Proving The First Three Generations

Proving that I am the descendant of my parents is easy enough. I have my birth certificate, which proves who my parents are. However, I do not have the birth certificates of my parents. I haven't asked Mom for hers, and Dad has lost his and probably hasn't sent off for another copy from Clovis. This will make it a little bit more tricky to prove my grandparents. Either way, here is my birth certificate:

Ha! Like I'd actually post my birth certificate on the internet. My wife would kill me!

Instead I'll just post the index, which says I was born 20 September 1984 and that my father is Timothy Mike McGaughy and my mother is Rebecca Lynn Barrett:

"Texas, Birth Index, 1903-1997," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V8PC-W79 : accessed 10 Sep 2013), David Michael Mcgaughy, 1984.

This clearly shows who my parents are: Timothy Mike McGaughy is my father, Rebbeca Lynn Barrett is my mother.

Now, here's where it gets a little dicey. I do not have access to the birth certificates of my parents. Good news! I happen to know when they were born and where. Often times, states will keep birth indexes, which are almost as good. It worked as a replacement for my birth certificate, didn't it?

Using Family Search's Records Search I was able to find Mom's Birth Index.  It says her parents were Raymond Earl Barrett and Dorothy Elouis (this is incorrect, grandma's middle name is Louise. However, it's close enough that it won't matter) Dixon, and that she was born 17 August 1957.

"Texas, Birth Index, 1903-1997," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VDH6-M9K : accessed 10 Sep 2013), Rebecca Lynn Barrett, 1957.

Now, this is good enough verification for me, since I'm pretty sure I know who my mom is, but to the genealogical researcher they need rigorous sources. If I do a search for Rebecca Lynn Barrett from the Texas Birth Index, there are more than one Rebecca Lynn Barretts listed. This is where my birth certificate comes into play. You see, since we know my father's name is Timothy Mike McGaughy and we know they are married, we can go back and look at the Texas Marriage Index.

A quick search yielded exactly what I needed. How many Timothy Mike McGaughys are there in Texas, and how many of them married a Rebecca Lynn Barrett? I'm going to go out on a limb and say just one. The record indicates that they were wed on 14 August 1976, and that Dad was 23 and Mom was 18 at the time.

"Texas, Marriages, 1966-2010," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VTB3-S23 : accessed 10 Sep 2013), Timothy M Mcgaughy and Rebecca L Barrett, 1976.

This means that Mom was born somewhere between 1957 and 1959 depending on where her birthday fell. The other Rebecca Lynn Barretts in the birth index do not fall into this time frame of birth, so we can be reasonable sure that the record I found for Mom's birth is, indeed, the correct one, and that my grandparents are who I say they are.

Now Dad's side of the family is a little bit more difficult, because it appears that New Mexico does not have birth indexes going back to 1953. Fortunately for me, Grandma's obituary is available online:

http://www.carmichael-whatley.com/services.asp?page=odetail&id=9449&locid=#.Ui5vjT_7ej0

In the event that Carmichael Whatley Funeral Home decides to take down the obit, I am going to paste it here:

Mary Frances McGaughy June 4, 1926 - December 4, 2005
SERVICES: 10:00 AM Wednesday, December 7, 2005, at Carmichael-Whatley Colonial Chapel, with Rev. Alan Burkhalter, pastor of the Chaparral Hills Baptist Church of Amarillo, and Dr. Johnny Funderburg, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Pampa, officiating.

BURIAL: Graveside services will be at 3:00 PM Wednesday, December 7, 2005, at the Castro County Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Dimmitt, under the direction of Carmichael-Whatley Funeral Directors.

BIOGRAPHY: Mrs. McGaughy was born June 4, 1926 in White Deer, Texas. She was a graduate of Texas Tech University in Lubbock. She married Dexter Eugene McGaughy on August 29, 1946 in Lubbock. He preceded her in death in 1967. She was an educator with the Pampa Independent School District for over 20 years. She also taught in Amarillo, Dimmitt, Dalhart, and Thrall. She was a member of the First Baptist Church and the Pampa Senior Citizens Center. She was an avid bridge player and loved to travel.

SURVIVORS: 1 Son: Tim McGaughy & wife Becky of Amarillo. 1 Sister: Virginia Flaherty of Pampa. 2 Grandsons: David McGaughy and J. T. McGaughy, both of Amarillo. 2 Granddaughters: Megan McGaughy of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Mekala McGaughy of Amarillo. 1 Great-Granddaughter: Misha McGaughy of Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was preceded in death by a son, Joe Don McGaughy in 1967, and 2 brothers, Alton Powers and Ray Powers.

MEMORIALS: Hidden Falls Ranch, P.O. Box 136, Wayside, Texas 79094

There is good information here. You can see under the survivors that she had 1 Son, Tim McGaughy and wife Becky of Amarillo. You can see that I am listed as her grandson. You can even see that she was preceded in death by Dexter Eugene McGaughy.

This is probably enough to prove how I am related to my paternal grandparents. However, I have an old newspaper clipping of Grandpa's obituary as an additional source, although I have no citation for it. Still, the information there agrees with the information from Grandma's obituary.

Finally, here's a tree:

embeddable family tree updated live from WikiTree