The Dallas Journal, Volume 49, 2003 Page: 41
166 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Dallas County Delayed Birth Certificate Indices
Abstract Of Delayed Birth Certificate Indices
For Dallas County, Texas
Abstracted by Dava Beisecker Ladymon
This is an abstraction of two index volumes of delayed births recorded in Dallas County Records in the 1930s. They
contain the name of the father, the maiden name of the mother, and the person's race in addition to the name, birth
date, and sex of the individual. The place of birth is not recorded. The first volume appears to be a first-time record
of a birth while the second volume is an amended version of a birth record.
These two volumes were found while the DGS Records Preservation Committee was inventorying the Second Floor
of the Dallas County Records Building in 1999. Committee members included Shirley Remnant Sloat, Kathy
Williston, Dr. Alan N. Miller, and Dava Beisecker Ladymon. My thanks to Kathy Williston for her assistance to the
abstractor in proofreading these index volumes.
During this time period (the 1930s) a birth certificate was becoming necessary to prove citizenship and/or
qualification for social security benefits, and many applications were received in a very short time period. Unlike
most other states, Texas permitted generation of delayed birth certificates for persons born outside the county or
state and even outside the country. The delayed birth certificate generated in Texas may be the only record of a
birth that occurred elsewhere, with some births going back into the 1800s. Texas did not require birth registration
until 1903.
All of the information contained in the indices is presented here, so this is only a starting place for researchers who
are seeking full details such as the missing place of birth. You may apply to the Bureau of Vital Statistics in Austin,
Texas for a full copy of the birth certificate that was generated as a result of the approval of these delayed birth
certificate applications. Records of Texas births occurring after 1926, but at least fifty years ago, are available from
staff at the Dallas County Clerk's office. Birth records older than that must be obtained from Austin. Records of
births occurring within the last fifty years have access restricted to those "with a need to know," to protect
individual privacy.
The two original index volumes are stored on the Second Floor of the Dallas County Records Building in the
Offices of the Dallas County Clerk. My thanks to Dallas County Clerk, Earl Bullock and his staff, for entrusting
these volumes to me for abstraction.The Dallas Genealogical Society
41
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Dallas Genealogical Society. The Dallas Journal, Volume 49, 2003, periodical, June 2003; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth186862/m1/45/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Genealogical Society.