US birth cert/passport? 1920

[rivierableu]

I have a copy of my mother’s birth certificate – Boston Mass. 1915. Her mother died in 1919 and her father took her and her brother to Ireland arriving Moville 27th April 1920.   I have the Columbia arrival record from New York after someone helped me on Roots chat.  Unable to settle in Ireland however, my grandfather returned to Boston a few years later.  He said he had her ticket and wanted to take her with him and send for her brother later when he had saved enough money.  She said she would wait until he had enough money for them both.  My grandfather died in Jan 1929 and my mother never returned to America.   

My query is: - would the birth certificates have been used as passports do you think?   At the top right hand side is printed Boston ……….. (obviously a space for a date) where both certificates have been stamped with the date Apr – 2 1924  and again on a big official red seal on the front.  The certificates are quite grand looking and hand written, about 23cm x 29cm.   A feint official embossed stamp is on the front with the date July 1929.  I also have a photograph (Trement Street Boston) of my grandfather sitting with the two children which my mother always thought was her passport photo.  Did they need to have a passport photo?   

I am trying to piece all these bits together but have always been stumped by the dates on the certificates.  I’d be very grateful for any clues.  Thanks

[johnnyboy]

According to the U.S National Archives information page on U.S. passport applications (http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/passport/#intro), a passport requirement for travel by U.S. citizens was the exception rather than the rule through much of U.S. history until the outbreak of the Second World War.

During the U.S. Civil War, passports were required travel by U.S. citizens for several months in 1861 and 1862.

Passports were required for travel by U.S. citizens during the First World War from May 1918 to the formal end of the war (by treaty) in 1921.

In December 1915, President Woodrow Wilson issued what is called an executive order suggesting but not requiring that U.S. citizens travel with a passport.

It is only since June 1941 that passports have been required for travel by U.S. citizens.

The short answer to your question, then: The Massachusetts birth certificate would not have served as a passport for your mother. It only verified that she was born in the state of Massachusetts. Since it was issued by a state, rather than by the U.S. Department of State, I doubt that it would have been useful as a document for travel from the U.S. to other countries--to Ireland, for example. But it would have been useful to prove your grandmother's identity, place of birth, and citizenship/nationality.

An important question concerns her father? Whether or not he was required to have a passport for travel abroad would have depended upon the law in Ireland. Would that not have been U.K. law in 1915 and 1920? I don't believe that passports were required to enter the U.S. when he would have been traveling back and forth across the Atlantic.

Incidentally, you don't mention whether or not your grandfather returned to the U.S. and what ultimately became of him. I assume that he must have returned to the U.S., since you mention that the certificates are dated 1924 and 1929.

The two dates on the certificates are puzzling. One would probably have been the date of issue. But perhaps the embossed date is 1924 rather than 1929? You mention that it is faint. And it might have been distorted by the embossing stamp. Have you looked at it with a magnifying glass?

Regards,
John 

[rivierableu]

Thank you for your very detailed reply Johnny Boy (my grandfather was John btw).  You have answered quite a few questions that I’ve asked myself down the years.  Since putting my posting on roots chat I have come across details of my grandfather’s naturalization (1902) and his WW1 draft registration (1918).  When he returned to Ireland with the children in 1920, his intention was to remain there with them.  However he returned to the US alone, sometime between 1923-5 from what I remember being told and there he died in 1929.  I am wondering whether he took his children’s birth certificates with him and in 1924 perhaps he had them stamped ready to bring the children back to him.  That sadly never happened for they never saw each other again.  Whatever the dates mean – I love looking at the wonderful birth certificate and I’d like to thank you for trying to help.  I’ll add your information to my research.