items are not kept and may have been returned to the persons applying. So what remains in the files is a birth registration that is not correct for either applicant.
McDowell County, North Carolina, delayed certificate of birth registration no. 125 (1942), John Henry Clay; County Clerk's Office, Marion, North Carolina
