If You Can't Prove They're Dead, We Won't Let You Prove They Lived

Frustration; today I had to deal with government and even though it was only at the county level, they won the battle! After looking at a map of the local area where we are now, I realized that we were fairly close to where my mother grew up and where she was born. Since I dabble in genealogy, I decided to get a copy of mom's birth certificate. Big mistake! I forgot to bring mom's parents with me! After a couple of inquiries, we found the county clerk's office in Mason, Ingham County, Michigan. I marched in and politely informed the help (not) of my mission and was immediately asked for a certified copy of mom's death certificate. What? Yes, one has to be proven dead or born over 100 years ago or you have to have their parents if you want to obtain a birth certificate. If mom were still alive, she'd only be 98 so my inquiry was premature! Also she died in another county so getting a death certificate wasn't going to be a quick venture. Oh, did I forget? I need to pay $20 and provide proof of who I am to obtain this document! Since I wanted the certificate to have proof of the spelling of mom's middle name I politely asked them to just tell me that. Nope! They wouldn't even confirm that they even had her birth certificate on file! I needed to have that death certificate, end of story! They did print an application for me to apply by mail. Since we're on the road and even if I eventually prevail in my quest, the certificate would have to be mailed to Washington and forwarded who knows where because we have no idea of where we're going to be until we get there. I sort of lost my cool and informed the help (not) that they obviously had no intention of trying to help those that you might think they were there for. Nope! They're there to help themselves! They blamed the rules on identity theft and Homeland Security. Janet, you've screwed this up too! BTW, Anne had to listen to this diatribe first! I suspect I've now been added to the list with the returning soldiers!