“One and the same” letter from USCIS

 Palmeri  1 Response »
Feb 102012
 

I've received the naturalization records for my great-grandfather with his name spelled incorrectly as Angelo Palmieri and a letter of no-record-found with his name spelled correctly as Angelo Palmeri.

Recently, I sent a request to USCIS asking for a letter of "one and the same". It included all of the documents I have pertaining to him, including his birth and death and naturalization certificates.

Today I received a letter. It states that "we've confirmed that Angelo Palmieri and Angelo Palmeri born on January 27, 1886 are the same person."

Another strategy for finding records for my grandfather

 Palmeri  No Responses »
Feb 102012
 

So, today I'm emailing and writing churches in the City of Buffalo to see if any have a record of the marriage of my grandparents, Joseph Palmeri and Sarina Millonzi.

I'm also writing the clerks and courts of the City of Buffalo to see if they have any record of an official name change for my grandfather from "Joseph Palmieri", as on his birth certificate, to "Joseph Palmeri", as he went throughout his adult life. 

We'll see what happens.

Update 13 Feb 2012

The Erie County Clerk returned my email. This is what they said:

Mr. Palmeri: The search for a court action to change a name would be filed in our court. However, an immigrant is allowed legally to change his or her name by simply having the new name stated on the Certificate of Naturalization. So there may not have been a formal action.

If you would like us to search for the court action, you may make your request in writing to the Basement Record Room, Erie County Clerk's Office, 92 Franklin Street, Buffalo, New York 14202. The cost will be $5 for every two years searched per document type (court action). The more information that you can provide, the easier potentially it will be for us to search (and the less expensive for you.)

And:

Years ago, if the parent changed the name, the surname of the minor child was also changed, so there might not be a record of the change of name, but there would be an amended Birth Certificate. However, it is possible that the spelling of the name was not officially noted and that your grandfather just used the name as you know it. 

Update 28 Feb 2012

Another response from the Erie County Clerk:

Thank you for contacting the Erie County Clerk’s Office.  CHRISTOPHER L. JACOBS has requested that I respond to your email.

Your request will engender a search charge.  Please make your request in writing to the Erie County Clerk – Basement Record Room, 92 Franklin Street, Buffalo, New York 14202.  You may simply copy this email and mail with your check.  As a suggestion, since we will not know the actual cost until the search is completed, you may send in a check with the amount blank and a note that the check is not to exceed a certain amount.  We will return a receipt.

The cost for a search is $5 for every two years per name, per document.

The cost for copies is $1 per page and certification is an additional $5.

Please indicate the name(a) under which you would like us to search.

More documents found

 Palmeri  No Responses »
Feb 092012
 

Today my father called to say that he and his sister had found copies of their father's birth and death certificates. That saves both time and hassle, especially since the birth certificate requires a court order in NY State. Now I only need to have court orders to amend the documents that need to be amended.

They also said that they were going to try to get a copy of their parents' marriage certificate. There was none in my aunt's records. But they will try to get one issued from the City of Buffalo or New York State. Fingers crossed. 

great-great-great-great-great-grandparents from Montemaggiore

 Millonzi, Parisi  No Responses »
Feb 092012
 

Today I did some searches of marriage records from Montemaggiore Belsito. Two of my great-grandfather, Rosario Millonzi's, great-grandparents were Giuseppe Maggio and Providenza Tripi, married in 1820; their parents were Giuseppe Maggio and Oreola Civillo, and Castrenza Tripi and Carmela Difrancesco. Two of my great-grandmother, Carmela (Parisi) Millonzi's, great-grandparents were Nunzio Parisi and Nunzia Dolce, married in 1822; their parent were Giacomo Parisi and Francesca Buscaino, and Antonino Dolce and Carmela Arcana. These great-great-great-great-great-grandparents were born in the 1700's.


marriage of Nunzio Parisi and Nunzia Dolce, 1822 in Montemaggiore Belsito

More on the Downie family

 Cuthbert, Downie  No Responses »
Feb 082012
 

My distant cousin from Canada sent me some more information on the Downie family that he found. It includes a death record for my great-great-great-grandmother, Margaret Ogilvie (Downie) Cuthbert, and pictures of two of her brothers, William and Anthony. He also sent a picture of another Cuthbert named John, but I don't know if that's a brother or a cousin (most likely a cousin since no "John" appears in other family records).


death record for Margaret Ogilvie (Downie) Cuthbert



Another example of a court order to change records

 Palmeri  No Responses »
Feb 082012
 

This was originally posted by zsnyder to the Italian Citizenship Message Board. I hope he or she does not mind me reposting here. It's primarily for my benefit since I'm using this blog to record my efforts. But perhaps someone else will find this someday that does not stumble across the original post. I know that it took me a long long time to find examples of people who tried to get a court order on their own without a lawyer. So hopefully these re-posts will help someone else's search. Just give credit to the OP, not to me.

