An Ancestry Brick Wall: Angela DiFalco's Birth Certificate

During any ancestry research, one usually comes across a "brick wall." A brick wall, in its simplest terms, is where one cannot either find or verify an ancestor; further, it might be where a record seems not to exist. I have come across this brick wall with my great-grandmother, Angela DiFalco. Angela DiFalco was born to Incoronata Falco, nee Famigelitti, and Carmine DiFalco on 16 December 1908, as according to the Baptism records of the Archdiosese of Chicago, as shown below:

It is possible that her birth was not recorded at the time, as she was born before the 1916 statute enforcing the registration of births; however, she has a social security number (SSN), which would have required a birth certificate. To validate this matter, we requested her social security application (Form SS-5). This showed that she applied properly. Therefore, we Cook County Bureau of Vital Records to search for her birth certificate in either the “Delayed Birth Index” and/or “Birth Certificate Correction Index."

It is also worth nothing that her marriage certificate, as married to John Rante, does not contain her parent's names. Interestingly, it lists her name as Angeline Falco. This causes another issue, especially among Italian immigrants, the changing of their last names. Here, her civil marriage license shows "Falco" whereas her baptism and marriage certificates from the Catholic Church shows "DiFalco."

If we are successful in obtainng her birth certificate, along with her death certificate, then we will have overcome the brick wall constantly plagued by genelogists, whether amateur or professional. Stay tuned as we await these records.