Black and white photo of couple with baby between them. ~ late 1910's

Genealogy Research, How To Trace Your Family Tree

How to Find An Ancestor’s Birth Date (Even If No Birth Record Is Found)

October 24, 2016 / 25 Comments

How to find an ancestor’s birth date is a common genealogy question. Use these 8 alternative genealogy records to determine your ancestor was born.

You are diligently researching your ancestor. You know he exists. In fact you know quite a bit about his later life. But you are stuck. You are unable to find a birth record or birth date for him.

No nice formal birth certificate can be found. Not even a delayed birth certificate!

Raise your hand if this has happened to you. I’m raising my mine!

It’s frustrating, but determining the birth date of your ancestor does not have to be an unsolvable genealogy problem. We just have to approach our research from a different angle.

Birth certificate used to find an ancestor's birth date — NC Birth Certificate for Lester Howard

We are familiar with the traditional birth certificate research. We use those for documenting the birth date of an ancestor, their parents’ names, and their location in time. But you do not have to go too far back in your research timeline to a point when formal birth records were not required.

In North Carolina birth certificates were not required until 1913. Even then, compliance with documenting a child’s birth was not consistent until the beginning of the first world war.

The question in your research very quickly becomes…

How do you determine an ancestor’s birth date in the absence of a birth certificate?

Fortunately, other documents can be used to determine an ancestor’s birth date. Before you head off to the archives or start your online research though, set yourself up for success by knowing the background of the area where your ancestor was born (or possibly born if you are not sure).

black and white photo of man, woman and baby from the late 1910's. White text on tan backgournd reading finding and ancestor's birth date — Pin for Future Reference!

Do not search for records that do not exist!

You will save yourself a lot of time and frustration if you do preliminary research on the location of your ancestors.

When did birth records began being recorded in the location your ancestor was born? If your ancestor was born in North Carolina in 1910, do not look for a birth certificate. This will save you time from searching for a record that does not exist. No genealogy researcher has time for that.

Did any record losses occur in the are you are researching? Unfortunately, fires and natural disasters have destroyed many of our ancestors’ records. Before you begin research into your ancestor’s birth record (or any record), check to see if the county or state has had any major record loss. If so, make a note for which years. If the record loss corresponds with your time frame, you will know what does and does not exist.

8 Alternative Sources To Find Your Ancestor’s Birth Date

A formal birth record may not be found for your ancestor, but you can deduce the birth year/date or at least narrow down the date by using other records.

Let’s take a look:

1.The Family Bible

Is your genealogy research stuck because you cannot find your ancestor's birth date? Try these 8 alternative resources to find your date of birth. #genealogy #ancestors #birthdate

Ok, I know….you are thinking “We don’t have a family Bible.” I said the same thing when I started, only it wasn’t true. I discovered a copy of the family Bible in a relative’s possession.

When searching for your own family’s Bible, ASK!

Ask your close relatives.

Ask your distant relatives.

Query Facebook genealogy groups/pages for the area or family you are researching.

No cousin is too distant in relationship or physical distance to have information on your family’s ancestors. (I’m stepping off of my soap box now!)

Another possible source to find family Bibles is your state archives and/or state library. For example, if you have North Carolina ancestors, check the North Carolina Family Records Online.

2.Church and Baptismal Records

Your ancestors often recorded births and baptisms in church records. Seek out the possible churches your ancestor may have attended and determine where (or if) their records exists.

3.Census Records

The post 1850 census records are a source for your ancestor’s birth. Some census years provide a month and year and some simply the year or just the age of the individual. From there you can narrow down your ancestor’s birth year. The pre-1850 census records require more in-depth analysis to narrow down a range for the birth date, but are an important source when used with other records. Check out these other posts for more on analyzing census records:

4.Death certificates

Death certificates usually provide the birth date (if it is known by the informant). Be careful here, though. Who was the informant for the information on the death certificate? Consider if the individual was someone who knew the deceased well and would have known the birth information with certainty. Or did the informant have a more distant connection?

5.Wills

Is your ancestor named in their parent’s will? If the deceased left minor children, you may find them listed as such in the will. You will not likely find an actual age or birth date, but knowing the individual was a minor in a specific year (i.e. the date the will was written) can help you narrow down his/her birth date.

6.Guardianship records

These may be found in the parent’s estate records and/or in court records. (These are some of my favorite records!) First, you must know the laws surrounding guardianship in the state you are researching. Your state archive librarians are great resources here. Under what age was a child considered a minor? Most commonly for males, it was 21 years of age. Females could be 16 or 18. Guardianship papers may state the age of the child or simply imply the age.

If you find a guardian named for your ancestor, your next step is to search out the guardian account records. Each year the guardian was required to make an account of what spent to take care to the minor child. Records should indicate, too, when the guardianship ended indicating the child was then of legal age. If 21 was the age of legality, then you can simply subtract 21 from the year guardianship ended and determine the birth year.

7.Sexton records/gravestones

Do you know where your ancestor(s) was buried? Is there a gravestone or is the stone no longer readable? Worse, does the stone only list the name and no dates? Check the cemetery records/sexton records. If the cemetery is large enough to have its own office, call and inquire. I have encountered some of the most helpful people doing this. If the cemetery is small, you may need to contact the local town management to determine who is in charge of the cemetery and where those particular records are kept.

8.Tax records

Yes, you can narrow down an individual’s birth year using tax records.

The key here is to know the tax laws for the time period your ancestor lived. Learn who was taxed and what they were taxed on. For example, in 1784 in North Carolina, freeman and male servants over 21 years were taxed. Under 21 they were not taxed. Tax laws came and went, so be sure you understand why he is (or is not) appearing in the record. Follow your ancestor through the tax records and determine when he appears and disappears in the tax records.

Just because your ancestor did not have a birth certificate, does not mean you can not determine their date of birth. Sometimes you may only be able to determine a date range by a preponderance of evidence.

That’s okay.

In the process you will have learned more about your ancestor, who he/she associated with and the community in which they lived. You will have also gained new skills and insights for future research projects on your family.

Have an Ancestor’s Birth Certificate Already?

You are one of the lucky ones and found an actual birth certificate for your ancestor. Make sure you are not missing any potential family history clues it holds.

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How to Find An Ancestor’s Birth Date (Even If No Birth Record Is Found)

How do you determine an ancestor’s birth date in the absence of a birth certificate?