Maryland, Allegany County Birth Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Record Description
The collection consists of images of a doctor's birth registers transcribed by the Allegany Historical Society. The registers are from Piedmont, West Virginia and Cumberland, Maryland.

Record Content
The records usually contain:


 * Date and place of birth registration
 * Full name of child
 * Gender
 * Birth date
 * Birth place
 * Name of parents
 * Residence of parents

How to Use the Records
To begin your search it is helpful to know:


 * The name of the child
 * Other identifying information such as the birth place, birth date or parents' names

Search the Collection
To search the collection: ⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒Select the appropriate "_____________" ⇒Select the appropriate "_____________" ⇒Select the appropriate "_____________" which takes you to the images.

Look at each image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names or variations of their name throughout their life.

Using the Information
When you have located your ancestor’s birth record, carefully evaluate each piece of information about them. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. For example:


 * Use the birth date along with the place of birth to find the family in census records.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records.

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * The parents' birth places can tell you former residences and can help to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * It is often helpful to extract the information on all children with the same parents. If the surname is unusual, you may want to compile birth entries for every person of the same surname and sort them into families based on the names of the parents. Continue to search the birth records to identify siblings, parents, and other relatives in the same or other generations who were born in the same county or nearby.
 * The information in birth records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant.
 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after the late 1800s.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from record to record.
 * If you are unable to find your ancestor look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for nicknames and abbreviated names.

Related Websites

 * Allegany College of Maryland
 * Maryland Genealogical Society
 * {http://www.mdgenweb.org/ Maryland GenWeb}

Related Wiki Articles
Maryland Vital Records

Citations for this Collection
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information; that is, cite your sources. This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually.

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