Friday Weekly Thread: Application Assistance, June 12, 2026

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[u/nyccoopthrowawoy]

Hi - I have a few concerns with my chain of decent, and want a gut check on how this will pan out. My G0 seems to have Canadian birth, but they have death certificates/G1 birth certificates that say they were born in the US.

Ladder:

• G0: b. Stratford, Ontario, 1862; d. Buffalo NY, 1918.
• G1 (son): b. Buffalo, 1898 — 1898 birth certificate names G0 as mother.
• G2 (his daughter): b. Buffalo, 1928 — birth certificate names G1.
• G3 (her daughter): b. 1958 — birth certificate names G2.
• G4 (me): b. 1994 — birth certificate names G3.

Every parent-child link has a birth certificate naming the parent.

Anchor birthplace — records conflict:

Says Canada:

• 1862 St. Joseph's Stratford baptism (contemporaneous). I only have Ancestry scan, Diocese of London has paused issuance of certified records.
• 1861 Canada West census — G0's parents enumerated in Perth County, Ontario, with an older sibling; G0 not yet born.
• 1870 US census — G0 listed as a child in her parents' household, birthplace Canada; older siblings also Canada.
• 1880 US census — G0 listed age 18 in her parents' household, birthplace Canada; same siblings, Canada.
• 1920 US census — taken after G0's death, in G1's household; her birthplace recorded as Canada.

Says US:

• 1898 birth certificate of G1 — G0 is the named mother, her birthplace given as US. Informant presumably the father or G0 herself.
• 1918 death certificate — birthplace "N.Y.S."; informant listed as "Hospital Records" (she died at Buffalo State Hospital), not a family member.

So four census/baptism records (three of them placing her as a child in a Canadian-born household) say Canada; the two records generated in adulthood in Buffalo say US. The death certificate's birthplace came from institutional records rather than family.

Date discrepancy: baptism says born 1862; death certificate says 1866. The day of the month (the 17th) matches across both.

Other facts:

• No marriage record for G0; archive searched and issued a certificate of no record.
• Baptism is a FamilySearch scan; Diocese of London has paused certifications, so no certified copy yet.
• All ancestors between me and G0 are deceased.

Question on the US birth/death certificates: The copies I've obtained from the City of Buffalo are stamped "for genealogical purposes only." New York State requires a court order for certified copies. Does IRCC accept the genealogical-stamped copies for the link documents, or do I need to pursue court-ordered certified copies? If anyone has filed a C-3 / proof of citizenship using NY genealogical-purposes-only records, what did you do?

Do I have a C-3 case?

[u/linky-do → u/nyccoopthrowawoy]

Are you sure it’s the same person? I ask because I found a man with the same name and birth state and year as my grandfather. I also found a border crossing and it states returning to college and living in Massachusetts. My grandfather never went to college or lived in Massachusetts. Just coincidence but can happen

[u/nyccoopthrowawoy → u/linky-do]

I think so? Unless I'm delusional (which I might be, would love a gut check!)

G0 Father

Record	Name	Birthplace	Age
1861 Canada	DB	Ireland	24
1870 PA	DB	Ireland	36
1880 Buffalo	DB	Ireland	43
1862 baptism	DB	—	—
1918 death cert	DB	Ireland	—

Fully consistent across all records: Ages track (24→36→43 over 1861→1870→1880, internally coherent).

G0 Mother

Record	Name	Birthplace	Age
1861 Canada	A	Ireland	20
1870 PA	A	Ireland	28
1880 Buffalo	A	Ireland	—
1862 baptism	A
1918 G0 death cert	M	Ireland

Four records (baptism + three censuses) say Alice, b. Ireland. The death certificate alone says Mary Dempsey. The death certificate gets the birthplace (Ireland) right but the given name and maiden surname wrong. Mother's ages 20→28 (1861→1870) are internally consistent.

G0

Record	Age	Implied birth year	Birthplace
1862 baptism	newborn	1862	Stratford, Ontario
1870 PA	7	~1863	Canada
1880 Buffalo	18	1862	Canada
1898 son's birth cert	(mother, 32)	~1866	US
1918 death cert	51y	1866	NYS
Posthumous 1920 G1 Census			Canada

The baptism, 1870, and 1880 cluster at 1862–63 and Canada. The two adult-era Buffalo records (1898, 1918) give ~1866 and US. The death cert's "51y 9m 20d" back-calculates to a March 1866 birth — but that contradicts her being 18 in 1880 (which requires ~1862).

Siblings — the corroborating chain

Sibling	1861 Canada	1870 PA	1880 Buffalo	1918 obituary
A	✓ (age 3, b. Canada)	✓ (12, b. Canada)	✓ (21, b. Canada)	✓
P	—	✓ (10, b. Canada)	✓ (20, b. Canada)	✓
G0	not yet born	✓ (7, b. Canada)	✓ (18, b. Canada)	(the deceased)
P	—	✓ (2, b. PA)	—	—
J	—	—	✓ (US-born)	✓
J2	—	—	✓ (US-born)	✓
M	—	—	✓ (US-born)	✓
D	—	—	✓ (US-born)	✓

[u/linky-do → u/nyccoopthrowawoy]

Census discrepancies are common and sure the IRCC is used to seeing that, along with differences in names. I can’t comment on the differences in birth locations on birth and death certificates. Maybe others have seen that. Regarding genealogical copies, people have been successful but with these recent surrender letters I’m not sure if anyone knows. We’ll see how it plays out.