Birth records?

[GTRS Fiero]

My wife's grandpa died.  As with her grandma, their birth dates were unknown.  Apparently, birth records weren't kept.  Anyway, the family used made-up birth dates on the gravestones.  I met this man almost 16 years ago, and he was always 70+ years of age.  He died at ”90”.

Has anyone else had this with birth records?  My family has birth records going back for hundreds of years.

[Fierofool]

Melanie has traced my ancestry back to the 1500's and her ancestry even further.  Many of my relatives had no birth dates and some of the tombstones in a family cemetery have only flat fieldstones with a crudely carved name for headstones.  Having some idea of where they were born can help if you search US Census reports.  It will at least narrow it down to a 10 year span, then if there are multiple children, you may be able to better define a birth date. 

Marriage certificates and court records sometimes shed light on ages, domicile and other information that can be cross-checked with one another. 

She found that her ancestry was better documented because the system in the Northern States and Europe had been well-established, whereas my relatives that were born from the Carolinas on down had very skimpy records.  Those who were born in the Northern States had good records, as well as those from England, Wales, and Scotland. 

[GTRS Fiero]

My wife's relatives aren't from this country.  Try tracing back the birth dates of Native Americans.  We have some in our ancestry.  Lineage is easy, but actual dates are nearly impossible.  Some cultures have little in the way of written history/tradition.

[Roger]

Try the DAWES ROLLS for Native American lists.