Where and when was your mother born?
Transcription of my mother's Birth Certificate:
Date Issued OCT 25 1940
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Bureau of the Census
STATE OF OHIO
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
CERTIFICATE OF BIRTH
Place of Birth
County of Cuyahoga
City of Lakewood
Registration District No. 8119
Registered No. 439
No. 2062 Robin Ave.
(If birth occurred in a hospital or institution, give Name instead of street and number)
FULL NAME OF CHILD: Elizabeth Tokar
Sex of Child Fem.
Legitimate? Yes
Date of birth Aug. 9 1920
FATHER
FULL NAME Andrew Tokar
RESIDENCE 2062 Robin Ave., (Lakewood, Ohio)
COLOR or RACE White
AGE AT LAST BIRTHDAY 30 years
Birthplace: Austria
a. Trade, profession or particular kind of work done - Painters Helper
b. Industry or business in which work was done: --
c. Date (month and year) klast engaged in this work: --
g. Total time (years) spent in this work: --
MOTHER
FULL MAIDEN NAME Anna Joseph
RESIDENCE 2062 Robin Ave., (Lakewood, Ohio)
COLOR or RACE White
AGE AT LAST BIRTHDAY 25 Years
Birthplace: Same
d. Trade, profession or particular kind of work - H.W.
e. Industry or business in which work was done: --
f. Date (month and year) last engaged in this work: --
h. Total time (years) spent in this work: --
Number of children of this mother (At time of this birth and including this child) 3
(a) Born alive and now living 3
Is this child congenitally deformed? --
Was Prophylactic against Ophthalmia Neonatorum used? Yes
CERTIFICATE OF ATTENDING PHYSICIAN OR MIDWIFE
I hereby certify that I attended the birth of this child, who was born alive at 6:30 A.m. on the date above stated.
(signed) Geo. H. Mraz, M.D.
Address 1640 Alameda Ave.
Filed 8-21-, 1940
A. J. Phelps, Registrar
Some takeaways from this document:
1. I had always heard that Mom was born in Cleveland, but it appears she was born at home in Lakewood (also known as Bird Town because of the names of the streets).
2. The Birth Certificate was issued in 1940, perhaps because she needed one to apply for Social Security.
3. Her mother was using her Americanized name of Anna Joseph rather than Jozefova or Josef as she would have been called at home
4. Both parents list their birthplace as Austria. No. That's wishful thinking on their part, or that they were embarrassed about where they came from. Their towns were in the Austro-Hungarian Empire at that time, but from what is now Eastern Slovakia which would have been Upper Hungary then.
5. My mother was the third of three children in 1920, meaning two children older than her. Personal knowledge verifies that since she had two older sisters.
6. Geo. H. Mraz is a Slovak name. My grandmother had a doctor from the same ethnic group as she and my grandfather belonged.
