After receiving all the information from my Great
Grandparents John Valentine Shablack and Norma Fullerton’s marriage license I
wanted to know more about Norma, so I sent off for a birth certificate. I
figured it would not be hard to find actually since I had her place of birth on
the marriage certificate. However, it did cost a stamp, envelope, a few dollars
and several weeks of patiently waiting the results.
After about a month I received a response. The letter said
that they had no record of a Norma Fullerton born on August 1st
between 1908-1909 “these are the years I figured she was born due to the
marriage certificate”. This disappointed me but I did not let it discourage me.
The clerk who wrote the letter did tell me that they found a Marguerite Fullerton born
the day before in 1909 with the parents I had listed and asked if I would like
a copy of that person, of course I replied yes.
A few weeks later, I received the birth certificate of a
Marguerite Fullerton born on July 31st 1909 in Fleming, Washington
County, Ohio. The parents listed were, William R Fullerton and Myrtle Johnson.
I knew this had to be her only thing that was different was Norma’s name, birth
date and her father’s middle initial, so I had to call my Aunt Norma up and
talk to her about my find.
My Aunt Norma told me that yes my great grandmother’s name
was in fact Marguerite, and my mom also confirmed it. For some reason, she
liked to be called Norma and used that name throughout her life and I believe that
is where my Aunt Norma may have received her name.
At the time I did not understand why she would use a name that
was not given to her at birth nor did I understand why someone would change their
birth day to be only one day younger. However, now after years of research I
have found many individuals were born with a first and last name, but were
called by another name growing up. Basically the name they were called by is a middle name that was never recorded on
their birth record. As for the birth date changing by one day or some times by
years that is also a very common thing. Many people never really paid attention
to their birth days or ages in the early 20th century and before. Today
knowing someone’s correct birthday is ritualized by a celebration and it is
more common thanks to commercialization.
Forward a bit….
After receiving my Great Grandmother Norma Fullerton-Shablack’s
birth certificate I started wondering why I never sent off for my own Grandmother
Wanda Virginia Shablack’s birth record, so that was my next quest.
I knew Wanda was born in Wheeling, Ohio County, West
Virginia, so I put in a request and within a few weeks I was holding my
grandmothers birth record.
Wanda’s birth certificate provided me with her birthdate as
November 13
th 1926 and her parents as John Valentine Shablack age 22
and Norma Marguerite Fullerton age 17. Their address on the certificate was
listed as 535 S. York St Wheeling, WV. Out
of curiosity I wanted to see exactly where this address in Wheeling was located
so I decided to Google it. Apparently they lived on Wheeling Island on the Ohio
River in 1926. The original structure is not there anymore and the street has
been renamed, but it was still really cool to see the area through Google maps.
535 S. York St Wheeling, West Virginia
What was odd about the certificate is that it listed Wanda’s
mothers name as Norma Marguerite instead of the opposite. I guess this did
prove that my great grandmother preferred to be called Norma Marguerite instead
of Marguerite Norma. Another anomaly on
the birth record was that my great grandmother listed her birth place as Marietta,
Ohio instead of Fleming, OH. However, I traced the distance between the two
towns and they are only about 11 miles apart, and Marietta is the larger of the
two so listing Marietta made a bit of sense. Maybe she and her family went to
Marietta all the time when they needed to purchase goods, or they could of
moved their later.
My Grandmother Wanda’s birth record also had another example
of miss matched birthdates. My Great Grandmother was listed as being 17 years
old when she had Wanda, but she married John Valentine Shablack when she was
18. Which is true, which is right? I honestly think that they just did not pay much
attention to how old they were back then.
Wanda’s father and my great grandfather John Valentine
Shablack was listed to be 22 years old when Wanda was born, which did matched
up to the marriage record of 21. He had a birthday on August 4th, so
that would have made him the 22 years of age when my grandmother Wanda was born
in November. The certificate also listed his occupation at the time of her birth
as a Produce dealer. I am guessing he did not work for a big supermarket back
then and probably just sold Produce to local shops.
Although, I found a few discrepancies in the records I was
searching for, I had learned a lot. One thing is to never just trust a birth
date that is given to you or that you find on one record, there is always a
chance that it could be wrong. That said, most likely the date would remain
close to the one you have so just search a few days before and after, this goes
for years as well. As for the names, it can be a bit trickier; you need to know
the name of a person before searching for a record. I was really lucky that the
clerk let me know about there being a person similar to the one I was looking
for and asking if I wanted a copy of that record. Most instances that were
similar the clerks never let me know and it ended up costing several more
stamps, envelopes, dollars and lots of time.
Now with receiving my Great Grandmothers and Grandmother’s birth
certificates I needed to focus my search back onto John Valentine Shablack. After all, this search is all about finding my
Polish roots.
This photo is of John V Shablack and Wanda Virginia Shablack about 1926-27
