Mom hit a perfect storm when it came to a birth certificate. She was born in 1914; she went to work after high school in 1931. And she married in 1936. She had never needed a copy of her birth certificate.
In 1956 when all her children were in school, she wanted to get a job. Ah, but Social Security had been established since she last worked away from home – they required a birth certificate to sign her up.
Turns out the courthouse in DeKalb, Illinois had a fire that destroyed many records. The data wasn’t collected on a state level until 1916.
So she applied for a “Delayed Record of Birth.” Her father, Thomas L. Duncan, provided an affidavit and her marriage record provided a second source. She received this embossed certificate.
Along with this postcard.
But it seems that wasn’t adequate when she filed for Social Security benefits. In the early 1970s she sent for another copy and received this one.
This I Leave 