Research

Scope and Content Note

This series indexes 1,048 birth certificates filed for birth events that occurred prior to the implementation of statewide registrations of births on January 1, 1881. Delayed certificates were issued for births ranging in date from 1881 back to 1823, but almost all of them document births during the 1870s. Delayed certificates were filed as early as 1900, but most were issued in the late 1930s and early 1940s so that individuals could prove their age to receive benefits under the Social Security Act of 1935.

These indexes contain the following data: district number (county); first/middle/last name of child; date of birth; first/middle/last name of father; first/middle/last name of mother (usually maiden name); and date of filing certificate. The indexes to pre-1881 delayed birth certificates contain no data on births in locations outside New York State, or in New York City (five boroughs).