Hazel Dorothy L. Dixon : Birth Certificate

The Midwife Wrote With an Austrian Accent

Please enjoy this quirky document that records the birth of the youngest child of William A. Dixon and Mary Elizabeth (Klein) Dixon. Hazel was born four years after my grandfather, her brother, Wallace B. Dixon.

The midwife, Therese M. Layerer, was born in Austria according to census records. She had lovely penmanship and wrote with an accent. Take a look at the document and see if you can tell what I mean.

Birth Certificate for Hazel Dorothy L. Dixon, b. 16 Jan 1927

Here's my transcription of the document, with comments [in brackets].

DIXON [written across the top]
State of New Jersey. Bureau of Vital Statistics.
Certificate and Record of Birth. #79
Name of Child: Hazel Dorothy L. Dixon [note the odd shape of the "x."]
Sex: Girl. Color: White. Date of Birth: 16 January 1909
Place of Birth: No. [or "At?"] 65 Marchal St. [possibly Marshall St.]
Name of Father: William Dixon [that funny "x" again]. Father's Birthplace: Elizabeth.
Maiden Name of Mother: Lissie Kleine [They may have called her Lizzie.] Mother's Birthplace: Oho [Ohio]
Age of Father: 46. Occupation of Father: Carp Ender [He killed fish for a living. Or he was a Carpenter.]
Age of Mother: 42. Occupation of Mother: ----
Number of Children in all by this marriage: 10. Number of Children now living: 7.
Name and P.O. Address of Professional Attendant in own handwriting:
Therese M. Leyerer, Midwife
73 E. Jersey St. Eliz NJ.
Date of this Report: [none given]

Many thanks to the good folks at the NJ State Archives for digging this up for me.

Citation
Hazel Dorothy L. Dixon, birth certificate 79 (16 January 1909), Elizabeth, Union county, New Jersey. New Jersey State Archives, Trenton, New Jersey.

Wallace B. Dixon : Name Changer, Part 2

Where Did "Theodore" Come From?

You may (or may not) recall that last month I was puzzling over the family story of my Grandfather's name change. Family legend says that he was given the name Bernard Wallace when he was born, but later "legally changed it" to Wallace Bernard.

Wishing to settle the matter once and for all, I sent away to the New Jersey State Archives in Trenton for a copy of Wallace Bernard Dixon's birth certificate. (You can order these things on line now, which is the height of convenience when you live a full day's drive from the Archives.)

A few short weeks later, I received not only the original birth certificate, but a copy of a form "For Correcting or Amending a Certificate of Birth, Marriage, or Death." Two for the price of one!

Here, then, is my grandfather's original birth certificate.

Birth certificate for Theodore Wallace [a.k.a. Wallace Bernard] Dixon

 So, where the heck did the name Theodore come from? It is amusing to imagine that it went something like this:

The Naming : A play in one very short act.

Midwife: Congratulations on your new son, Mr. Dixon. What are you going to name him?
Mr. Dixon: Why, I believe we'll name him Theodore, after our president, and give him the middle name of Wallace.
Midwife: Theodore Wallace it is!
Some time later...
Mr. Dixon to Mrs. Dixon: Isn't our little boy Theodore Wallace just grand?
Mrs. Dixon: Theodore? Like heck we're calling the boy Theodore! His name is Bernard. Bernard Wallace! And that's final!

And then they forget to let the know about the name change, or just don't even give it a thought.

In the 1905 and 1915 NJ State Census, my grandfather is listed as Bernard. By the time 1920 rolls around, the Federal Census has him going by Wallace.

Another possible theory is that by the time the midwife got around to filing out the certificate, eight days after the fact, she got a little confused about the name.  We'll probably never know.

The Official Name Change

On 30 March 1942, Wally's brother, John Dixon, filled out the form changing my grandfather's name, officially, from Theodore Wallace to Wallace Bernard.

Correcting the Name on a Birth Certificate. One short form, signed by Grandpa's brother, John.

Affidavit signed by brother, John Dixon, on 30 March 1942.

The change form was filled out on 30 March 1942. The following day, this transcribed Birth Record was issued. And just like that, my grandfather was officially Wallace Bernard Dixon!

Delayed Birth Record for Wallace Bernard Dixon
issued the day after the name "correction" paperwork was signed.

I'm guessing that this flurry of paperwork was instigated by the Draft for World War II. The only draft registration records that are currently available are from the Fourth Registration, conducted on 27 April 1942, and including only those men between 45 and 65 years old. My grandfather would have been 37 at the time, so he is not included in that record set. He may well be one of the 10 million men who registered between 1941 and 1946. As far as I know, he never served in the military. When those other records become available I'll be looking for him!

