| If you want to know how to find a birth time, the | | | | your birth, depending on their record keeping |
| easiest way to do so is to get yourself a copy of | | | | practices. |
| your birth certificate. To find your birth certificate | | | | Another way to acquire your birth certificate |
| you would probably want to start with asking your | | | | information is to access the public databases online. |
| parents. They may have a copy, and they may also | | | | There are companies that specialize in finding, |
| have written your birth time in an infant book they | | | | archiving and providing old vital records documents of |
| created for you. If, however, they lack these | | | | all sorts. They have gone to the trouble of |
| documents, you need but go online and get yourself | | | | accessing databases from all over the country and |
| a copy of your original birth certificate. | | | | can shorten your search dramatically. If you are |
| Birth certificates are issued in the state in which you | | | | searching for birth times as part of an overall |
| were born. These, and other vital statistic records, | | | | genealogical search this is definitely the place to |
| usually need to be requested in writing and with | | | | start. Not only can they point you towards your |
| some form of government issued identification. In | | | | birth time or certificate, they can frequently make |
| the case of adoptions, recorded birth names were | | | | additional connections for you by tying together |
| sometimes entered erroneously, to protect the birth | | | | family relations based on the available information. |
| mothers. While this practice no longer exists, it was | | | | Going online is a great place to start your quest. |
| very common in the 1950s and 1960s. In some | | | | From a practical perspective you don’t actually |
| states you can request a long form or a short form, | | | | need the time of your birth unless you are trying to |
| for a birth time you will need the long form. | | | | determine if you were born on one day or the next |
| If you want to be sure that the state from which | | | | in a culture that measures time from sunset or you |
| you order your birth certificate sends the right | | | | want to look up astrological information. It really is |
| information, make sure to ask specifically for a form | | | | just a matter of having the information. Still it is |
| that states your birth time. If they lack this | | | | comforting to know where you came from and |
| information for some reason, you can usually narrow | | | | when you got there. Knowing how to find a birth |
| down the hospital in which you were born with the | | | | time is often just part of the big picture for |
| birth certificate. The hospital may have records of | | | | adoptees searching for their roots. |