Thomas J. McIntyre, Birth Certificate, 1878

When I was in Ireland in 1998, I went to the records office in Dublin to see if I could get a copy of Thomas McIntyre's birth certificate. I supplied the birth date of April 14, 1878. When the clerk came out with the certificate, it said, July 14, 1878. I thought this odd, but all the rest of the information agreed. I later learned that parents were fined if they didn't register the birth of their child within three months. Noting the date of registration as September 17, 1878, it became evident that his parent just "altered" the birth date to prevent from being fined. Since that time, I have seen this same occurrence in other individuals born in the 1800s.