Frederick Henry Norris - birth 15 Aug 1900

The story begins with my maternal grandfather, Frederick Henry Norris. Grandpa was born on 15 Aug 1900 at 619 W. 48th St, New York, NY. His birth certificate was badly misspelled by the midwife who delivered him. "Frederick" was written like "Fridrich", and "Norris" looked like "Norres". He apparently had difficulties getting others (like the Social Security Administration) to accept his real name.

New York, New York County, Municipal Archives, New York City, Manhattan birth certificate no. 1900-32892, "Fridrich H Norris"

And the misspellings don't stop there. His mother's name is listed as "Adella A Norres", and her maiden name is "Bartolome". None of that is accurate, although it's close. His father's name was "Edward", though. I sincerely doubt my great-grandfather was a "pedler"; more likely, he was a peddlar.

I believe that the midwife (Anna Allemann) was German-speaking, and she spelled the names and words the way they sounded to her.

None of that matters, though. It was easy enough to find the marriage certificate for Grandpa's parents. And that's where the fun really began.