Wallace B. Dixon : Name Changer

You Can Call Me Wally

In a previous post regarding a birth record for my grandfather, Wallace B. Dixon, I raised the question of his name change. I had been told many times by  a variety of people that he had been given the name Bernard Wallace when he was born, but legally changed it to Wallace Bernard when he became an adult.

Since this whole genealogy thing revolves around Proof, I've been looking for sources that confirm that he did, indeed, change his name.

Here's the birth record that I have for him

1942 document recording Wallace Bernard Dixon's birth in 1905.

While this is a certified copy of birth information recorded in official documents, it was created nearly 40 years after the event, and is a derivative document. On a scale of 1-4 for reliability, I'd give it a 2-3.

In the 1905 New Jersey State Census he is recorded as Bernard. The same is true in the 1915 New Jersey State Census. (Sorry, no images yet. These were index only records.)

We can see here that in the 1920 Federal Census, he was being called Wallace.

The Census Enumerator spelled the last name wrong, but this is Wally's family. Note the absence of his father, William A. His mother is claiming that she is widowed, but William was still very much alive in 1920. Another mystery.

Of course, it is entirely possible that he was named Wallace Bernard when he was born, and the family just used his middle name. Perhaps, somewhere between the ages of 10 and 15, he decided that he much preferred to be called Wallace or Wally.

Next Steps

In order to prove my grandfather's birth name and possible name change I will need to do a few things.

• See if I can get a photocopy of the original birth record.
  Where can I find that? How do I procure a copy?
• If the original birth record shows that he was named Bernard Wallace at birth, then I will have to find a source for records of legal name changes in NJ. Is that information even available?

Citations

"New Jersey State Census, 1905," database, FamilySearch (https://beta.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KMHK-VXD : accessed 23 November 2015), William A Dixon, , Union, New Jersey, United States; citing p. 6, line 44, Department of State, Trenton; FHL microfilm 1,688,625.

"New Jersey State Census, 1915", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV9W-WW8H : accessed 23 November 2015), William Dixon, 1915.

1920 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010), Ancestry.com, Year: 1920; Census Place: Elizabeth City Ward 10, Union, New Jersey; Roll: T625_1070; Page: 10A; Enumeration District: 97; Image: 823. Record for Wallace Dickson.

Wallace Bernard Dixon - Birth Record

Wallace B. Dixon
Born in 1905 in
Elizabeth, NJ

This is where it starts

My search for the ancestors I don't know begins with the ones that I do know. First we'll start with my Grandpa Dixon.

My maternal grandfather, Wallace Bernard Dixon, was born on 2 March 1905 in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

His parents were William A. Dixon and Mary Elizabeth Klein. If you take a closer look at this birth record, you'll notice that Mary Elizabeth was 38 years old when Wallace was born. She had already given birth to five children that I know of. She would have one more child after Wallace was born, a daughter named Hazel, born in 1909.

Birth Record for Wallace B. Dixon

Just the facts

Information from this document:

• Wallace Bernard Dixon was born on 2 March 1905 in Elizabeth, NJ.
• His parents are William A. Dixon and Mary E. Klein.
• William A. Dixon was working as a carpenter. 
• William A. Dixon was born in the USA in about 1863 [inferred based on his age in 1905].
• Mary E. Klein was born in the USA in about 1867 [inferred based on her age in 1905].
• Attending the birth was L. F.[?] Terrill.
• This document was issued on 31 March 1942 as a transcript from the City of Elizabeth, NJ Records of Birth in the office of the City Clerk, Patrick F. Keelan.

Questions for further research

• William A. Dixon was working as a carpenter. The family were traditionally oystermen. Was he ever an oysterman, and if so, when and why did he switch to carpentry?

• The document lists my grandfather's name as "Wallace Bernard." Family lore has it that he was born "Bernard Wallace" and later changed it to Wallace Bernard. Look for the original birth record from 1905 and see how his name was recorded.
  
  [Update 8Jan2016 : see post "Wallace B. Dixon : Name Changer" for additional information.]
   
• What was happening in 1942 that caused my grandfather to get this delayed birth record?

My grandfather's generation spanned 25 years. He had at least six siblings about whom I know virtually nothing. These are people I want to learn about. Their descendants are cousins I'd like to meet. Theirs are the stories I'm looking for.

Citation
Birth Certificate [delayed] for Wallace Bernard Dixon, 31 March 1942, Certificate No. 2636, City Clerk, City of Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey. Transcript from official Records of Birth. Certified copy in possession of author.