How do I find a German birth certificate, and death certificate?

How To Find a Birth Certificate from 1909???

• I need to find my Grandpa's birth certificate to prove his mother is actually his mother for my NDN card...But he was born at home, and he lived out of state in Missouri...I've looked everywhere "almost" online...i have his death certificate from Oklahoma does that help...

• Answer:

  Like most of rural America in that era, birth certificates weren't required and were rarely issued. I would suggest you work through census and church records to find the link to the mother. Most tribes understand the lack of official birth records in that era and will take a certificate issued by the Census Bureau (not just a copy of the page, but an actual certificate issued by the Bureau) or an official baptismal/christening certificate issued by a church or archives. Your other option is to find his marriage license and ask the court that issued it to also give you a certified copy of the marriage license application along with the marriage license itself. The application holds more information than license itself and most courts will happily sell a copy of the original and certify its authenticity. That would give you the second record for your NDN card. His death certificate doesn't work for most tribes unless you have a second piece of official documentation linking mother to son. Of course, there are two other possibilities. First, is there any possibility that his mother registered him with the tribe? If that's the case, then you just need to piggyback onto his registration. The other possibility is was he ever in the military? If he was, then his military service records are onfile with the National Archives in St. Louis and you can get a certified copy of that to pair with his death certificate. Good luck. It's a long process but once you're done it's really worth it.