After collecting all of the documents requested by the consulate for my jure sanquinis application I noticed that my grandfathers birth certificate contained numerous errors.

The names of him, his father and mother all contained misspellings and his birthdate was off by a few days when compared to his documents from later in life. To make matters worse, he didn’t go by his given Italian name (Natale) but a shortened version of the english translation (Christmas to Chris). This shortened name was recorded on every government document since birth.

I took a shot and contacted the consulate to see what they thought and the response was to fix the birth certificate or find another another route.

Reading the wonderfully informative posts by jschotz and his dealings with amending certificates in court I started to form the case to amend my grandfathers birth record.

I had the birth and marriage records of my great grandfather and great grandmother so that should take care of their names.

My mothers marriage record had my grandfather listed as Chris (Natale) Mento so that helped with fixing his name.

I then contacted the church where he was baptized to see what information they had. Turns out they had him on record with his given Italian name, the date of birth that matched what was listed on later documents, the correct spelling of his parents names, his godparents names (not needed but a nice genealogical find) and in a column noted “Notunda”, his name listed as Natale (Chris) Mento when he married my grandmother.

So now I have two pieces of evidence for each correction with the exception of his birthdate.

For the second piece of evidence I contacted the National Personnel Records Center and requested any information they had on him during his enlistment in the Navy. They sent me his discharge papers which listed a birthdate that matched the baptismal record and his name listed as Chris Anthony Mento.

With these documents in hand I wrote up my case.

*** I should state that I am not a lawyer and comments about my case from here on are only my opinion. What worked for me may not work for you. ***

I decided to file in Philadelphia as they have an e-file service and since I have family in the area, a place to stay should I need to appear. Through the website I chose Trial Division – Civil, Program: Petitions, Case Type: Miscellaneous Petition. It generated a case number, I uploaded my documents and exhibits and paid the fees.

Three days later the Protonotary entered the documents into the system. When I saw the update I printed out two copies of the papers that had his stamp of approval and sent them to the Philadelphia County Sheriffs office to have them served to Department of Vital Records in New Castle, PA. I sent two copies as one was to be served and the court in New Castle also wanted a copy for some reason. I also had to send two checks to the Philadelphia sheriff as they don’t deputize outside the county. The first check was for them to mail my documents to the sheriff in New Castle and the second was for the New Castle sheriff to serve Vital Records. Also included in the packet was a SASE and a sheriffs return service document that would be mailed back to me when Vital Records was served.

Here is the semi-redacted Notice to Defend, Petition and Exhibit Statement:

Notice to Defend.pdf

Petition.pdf

Exhibit Statement.pdf

I found this template for writing up briefs. It’s for Apple’s Pages application but I saw many others for Word and Word like programs. Makes life much easier.

Court Brief Template

You may notice that Linda Caniglia is listed on the Notice to Defend but not on the Petition or Order. Well, apparently she retired the year before but is still listed on official documents. I was asked by a clerk of the court at a later date to change the respondent to Pennsylvania Department of Health, Division of Vital Records. I assume if you file in PA for corrections that the later is what you want to use.

I haven’t included any of my exhibits but I did want to post the Exhibit Statement for reference. The original birth record says it’s illegal to duplicate this copy by photostat or photograph. The last thing I wanted to do was submit something to the court that would jeopardize my case. jschotz recommended going this route and it seemed to work well for me. The court never asked to see the birth record.

Two weeks after filing a judge was assigned to the case and about a month after filing the Pennsylvania Department of Health responded with a letter of no opposition.

I thought the case was proceeding rather quickly but boy was I in for a surprise. By this time it was mid-November, two months after filing, and nothing has been updated on the website about my case. My appointment with the consulate was only a month and half away.

I called the court and after being transferred around for a while I ended up speaking to one of the friendliest and most helpful clerks. It seems that my case was causing all sorts of confusion in the court.

