Unclear identifiers in birth records

Hello, Jenn. Have you seen EE's discussions of county-level and state-level death certificates at 9.39–9.41? That background would help you to understand the basic difference between the two and how each is cited. (The discussions here in the forum are supplemental to the foundation laid in the book itself.)

With birth and death certificates, the two governmental levels are easily confused because they are typically recorded on forms that identify both jurisdictions. The state-level copy will also carry the county-level registration numbers; but the county-level copy will usually NOT have the state registration number. 

Whether we have the county-level copy or the state-level copy matters because additions or corrections may have been made to one copy, but not the other. Or, a copying error may have been made when the second copy was made for filing at the “other” level.

The document you are citing is a state-level certificate, not county-level. You did not obtain it from the county’s Vital Records Office. You obtained it from the Minnesota State Historical Society—i.e., Minnesota's "state archives." At a rule, state archives hold two types of governmental records:

• the administrative records of the state itself; and
• (sometimes) county-level collections of materials that the county has transferred to the state archives to better ensure preservation.

When we use or obtain a record from a state archive collection, in person or at its website, it is helpful to check the website for a description of that collection, so that we understand what we are using. In this case, at https://www.mnhs.org/people/birthrecords, we find this:

“Minnesota Birth Records—Help/About”

Q: How were the birth certificates created?   
When someone was born, a physician or midwife compiled information about the child on a birth certificate. The certificate was registered with the local county registrar and the original copy was sent to the Office of Vital Statistics at the Minnesota Department of Health. The Vital Statistics staff ensured that the information was complete and that it met the state’s standards, and then the certificate at the Department of Health became the official, permanent record.

This and the other discussions in this lengthy article make it clear that the copies indexed in the online database created by MSHS and obtainable through MSHS are the “official” state-level copies.

In the node 2059 discussion that you first cited above, the discussion under “HELLO, FINDINGANYROOTS …” and the final example at “EE, THE UPDATE TO MY …” show the pieces of identifying information we should record for a state-level certificate obtained through an online search. They also demonstrate the sequence in which the certificate details should appear. That sequence is important, so that identifying numbers from one jurisdiction will not be attributed to the other.

Hello, again, Jenn

One significant point still needs clarification.  In your last post, you wrote:

“I was viewing my record as created at the local level and transferred to the state. I see now that I was incorrect.”

No. You were correct.  Note again, the first two sentences from the MSHS website:

When someone was born, a physician or midwife compiled information about the child on a birth certificate. The certificate was registered with the local county registrar and the original copy was sent to the Office of Vital Statistics at the Minnesota Department of Health.

The county’s registrar would have made a copy of the certificate filled out by the physician or midwife, and retained that copy at the county level. That copy, which would have been handwritten in 1920 (i.e., the pre-Xerox era), may or may not have copying errors.  Additions or corrections may also have been made on it that don’t appear on the state copy.  In the modern era, photocopying machines would be used to make the “second” copy; but careful citations still specify whether a copy was obtained from the local office or the state office because many state offices now issue new, short-form certificates, computer-generated from a database that extracts just part of the information provided on the originals.

Note also my second paragraph above, last sentence: The state-level copy will also carry the county-level registration numbers; but the county-level copy will usually NOT have the state registration number.  When the county created it’s copy of the certificate created by the physician or midwife, the county had no way of knowing what registration number the state would assign. Thus, the county-level copy will typically have just the county’s registration number.

You also wrote:

In my record, there is no space for a state file number, only for "Reg. District No." and "No. in Registration Book" without any book number (see image from original post).  There is a stamped number partially covering the handwritten No. in Registration Book entry, and I only know that it is part of the state identification number because it was in the database.   Should I include any identification number in layer one?  I thought I should because the state number is not clearly identified as such.  In addition, the final examples in node 2059 included county names, and the Ohio example included the registrar's number. 

Jenn, certificate forms differ from state to state. Certificate forms differ within the same state, from one year to another. We adjust our identification of a certificate to reflect what appears on the form we are using.  There is no one-size-fits-all-model.

To determine what to record, we examine the specific form we are using. For example:

• We look to see what identifiers appear on that form that would distinguish it from all others submitted to it.  
• We analyze the numbers to see what each represents, considering its placement in conjunction with other details. 
• We consider whether the agency begins renumbering its certificates each new year, starting over again with 1; if so, we know we have to include the year as well as the number.
• We know we should identify the county of birth, to more fully identify the child; but if we’re using a state-level certificate, we’re careful not to attach the state’s registration number to the county itself. Note, with your certificate, that neither of the two numbers (Registration District No and No. in Registration Book) are attached to the identity of the county of birth.

​

Your certificate is confusing in one particular regard: The blank after the “No. in Registration Book” carries a stamped number 843.  However, between the printed words and the stamped number, there appears an unexplained and uncalled for “49.”

Stamps were used by the state VR offices to automatically/correctly number each new certificate. Typically, these stamps advanced one number each time it was used, to better ensure consecutive numbering without errors.  Two suppositions are logical here:

• 49 represents the volume number (within Reg. District No. 2057) in which certificate 843 was recorded. 
• Registration District No. 2057 is the local office where the doctor or midwife turned in the original certificate and that office assigned No. 49 as its local number, before sending to the state, where the state's number was stamped on it.

If we had access to a broader array of birth certificates for Minnesota in that year and surrounding years, we could work out what that “49” represents. But without that access, we can only guess. We would not assert it as a fact in our citation.

You also ask:

Should I include any identification number in layer one?  … When is it important to include local information in a state level document?

When we use a state-level certificate, we use the numbers assigned by that office, because that is what’s needed to locate the certificate in that office.

We use “local information” to clearly identify the child. While, theoretically, just that office’s registration number would suffice to retrieve the document, the redundancy created by identifying the child, the county of residence, and the date or year of birth is needed because (a) a number is mistyped; and (b) both state agencies and databases usually ask for those three pieces of information.

All points considered, a citation to this particular certificate would be this:

Minnesota Department of Health, Division of Vital Statistics, birth certificate, registration dist. 2057, cert. no. 843, Marie Sather, born Becker County, 20 December 1920; image copy obtained via "Minnesota People Records Search," database, Minnesota People Records Search (https://www.mnhs.org/search/people : accessed 27 March 2022).