Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Don't Believe Me? Helen Ropp's Birth Certificate

Return of a Birth (a.k.a. Birth Certificate) for Helen ROPP
(shared with me by my great aunt ML.)

Well, this isn't a perfect amount of proof, but it's pretty good at showing Helen's mother is the mysterious Mattie Carolina Kelley.  A couple of key things that should be pointed out... Mattie's last name is listed as ROPP which makes me believe the couple was perhaps married at the time of Helen's birth. I have not tracked down a marriage certificate for them yet, but since Mattie's birthplace is listed as Baltimore and Helen was born in Baltimore, I assume IF Ernest and Mattie really were married, it was somewhere around Baltimore.

The second, and perhaps more important thing to note is scratched in pen at the top of the document.  "Given Name Added  11-9-66.  I'm not sure why or how it was added at that time, but it's an important fact to point out "just in case" the document is incorrect. It certainly looks legit, but a birth certificate that was not completely filled out unti 60 years after the birth does leave some room for potential error.

And now we know Helen's middle name, Adline.  Thanks for sharing this with us, ML!

2 comments:

  1. Sometimes the given name is added at the later date when the person needs a copy of their birth certificate for some reason. The original only had Baby Robb so they officially had the first name recorded most likely by Helen herself.
    Just a thought.
    Regards,
    Theresa (Tangled Trees)

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  2. Thanks for the comment Theresa. I have a feeling that's exactly what happened, but I'm not sure what would have prompted the change when Helen was 60 and not before. Social Security, maybe? I dunno.

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