August's Birth Certificate

Today, I took a drive to Wilkes-Barre (pronounce Wilkes Barry), Pennsylvania. That is an hour from where I live. My mission: to get August Kozub's birth certificate at the Luzerne County Courthouse.

I had planned to take this drive in October and had childcare lined up. But the day I was planning to go, the hurricane struck. After that, I sent a check to the Courthouse and asked them to find it. And the check got lost. So today, I decided to go searching myself. It was sunny and clear. . . much better than hurricane weather.

Read the captions below to learn about August's birth record which is kept in the Annex Building of the Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Courthouse. Based on that birth record, I was able to obtain a new birth certificate for August Kozub.

Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Courthouse

Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Courthouse Annex across the street from the main building (shown above)

The Luzerne County Courthouse Annex is where vital records are kept.

This is the room that is open to the public for searching vital records.

I found the stack of records for 1897 and found letter K.

The binder which holds August Kozub's birth record. Records are alphabetized by the first letter of the last name. Then, they are alphabetized by the first letter of the first name. Then, the names and last names and dates are in no particular order.

I found August on page 44 under K last names and G first names (Gustav).

Page 44 of the 1895 to 1899 birth records for Luzerne County. August is listed in the middle of the page.

August Kozub is listed as "Gustie Kocyoob". We have seen all kinds of spellings for Kozub. And in the 1900 Federal Census, August is listed as Gustav. I am sure I got the right guy. Sorry about this being sideways. I don't know why this blog turned this picture sideways.

August Kozub was born March 20. Here, it says 1896. But all other records list him born in 1897. I think this was a "typo". Still, the Luzerne County had to print 1896 on the birth certificate they made up for me today. Understandably so.

August's parents: Alexander and Irene. Here, it says Elexander and Arena. On the record I found in Hazleton for Amelia Kozub, Irene was listed as "Rena."

This says that August was born in Hazleton. And his dad's occupation is a W Teacher. What is the W for? I know he was a reverend at some point.

This helped me to know that I had the right guy. I thought it said "222 S. Price" Street. That matches Amelia Kozub's address and proves they are siblings. Amelia died just a few months before August was born. I have since learned, however, that this says "Pine" street. (Amelia's death record likewise says Pine.) Price Street does not and has not existed in Hazleton. But Pine Street has. So that is what is listed on August's new birth certificate.

I have to admit I walked away a tiny bit disappointed. I had wanted to find Amelia's death record so I could get a certificate for her too. But I suppose that for my research, her Hazleton record will work. Now that I see August was born at 222 S. Pine Street, I KNOW that they are siblings.

Also, I was kind of hoping to find the actual old birth certificate and that it would have more details on it. Oh well.

At least I did not walk away empty handed!


Here it is! (Click to enlarge)

Notice: As shown on the birth certificate, the birth was recorded May 6, 1897. (I forgot to take a picture of that part of the page.) Is it likely that the birth was recorded one year and two months later? Or just two months later? I stand by my belief that August Kozub was born on March 20, 1897 and that the quotation marks under 1996 on the birth record were wrong.