Source: Johnson County, Illinois, "Record of Births Reported to County Clerk," delayed birth certificate unnumbered (1932), volume 5, p. 427, Retta May Martin; County Clerk's Office, Vienna.
[Note: Pre-printed form with transcribed answers in bold.]
Record of Births Reported to County Clerk
427 [stamped]
Certificate of Birth
1. PLACE OF BIRTH
County of: Johnson
Township of, Road District of, or Village of: [Blank]
or City of: [Blank]
Registration District No.: [Blank]
Primary District No.: [Blank]
Registered No. (Consecutive No.): [Blank]
Street and Number, No.: [Blank]
St.: [Blank]
Ward: [Blank]
Hospital: [Blank]
(If birth occurred in hospital or institution, give its name instead of street and number.)
2. FULL NAME OF CHILD: Retta May Martin
If child is not yet named, make supplemental report, as directed.
3. Sex of Child: F
4. Twin, triplet, or other?: [Blank]
5. Number in order of birth: [Blank]
(To be answered only in the event of Plural births.)
6. Legitimate?: yes
7. Date of birth: (Month) May (Day) 28 (Year) 1914
FATHER
8. FULL NAME: J.A. Martin
9. RESIDENCE (P.O. Address) Buncombe
10. COLOR: white
11. AGE AT LAST BIRTHDAY: 41 Years
12. BIRTHPLACE (City or Place): [Blank]
(Name State, if in U.S.): Ill
(Name County, if Foreign): [Blank]
13. OCCUPATION: Engineer
(Nature of Industry): [Blank]
MOTHER
14. FULL MAIDEN NAME: Lilly may Ally
15. RESIDENCE (P.O. Address): Buncombe
16: COLOR: White
17: AGE AT LAST BIRTHDAY: 21 Years
18. BIRTHPLACE (City or Place): [Blank]
(Name State, if in U.S.): Ill
(Name Country, if Foreign): [Blank]
19. OCCUPATION: Hwife
(Nature of Industry): [Blank]
20. NUMBER OF CHILDREN OF THIS MOTHER (Taken as of time of birth of child herein certified and including this child)
(a) Born alive and now living: 3
(b) Born alive and now dead: 1
(c) Stillborn: 0
WHAT TREATMENT WAS GIVEN CHILD'S EYES AT BIRTH?: [Blank]
21. CERTIFICATE OF ATTENDING PHYSICIAN OR MIDWIFE*
I hereby certify that I attended the birth of this child, who was born alive at [BLANK] M., on the date above stated.
*When there is no attending physician or midwife, then the father, mother, householder, etc., shall make this return. See Sec. 12 of vital stastistics law.
22. (Signature) (Physician or Midwife): J.A. Martin Father M.D. Midwife
Address: [Blank]
Telephone: [Blank]
Date Certificate Signed: (Month) [Blank] (Day) [Blank] Year 192[Blank]
23. Given name added from a supplemental report: (Month) [Blank] (Day) [Blank], (Year) 192[Blank]
Registrar: [Blank]
24. Filed: [Blank], 192[Blank]
Registrar: [Blank]
Post Office Address: [Blank]
Filed for Record this 5/11 day of [Blank] 19232
Clerk: Martha. E. Burris, [Signature]
**********
Analysis
While not marked as delayed, it is a delayed birth registration. J.A. Martin, or Joel Arthur Martin clearly registered his daughter Retta May Martin's (Paw Paw, my paternal grandmother) birth well after her birth. It is not surprising her parents did not register it earlier since they lived in rural Johnson County, Illinois.
Handwriting suggests the person who filled out the form is the same person who signed "J.A. Martin Father" but differs from the clerk's signature. It is possible that Joel filled it out himself as he could read and write.[1] There is no registration number assigned to this registration. The spelling of her name differs from how she spelled it, "Rettie Maye". The listed date of birth differs from what Paw Paw reported on her social security application, 28 April 1913, which is also listed on her death certificate.[2]
My Notes and Thoughts
 |
| Rettie Maye Martin, 15 years old, abt. 1928. |
Most likley born at her rural home, it is hard to say which birthdate is correct for her because she wasn't exactly truthful about a lot of things for many reasons, some known. Also, I wonder what prompted him to do it on 11 May 1932, specifically. Paw Paw did not apply for a social security number until 1968, but that is usually why a delayed birth certificate would be needed. [3]
 |
| Rettie Maye with her son Joseph Marshall, February 1937 |
There are two reasons I am interested in this document. First, I am trying to track down where she was after 1930 and before December 1936, when my father was born.[4] Did she go back to southern Illinois between living in Fort Bend County, Texas in 1930 and living in San Antonio, Bexar, Texas in 1936? Did she go back and forth?
.jpg) |
| L-R: Carole Marshall, Joel Arthur Martin, and Joseph Marshall, c.1942 |
Second, her father Joel, my paternal great grandfather, is a mystery, too, in this time period and around his death in 1948.[5] This document nails his feet down, so to speak, in Johnson County on that filing date in 1932. When I received her birth certificate after going back and forth with the state archives and the county clerk's office, I was just so happy to have received it that his occupation did not click with me until I transcribed the form. He listed "Engineer" as his occupation.
I had previously hypothesized he had worked for the railroad:
- There isn't much industry in southern Illinois other than agriculture, the railroad, and coal.
- I have a photo of him in a uniform that makes one think "railroad."
- His pocketwatch was one that a railroad worker would have used.
- And in 1930, seemingly randomly since they were from Johnson County, Illinois, his children—Roscoe (19), Rettie Maye (16), and Mabel (14)—are living by themselves on a rented farm in rural Fort Bend County, Texas, near the town of Katy, named after the Missouri, Kansas, Texas (M-K-T) railroad line. [6]
 |
| Joel Arthur Martin and his pocketwatch. |
That one word, "Engineer," on the occupation blank on her delayed birth certificate was exciting to see and lends a little more weight to my theory. Now to find the M-K-T railroad files. The Houston History Research Center has some M-K-T records. I'll contact them to see what all they have. And I'll explore the railroad history in Johnson County, Illinois. Did Joel work for them? Are there any extant records? What kind? By 1940, Joel is not working and living in Bloomfield, Illinois, near his youngest daughter Mabel and her family, but it is possible he did not die in Illinois at all.[7] So, if not, where did he die? Maybe he died there and it wasn't recorded, like his daughter's birth.
Someone recorded Joel's death on his tombstone and another memorialized it on Find A Grave. It indicates he died in 1948. [8]
- The state of Illinois and Johnson County do not have a record of his death. [9]
- He doesn't appear on the Social Security Index. [10]
- He doesn't appear on the Railroad Retirement Index (1934-1987). [11]
So, more work to do to flesh out their story and to solve other research problems. Our work is never done is it?
~Caroline