The first issue is that I had my mother listed as a petitioner. Since she does not reside in Philadelphia county the court felt that it had no jurisdiction and the case should be filed in the county of her residence. I explained that she was listed to lend credence to the petition as she is the daughter of my grandfather. The clerk understood but instructed me to remove her entirely and resubmit the Petition. I asked if I need to file a motion or pay more fees and she no, just email it to her.

Several days later another issue pops up. The clerk that I've been dealing with calls and says they need a letter from Pennsylvania Department of Health stating that I’ve attempted to amend the birth certificate, that PDH DVR has denied my request and that a court order is needed. I send the request to DVR and they fax me a letter a week later which I scan and email to the clerk I’ve been dealing with.

PA DOH letter.pdf

I give her call after sending the email to make sure the letter is acceptable and if she thinks there may be any other issues. She says everything looks fine. I ask her if she has any idea when the hearing might be and if I should file a motion to do it by phone. She says there won’t be any hearing. That seemed odd. We hang up and the next day she calls me and says the judge wants to sign off on my case and that I need to send her an order right away.

Order.pdf

By the end of the afternoon I have the order signed by the judge sent to me by fax but I’d have to wait for the ones with a seal to come by mail before forwarding to DVR to have the amendments made.

I should note that two items were left off of that order. One was line 5, which I’ll get to in a moment and one piece that jschotz had on his:

Issue a new certified long form copy of corrected record to said Petitioner within fifteen (15) days of service of the Court Order upon the Respondent.

That last section is important as I found out the hard way that DVR will sit on the corrections. Even though I had overnighted the Order along with an overnight return envelope they sat on the correction for weeks.

It’s now December 20th and I’m about to leave the country, I still don’t have the corrected birth certificate and my appointment is in two weeks. I call DVR and they tell me the correction is being held up because the new birthdate is two days after the original file date. Their system won’t allow this. I’m absolutely furious that they just now bring this to my attention. 

I contact the clerk in Philadelphia about this issue and she asks me to add in line 5 to the Order and email it to her. I tell her I’m leaving the country the next night and she says not to worry about it. The judge signs the new order right there and it’s faxed to DVR along with official versions going out in the mail. Can you say life saver?

December 30th the corrected birth certificate arrives and my appointment is five days later.

In short:

Look everywhere for documents. Sometimes you’ll be surprised at what you find.

Collect all of the evidence you can to make your case. It’s not like it’s a murder case. The judge just wants to see how you’re getting from point A to point B.

Make a copy of everything that you will use in court send it to PDH with along with the application form and correction form. Tell them that you need a letter explaining that a court order is needed to make changes when they deny you.

Write up your case and have others proof it for you. Keep it simple and to the point.

It may seem daunting but the court is there for you.

Possible “one-and-the-same” letter for my great-grandfather

 Palmeri  No Responses »
Feb 072012
 

As I've noted on several posts, my great-grandfather was born Angelo Palmeri but several records, including his marriage certificate and his naturalization documents, spelled his name incorrectly as Angelo Palmieri. 

From the USCIS, I've received a complete copy of the naturalization documents spelled "Angelo Palmieri" and I have received a letter of no record found spelled of "Angelo Palmeri".

I wrote a letter to the USCIS asking for a letter stating that the Angelo Palmieri on the naturalization documents is a.k.a Angelo Palmeri. An earlier post gave the text of that letter.

I included draft text for a letter they might send to me:

Our letter XXXXXX XX, XXXX reported that we successfully retrieved a copy of the records of naturalization for Angelo Palmieri, born January 27, 1886 in Serradifalco, Italy.

File Series   File Number
C-File          C-XXXXX

We sent you The Declaration of Intent for Angelo Palmieri dated August 23, 1917, the Petition for Naturalization for Angelo Palmieri dated March 11, 1921, and the Certificate of Naturalization for Angelo Palmieri dated July 5, 1921.

Angelo Palmieri, born January 27, 1886 in Serradifalco, Italy was also known as (a.k.a.) Angelo Palmeri, born January 27, 1886 in Serradifalco, Italy.

It is our determination that the Declaration of Intent dated August 23, 1917, Petition for Naturalization dated March 11, 1921, and Certificate of Naturalization dated July 5, 1921 for Angelo Palmieri belong to one and the same person as the birth certificate for Angelo Palmeri from January 27, 1886 in Serradifalco, Italy, the marriage certificate for Angelo Palmieri from November 5, 1910 in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, and the death certificate for Angelo Palmeri from September 29, 1969 in Erie County, New York.

