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Re: Accuracy of birth records



As the Archives in Maine has vital records originals from early in this century,
we get a lot of calls from individuals and town clerks.  Once the Portland city
clerk called and asked for a birth record she couldn't find.  I asked her for
the name and she replied something like "Berschzek Wzschewerzchski".  I asked
her how that was spelled and she replied, "I don't know.  That's why I'm calling
you!"  I eventually found it under about the twentieth name variation I tried.

Maine has had, like other states, at various times, immigration waves form
various countries, which ahs resulted in interesting challenges for the keepers
of the records.  Besides variant spellings, a nightmare in itself, we have the
problem of "language jumping".  The French immigration into Maine of the late
19th century (of which my own ancestors were a part) led to many of the
"Quebecois" who worked in the mills to assume English translations of their
names.  You get used to it after a while, but our records technician (who has
not had mold grow on him from his tenure here yet, as has happened to us
long-timers, is frequently coming to me and saying, "I can't find this birth
record for a man named Fisher."  "Try Poisonnier".  "Boisvert?"  "Try
Grrenwood".  "Freeman?"  "Try Laliberte."  "Cyr" may be under "Crock" and
"Pelkey" may be under "Pelletier".

My own experiences show that the vital records I have the most difficulty in
locating are of Polish-Russian and Italian heritage.  Our early town clerks
could no better handle the spelling of these (to us) tongue twisters than I can
find them.  I blanch when I get a request for a record for a name which begins
with five consonents and ends with three vowels.  But we generally are
successful.

Then I remember the mail addressed to me and this makes me sympathetic to the
problems people experience:  "Dear Mr. Posti", "Dear Mr. Dotsi", "Dear Mr.
Dorrity", "Dear Mark Frosty", "Dear Al Prostie".....

etc., etc. ,etc...Sometimes I wish my name was Joe Green (or is that Giuseppe
Verdi?).

Art Dostie

Maine State Archives

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