Doing genealogical research? What you should know about birth certificatesWritten by Mike Nielsen
Recently, millions of people all over world are becoming more involved in doing ancestral research and with development of internet and vast genealogical databases', finding your ancestors is getting easier and more convenient. If you are someone who is just beginning doing research or someone who has been researching ancestors for years, information presented in this article should be beneficial to you. In text that follows, I have outlined some basic things regarding birth certificates that you should be aware of. If you can obtain a birth certificate, then you are well on your way to finding accurate ancestral information. A birth certificate is first vital document of a person's life. It is also a very key piece in research process. The information found on Birth certificates varies by state or region and include such things as: name of child, date and place of birth, full names of father and mother. Some localities also include information regarding father's occupation, mother's maiden name, birth dates and places of parents, other children had by parents, etc. Due to a law passed around 1910, all vital records, including birth certificates, were required to be kept. Starting February 1, 1914, Division of Vital Records collected and maintained all birth certificates. There are several records that are available for people born prior to 1914, but these may be harder to come by. Also, it should be noted that birth certificates do not become available to public until they are at least 100 years old. This may make it even more difficult to obtain a birth certificate for your ancestors. If you do wish to obtain a birth certificate for someone who was born less than 100 years ago you will need to provide following information:
| | A TRICKLE OF ELECTRICITYWritten by Irvin L. Rozier
Luke 17.6 "And Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by root, and be thou planted in sea and it should obey you."During a period of unemployment, money was scarce. It was summer in south Georgia and was hot as blazes. The air conditioner in that old trailer where we lived was humming away, straining to keep some cool air in that hot box. I've seen temperature inside trailer soar to over 120 degrees when air conditioner was not running. Despite cost of electricity, I continued to run it. I knew my electric bill would be high yet I had faith that God would make a way, somehow, someway. I had prayed. Well, money for electric bill never showed up and as I watched Georgia Power man drive up, I had a sinking feeling in pit of my stomach. I could do without electricity but I was a single parent with three children. How would my children take a bath? How could I keep food without a refrigerator? All kinds of thoughts ran through my mind on how to cope with this additional trial. As man cut off source of electricity on electric pole, my faith almost completely disappeared. The children were upset and devil whispered, "You are a bum, look at you, God didn't help you...he's disappeared. You are on your own. You sure are a failure!" Yet, I still remembered my prayer and I still had a small hope that God would work in my behalf. Not even thinking straight, I took two slices of bread and popped them in toaster. In a couple of minutes, they popped up, crisply toasted. Imagine my surprise! My heart soared as I opened refrigerator and light came on. I rushed throughout that little trailer turning on switches. Some worked, some didn't. What Lord had allowed to be left on was refrigerator, four receptacles, and hot water heater. I had a gas stove so we could still cook. A couple of weeks later, money arrived to catch up bill. When Georgia Power man came to cut meter back on, I met him, and said, "I've got to be honest with you, for two weeks we have had some electricity. You need to read meter as I owe you for this electricity." He looked at me in disbelief and said, "That's impossible. I pulled this meter and inserted plastic strips so no contact with electric source could be made." I replied, "You better look again." He looked closely at plastic strips and noticed two tiny pinholes. This allowed enough contact to provide essential electricity we needed to get by. He looked at me and with a grin said, "The Lord was looking after you. There's barely enough reading on meter to report. You won't owe any extra." As he drove away, story of mustard seed came to my mind. Yes, God can and did make a way!
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