Today I had a conversation with someone from UCSIC. They said they would send me a letter. Hopefully, it will have text bearing some resemblance to the text I suggested.

No naturalization record for Angelo “Palmeri”

 Palmeri  No Responses »
Jan 302012
 

Earlier I received naturalization records for my great-grandfather, Angelo Palmeri. Like many records from the years after my great-grandfather came to the U.S., it has his name misspelled "Palmieri" rather than "Palmeri". Angelo Palmieri was naturalized 5 July 1921.

Because naturalization records cannot be amended by court order, I requested a search for the name "Angelo Palmeri". As expected, no record was found. Hopefully, this will be sufficient to show that the previously received naturalization record was indeed for my great-grandfather, despite the misspelling of the last name.

marriage record for my great-great-grandparents in Serradifalco, Sicily

 Giambrone  No Responses »
Jan 262012
 

I found the marriage record for my great-great-grandparents, Giuseppe Giambrone and Giuseppa Amico, from Serradifalco, Sicily.

They were married 10 May 1885. It gives my great-great-grandfather as 24 years old (born abt 1861) and my great-great-grandmother as 20 years old (born abt 1865). It identifies their parents, my great-great-great-grandparents, who were until now unknown, as Vincenzo Giambrone and Francesca Ianello for Giuseppe, and Paolino Amico and Maria Catalano for Giuseppa.


possible records for Margaret Ogilvie and her parents and grandparents

 Downie  No Responses »
Jan 182012
 

Margaret Ogilvie is my fifth great-grandmother from Scotland, married to David Downie in 1783 in Stirling Parish.

I did a search on ScotlandsPeople and found two birth records for a "Margaret Ogilvie" born between 1755 (which would make Margaret 28 when married, which is rather old for back then) and 1767 (which would make Margaret only 15 when married, which is rather young for back then). I found two records for Stirling, Scotland, one in 1762 to James Ogilvie and Mary Richie, and another in 1762 to George Ogilvie and Christian Leishman. After looking again, I discovered that the birth to James and Mary was the only one in Stirling Parish. So while it's not definite, it seems more likely that her parents were James and Mary since the marriage record for Margaret to David Downie noted "in this Parish" which I take to mean "of this Parish". The birth record notes several other births for Ogilvie's, some of whom could be her siblings or her cousins.

I then did a search for James Ogilvie and Margaret Richie and found a marriage record from 1749, which gives James' father as John and Margaret's father as James, both deceased at the time of the marriage. This seems more likely given that the wife's name is Margaret and the daughter's name in Margaret, which was a fairly common practice back then. John Ogilvie and James Richie would be my seventh great-grandfathers. Pretty cool given that when I started all I had was some of my (first) great-grandparents.


birth record 8 Mar 1761 for Margaret Ogilvie to James Ogilvie and Mary Richie


marriage record 13 Jan 1749 for James Ogilvie and Margaret Richie

More on my great-great-great-grandmother’s brother, David Downie

 Downie  No Responses »
Jan 172012
 

My great-great-great-grandmother's brother, David Downie, was a missionary to India. On ancestry.com I found a link to a passport application he made to return to the United States. It's an interesting glimpse into his life. 

He was born in Glasgow, Scotland 29 July 1838. He emigrated to the U.S. in June 1852, residing in various places in the U.S. until 1873. He became a U.S. citizen in 1857. From 1873 on he was a missionary in India.

This is a 1918 request for an emergency passport so he can travel back to the U.S. It's interesting that it gives his destinations en route as the Straits Settlement in Ceylon, then Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, and then the U.S.

David Downie died nine years later 19 July 1927 in Pasadena, CA, at the age of 90. His wife was Annie Hershey. While I think she was perhaps from Pennsylvania, I could not determine whether she was related to the Hershey of Hershey's chocolate or not, but I also didn't spend much time looking. 




Attempting to get an a.k.a. letter from USCIS

 Palmeri  No Responses »
Jan 152012
 

In another attempt to clear up the spelling errors, where Angelo Palmeri was spelled Angelo Palmieri, I am writing a letter to the USCIS chief asking for a letter stating that the declaration of intent, petition for naturalization, and certificate of naturalization for Angelo Palmieri belong to one and the same person as the other vital records documents I have. Who knows if this is going to work. But it's worth a few stamps to see.

