John Anthony Miller Delayed Birth Certificate

You may remember, in this post, I mentioned that I found the birth certificates for the brothers and sisters of my parents but, for some reason I could not find the birth certificates for my mom and dad. I did a search on Ancestry and saw an entry for my dad, John Anthony Miller in the Iowa Delayed Birth Certificates collection. I took a look and there it was. I find several interesting things on this certificate. You'll note that I blurred out information about a living individual and about the address we lived at at the time.

First, note the date it was issued, July 27, 1983. My dad was 54 years old when he had it issued. It is unclear why he would have needed a birth certificate at this late date. Regardless, you can see he had to submit other documentation to prove his date of birth and parents.

The first document listed is his military discharge, which lists his birth date and his birth location. It notes that it does not show his parents' names. Next is the baptismal record from the church, noting that he was baptized on June 23, 1929 at Sacred Heart Church in Fort Madison, Iowa. Third is his birth record from Fort Madison Community Hospital, noting his correct birth date of June 16, 1929. Finally is the birth record for his oldest son in Fort Madison. Note I blurred out my oldest brother's name and birth date.

Another thing that stands out for me on this delayed birth certificate is that his father's middle name is noted as Henry. As I noted in a recent post, I knew this was his middle name but I never had any documentation of it until I found his WWI draft registration card. I had a lot of documentation that his middle initial was H. Now I have two pieces of documentation that his middle name was Henry, although this one is secondary documentation.

Finally, note that my dad's father's birth location is listed as Missouri. I had thought that he was born in Missouri previously but in recent years, I have found documentation, including the 1900 and 1920 US Federal Census saying that he was born in Iowa and his marriage license stating that he was born in Fort Madison, Iowa.

--Matt