Thursday, December 8, 2011

Treasure Chest Thursday - Isaac Seaver's Birth Certificate

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It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to look in my digital image files to see what treasures I can find for my family history and genealogy musings.

The treasure today is the birth certificate for
Isaac Seaver in 1823 in Westminster, Worcester County, Massachusetts:


I obtained this birth certificate by postal mail from the Westminster town clerk's office on 17 September 1990.

Here is the transcription of the birth certificate (handwritten parts in italics, form lines underlined):


The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
United States of America
Copy of Record of Birth


TOWN of WESTMINSTER

I, the undersigned, hereby certify that I am clerk of the Town of Westminster
that as such I have custody of the records of births required by law to be kept in my office, that among
such records is one relating to the birth of

Isaac Sever

and that the following is a true copy of so much of said record as relates to said birth, namely:

Date of Birth  October 16, 1823   Time __________
Place of Birth Westminster, MA

Name of Child  Isaac Sever
Sex --     Color  _______

FATHER

Name  Benjamin Sever
Residence  Westminster, MA
Place of Birth  --
Occupation  --

MOTHER

Name  Abigail --
Residence  Westminster, MA
Place of Birth  --
Occupation  --

Date of Record  1823   Date of amendment

And I do hereby certify that the foregoing is a truy copy from said records.
Witness my hand and seal of said TOWN of WESTMINSTER
on this seventeenth day of September  19 90
..........................  Denise L. MacAloney
............................................ Clerk
(Seal)

Year  1823
Vol.  Births
Page  246
No.  --

While this "certificate" is an official record of the birth of Isaac Sever, it is not the "original" record.  It is a Derivative Source record since it was not the first record of the event. 

The Original Source record is a handwritten Westminster Town Clerk's record book for Births.  I think that the original volume is this entry from the LDS Family History Library Catalog (FHLC):

Births, marriages, deaths 1738-1845; births, marriages, deaths 1844-1853; births 1853-1910; marriages 1853-1910; deaths 1853-1910. FHL US/CAN Film 2313482

However, I'm unsure.  There are several other entries for Westminster Vital Records in the FHLC that do not include 1823. 

What I am sure about is that the reference given on the certificate is that it is not the Westminster Vital Records to the End of 1849 book - Isaac's birth is on page 83 of that book, which is a derivative source. 

I also noted that all of the microfilm numbers in the FHLC are linked to an order form so that I can order the film and have it sent to my local FamilySearch Center, and pay for it online.  Very convenient!

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