Here is the redacted text from the letter I am sending:

January 15, 2012

Lynda K. Spencer
Chief, Genealogy Section
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service
Genealogy Program
1200 First Street NE
Washington, DC 20529-2206

RE: C-File XXXXX / Case Number XXXXX

Dear Lynda Spencer,

I recently requested and received naturalization documents for my great-grandfather, Angelo Palmeri (see Exhibit A).

Unfortunately, because my great-grandfather was illiterate, several documents, including his naturalization papers, had his last name misspelled as Palmieri rather than Palmeri. Indeed, on his Declaration of Intent (Exhibit A), signed XXXXX, he signed by giving “his mark” and someone else signed his name on his behalf and presumably filled out the form for him as well.

I understand that it is impossible to amend naturalization documents for people who are now deceased.

Because I am using these naturalization documents for an Italian dual citizenship application, I respectfully request a letter from your office stating that the Angelo Palmieri on the naturalization documents is a.k.a Angelo Palmeri. I have included a description of the enclosed exhibits that I use to support this assertion, which includes his Italian birth and American death certificate.

I understand that this is a nonstandard request. If helpful, I have included a proposed letter that may be sufficient to document that my great-grandfather, Angelo Palmeri, is one and the same person as the Angelo Palmieri on the naturalization documents.

My great-grandfather, Angelo Palmeri, was born XXXXX in Serradifalco, Italy to Giuseppe (Joseph) Palmeri and Maria (Mary) Calabrese (see birth certificate for Angelo Palmeri, Exhibit B).

As noted on his application for citizenship, he arrived in the New York XXXXX on the vessel XXXXX. I have included a copy of the Passenger Arrival Record I received from the National Archives that shows his name spelled Angelo Palmeri, that he is XXXXX years old (born in XXXXX), his father is Giuseppe, and that he is going to Yatesboro, PA (Exhibit C).

In Yatesboro, PA, on XXXXX, he married my great-grandmother. On the marriage license, (Exhibit D) his name is now misspelled Angelo Palmieri, giving his parents are Giuseppe and Maria Palmieri, with his age as XXXXX (born in XXXXX). On this form, he gave his mark, and someone else filled out the form and signed his name.

The 1920 Census in Buffalo, Erie, New York (Exhibit E) indicates that my great-grandfather was unable to read (column 17) or write (column 18). It gives his age as XXXXX (born in XXXXX), his wife Maria, his son, my grandfather, Joseph, and notes his citizenship status as “pa”. His brother (Calogero) and his family lived next door. His father-in-law (Giuseppe Giambrone) lived next door. Here, the name appears to be grossly misspelled as something like Palmire or Palmiri.

Around this same time, he filled out his Declaration of Intent and Petition for Naturalization, where his named was misspelled Angelo Palmieri.

The 1930 Census in Buffalo, Erie, New York (Exhibit F) shows his and his brother’s families living in the same home. Now all family members have the last name correctly spelled Palmeri. While my great-grandfather was still illiterate, my American-born 18 year old grandfather was able to read and write.

Finally, the death certificate for my great-grandfather, dated XXXXX, correctly spells his name as Angelo Palmeri (Exhibit G), the spelling that appeared on his Italian birth certificate (Exhibit B).

I thank you for your attention and your help in resolving this matter.

Sincerely,

XXXXX

 

[PROPOSED TEXT FOR LETTER]

Our letter XXXXX reported that we successfully retrieved a copy of the records of naturalization for Angelo Palmieri, born XXXXX in Serradifalco, Italy.

File Series    File Number
C-File            XXXXX

We sent you The Declaration of Intent for Angelo Palmieri dated XXXXX, the Petition for Naturalization for Angelo Palmieri dated XXXXX, and the Certificate of Naturalization for Angelo Palmieri dated XXXXX.

Angelo Palmieri, born XXXXX in Serradifalco, Italy was also known as (a.k.a.) Angelo Palmeri, born XXXXX in Serradifalco, Italy.

It is our determination that the Declaration of Intent dated XXXXX, Petition for Naturalization dated XXXXX, and Certificate of Naturalization dated XXXXX for Angelo Palmieri belong to one and the same person as the birth certificate for Angelo Palmeri from XXXXX in Serradifalco, Italy, the marriage certificate for Angelo Palmieri from XXXXX in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, and the death certificate for Angelo Palmeri from XXXXX in Erie County, New York.

