This article was first published on my previous blog. That blog is no longer active, so I have moved it here.
Below is the birth certificate of my great-grandfather Scott McQueen. I have often lamented that birth certificates were not required earlier. I could have learned so much about those elusive ancestors if they had been, provided the paperwork was still around.
Scott McQueen was the son of James Polk McQueen and his second wife Sarah Jane Lowe. His grandparents were Milton and Susan (Simmons) McQueen and William Mallett and Francis (Laird) Lowe.
(You can click on the documents and bring them into another window, You can then make them larger for easier reading.)
Scott McQueen
The only grandparent he would ever have known would have been William Lowe, for he died in 1902 when Scott was seventeen years old. William Lowe also lived near the McQueens and Chester, Texas. The other three grandparents all died before Scott was born.
It does appear this birth certificate was created after the fact in 1951 when Scott was 65 years old.
And note - for grins - the county clerk's name was Tom Sawyer.
James Polk McQueen and son Scott