Part 689p – Smith Groh Genealogy – The Mystery of Brayton C. Placeway – 1888 Birth Registrations

Good Day,

In Genealogy research, one day the documentary pickings are dry, and the next, you just don’t have enough time in a given 24 hours to keep up with the onslaught. In this day and age the question is which of the many online doorways I venture past to see if my information and data is there. Last night I opened a door (albeit a link) at Family Search and there, even though I wasn’t looking for the exact register pages guess what I found.

The secret to my genealogy search and research is to look under every nook and cranny, open every door and gateway, so-to-speak. I try not to limit myself to only just one, in this case, online service.

Even though there are reams and reams of paper and old books and portfolios just stacked on shelves in some deep and dimly lit basement that have not made it into the elusive Cloud, somewhere in place and time, the modern offensive of technological acquisition seems to bring a new set of finds daily.

This time from Family Search, and the extensive program of digitizing the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, I have chanced upon a gem of a find. Last night I discovered the Birth Registration of the twin brothers, ggg-grandfather Brayton C. and ggg-granduncle Clayton C. Placeway. The original document pages are at the Michigan Department of Vital Records, Lansing, Michigan.

This document is in the Collection – Michigan, Births, 1867-1902; DGS Film Number 4204545. (The DGS is the Digital Folder Number.) Included in the Collection are 137 microfilms of which the one that has the Placeway Births Registrations is FHL [2321094].

At present and according to Family Search there are 164,866 images of pages in this Collection which, I would tender to guess that the work at digitizing all 137 microfilms is still in progress.

Citation Example for a Record Found in This Collection

"Michigan Births, 1867-1902." database and digital images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org: accessed 17 May 2012. entry for Brayton C. and Clayton C. Placeway, born 17 April 1888; citing Birth Records, FHL microfilm 4,204,545; Michigan Department of Vital Records, Lansing, Michigan.

But I just happened to luck out. Images 163 and 164 of 820 of the DGS 4204545. Here are the images of the two pages.

My transcription –

86

TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE OF MICHIGAN
Return of Births in the County of Livingston for the year ending December 31st, A.D. 1888.

RECORD NUMBER – 279, 280

DATE OF BIRTH
MONTH – April
DAY – 17
YEAR – 1888
SURNAME, AND CHRISTIAN NAME, IF ONE BE GIVEN – Brayton C. Placeway, Clayton C. Placeway
MALE OR FEMALE – Male, Male
WHITE, BLACK, MULATTO, ETC. – White, White
STILL-BORN ILLEGITIMATE, TWINS, ETC. – Twin, Twin
BIRTHPACE – Putnam, Putnam
PARENTS
FULL NAME OF EACH – Wm H. Placeway, Arvilla Placeway
RESIDENCE – Putnam
BIRTHPLACE OF EACH – Mich., NY.
OCCUPATION OF FATHER – Farmer
DATE OF RECORD – July 2nd, 1889

My next question - What did gggg-grandparents William and Arvilla Placeway have in mind when the named their twins each with the middle initial "C"?

And now the actual documentation of the 1888 Birth of ggg-grandfather Brayton C. Placeway is on file.

Enjoy,

Jim