Requesting a new USCIS record search for Angelo Palmeri

 Palmeri  No Responses »
Jan 152012
 

I have received the naturalization documents for my great-grandfather. However, the last name is misspelled "Palmieri" rather than "Palmeri" on this and several other documents I have.

Naturalization documents for deceased individuals cannot be amended. Today I am initiating a new search with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (http://www.uscis.gov/) for a letter of "no record found" for "Angelo Palmeri" with the correct spelling. I added explicit text stating that I have already received a record for "Angelo Palmieri" but I need a document that asserts that no one named "Angelo Palmeri" born 27 January 1886 in Serradifalco, Italy, has even been naturalized.

Marriage of my great-great-grandparents, David Wilson and Elizabeth Gilliland

 Wilson  No Responses »
Jan 142012
 

I found a marriage record for my great-great-grandparents, David Wilson and Elizabeth Gilliland, using the Irish Family History Foundation. At 5 Euros a page, it's not cheap if you need to try out many false alarms. In this case, there was only one record for the two of them, and if gave the same marriage date as familysearch.org.

It gives their marriage in Ballymena Parish in County Antrim on 29 Jan 1864. David was a farmer in Camlea and his father was James Wilson, also a farmer. Elizabeth was a spinster in Dunaird and her father was William Gillilund, a farmer. They were married in Buckna Presbyterian Church, which is to the east of Ballymena, close to Broughshane, where their oldest son, James Wilson was born the next year. It lists both as over 21, which means that both were born before 1843.

Witnesses are James Gilliland and Henry Lunn. Maybe James is Elizabeth's brother?

marriage record for my great-great-grandparents,
David Wilson and Elizabeth Gilliland

Death certificate for my great-grandfather received from NY

 Palmeri  No Responses »
Jan 142012
 

I have finally received a certified copy of the death certificate for my great-grandfather, Angelo Palmeri. It took several attempts, but we finally got it. No surprises. No errors. His last name is spelled Angelo Palmeri, like his birth certificate. Sending this to get apostilled.

death certificate for my great-grandfather, Angelo Palmeri

Searching the Wilson family on familysearch.org

 Wilson  No Responses »
Jan 142012
 

Samuel Wilson, born 30 Aug 1871 and died 30 Apr 1946, and Anna E. Regina Cruice, born 22 Apr 1886 and died 21 Jun 1976, were married 30 Apr 1910 in Niagara Fall. Their one child was my grandmother, Helene Anna Wilson.

Because I found my great-grandfather's death certificate in Kenmore, I learned that his mother's name was Elizabeth Gilliland. I knew her name was Elizabeth, but some other record said that her last name was Watts, and other records just listed it as Elizabeth.

I did a search on "Samuel WIlson" with parents "David Wilson" and "Elizabeth Gillibrand" on familysearch.org and found a good bit of information:

A record for the birth of Samuel Wilson, which lists his birthday as 30 Aug 1870 instead of 30 Aug 1871. It lists his birthplace as Connor, County Antrim, Ireland. Ireland Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881, film number 101210

When I googled this, I learned that the village of Connor is currently encompassed by the village of Kells, just to the southeast of Ballymena in what is now Northern Ireland. Before I had Ballymena as his birth place. This narrows it to the particular location in the Borough. According to Wikipedia, "Kells (from the Irish: Na Cealla) is a village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, near Ballymena. The area encompasses Kells and the village of Connor which are very close together and have a joint primary school, library, development association etc. It had a population of 1,745 people in the 2001 Census. It is within the Borough of Ballymena. An old stone bridge crosses the Kells Water, separating Kells from the adjacent village of Connor."

I also found my great-grandfather's siblings:

William Wilson, born 9 May 1866, christened 10 May 1866, in Conner, County Antrim, Ireland. Ireland Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881, film number 101125

David Wilson, born 17 May 1873 in Conner, County Antrim, Ireland. Ireland Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881, film number 255874

Ann Wilson, born 1 Dec 1876 in Conner, County Antrim, Ireland. Ireland Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881, film number 255962

James Wilson, born 4 May 1865 in 0138, Broughshane, County Antrim, Ireland. Ireland Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881, film number 101100. According to Wikipedia, "Broughshane (formerly Bruaghshane, from Irish: Bruach Sheáin) is a village within the Borough of Ballymena in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is 3.5 miles (5.6 km) northeast of Ballymena and 13.8 miles (22.2 km) north of Antrim, on the A42 road. It had a population of 2,364 at the 2001 Census."

One of the records noted that David Wilson, my great-great-grandfather, was born in Ballynashee, County Sligo, Ireland. Ireland Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881, film number 255962, for daughter Ann Wilson

David Wilson and Elizabeth Gilliland were married 29 Jan 1864. David Wilson's father's name was James Wilson. Elizabeth Gilliand's father's name was William Gilliland. Ireland Marriages, 1619-1898, film number 101452 

My great-grandfather’s, Samuel Wilson, death certificate

 Wilson  No Responses »
Jan 142012
 

My great-grandfather's death certificate arrived today. Samuel Wilson was born 30 August. While this says 1874, his naturalization documents say 1871. His wife, right after his death, fille this form out. He filled out his naturalization papers. So I'm going to assume that he was born in 1871.

He died 1 May 1946 in Kenmore, NY, of prostate cancer.

A couple new things from this document. One is his social security number. I can use that to order his social security application to see if that has some more information. The other is his mother's last name, or at least a possible last name. Some records say it's Elizabeth Watts. This says Elizabeth Gilliland or Gilliband.


Initiating a court order in New York to obtain a copy of my grandfather’s birth certificate

 Palmeri  5 Responses »
Jan 102012
 

I have a genealogical copy of my grandfather's birth certificate. For some reason, I was able to get that a while back but I need a court order to obtain a certified copy (see below). He was born over 100 years ago. He died over 40 years ago. But I still need a court order.

So I'm going to try to compile together the information I get on obtaining and putting together that court order. I'm just getting start started.

I first emailed a help desk at the NY State Supreme Court of Erie County. The person at the City Clerk's Office in Buffalo said that it would need to be a State Supreme Court order. From the court web site, it seems that they are the only court that can order the government to take some action. This is what the help desk said:

"In order to obtain a court order you must prepare a Petition, which outlines you were are, what the relationship is to the person whose birth record you want, along with the purpose for the record. You may want to attach any documents you may have supporting your reasons for your request for a Supreme Court Order. Since you want to do this without the assistance of an attorney, you also must prepare a proposed Order for the Judge to sign if your application is approved. This office does not have any pre-printed forms for such a matter. Once you have prepared your petition & proposed order, they need to be submitted to the Chief Clerk's Office of Supreme Court in the county where your grandfather was born. If in Erie County, the address is 25 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo. NY 14202."

I think from various things I found on the web, I can put together both a Petition and a proposed Order. What I am uncertain about is how to file a RJI (request for judicial intervention) and how to obtain an index number and whether I will need to do anything to issue a summons to the clerk of Buffalo, as suggested on various blog sites.

Update 11 Jan 2012

New response from the help desk:

"As previously stated, the Petition, any supporting documentation and proposed order need to be submitted to the Chief Clerk's Office of Supreme Court in the county where your grandfather was born. If in Erie County, the address is 25 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo. NY 14202. Erie County does not require an index number nor an RJI unless you want the original documents to be on file with the Erie County Clerk. The petitioner can by-pass the County Clerk altogether and go straight to the Special Term Judge and take the order directly to Vital Records once the order has been signed. Regarding serving the Vital Records Office, I suggest you include a cover letter asking the judge if it is required to serve them."

Based on this, and I followed up with more questions, it sounds like I can send a cover letter, a copy of the Petition, and a copy of the Proposed Order to the Special Term Judge, which now for Erie County appears to be Judge D'Amico. He may require that I "serve" the Vital Records Office or not. Who knows, maybe I would not even need to appear before him. Fingers crossed.

Update 11 Jan 2012

Another response today:

"Your petition would go the Supreme Court Civil Special Term Judge not the County Special Term Judge. Your petition should be sent to the Chief Clerk's Office at 25 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo. NY 14202 because the application must first be logged in so that Supreme Court has a record of receiving the application and for tracking purposes. Paperwork should be sent directly to a judge only after the case has been assigned to that judge."

Update 12 Jan 2012

Response today:

"You should send your petition, proposed order and supporting exhibits to the Chief Clerk's Office. I would also suggest a cover letter, listing your complete mailing address, phone number and email address(optional) if the court needs to get in touch with you. I would also suggest including a self-addressed stamped envelope so that the order, petition, and exhibits can be returned to you once the order has been signed by the judge."

a genealogical copy of my grandfather's birth certificate from the City of Buffalo

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