So I'm getting my grandmother a new Texas ID as her license expired last year and it has proved to be absolutely ridiculous because they are now requiring a Birth Certificate (confirmed at the DPS) and I'm looking for some advice on how to approach from you TexAgs geniuses. For a little context...my grandparents both live in a memory care assisted living in Conroe - down the street from me and she has dementia. She can usually remember old things...but is Dori from Finding Nemo in terms of new information.

She was born in 1934 in Louisiana (I believe somewhere close to Gueydan, La in Vermillion Parish...maybe Abbeville?). She can't remember her exact birth last name although she told me what she thought it was. To make things more complicated, her mothers 3rd husband adopted her at like the age of 6 or 8...so I have THAT name and can find a census from 1950 that shows her adopted name and that she was born in Louisiana. Her adopted name is also what's on her marriage license to my grandfather.

I have her SSN (which hasn't been super helpful since she was born in 1934), I have her expired drivers license, I have her marriage license, but I can't find a single way to get her birth certificate without her birth last name.

Ancestry.com has come up short. I've called the parish - who claims they can't "search" vital records. I have her mothers birth name (although the spelling may be a little iffy bc Premeaux..primeaux...premeau have all come up in ancestry.com). I'm just out of options and super frustrated.

I asked my grandpa and he told me "i guess i don't think i've ever seen it before...maybe they didn't have them in backwoods louisiana" LOL. For the record...found his on ancestry.com in like 3 minutes.

Can anyone think of another way...database...anything to help me search and find it?

OH...and she has no living relatives outside of my grandfather and her half sister that I'm aware of. (Her half sister has the same last name that my grandma was adopted into). My mom passed away when I was young...so no luck there and my dad has no clue what her birth name could have been haha.

Jerry Springer level-**** just to get a Texas ID...NOT even a damn drivers license...which she has had for like 50+ years in Texas.

Ugh. Best of luck to you. We've been trying to get a Texas ID card for my FIL for almost a year with no luck. He was born on a military base in Germany and the only record we can find is an attestation of birth of a us citizen abroad or some ***** DMV won't accept that, even with ALL the other documents you can think of. Every time I think about it, my blood pressure goes up.

Based on the requirements in Identification Requirements | Department of Public Safety (texas.gov), you shouldn't need a birth certificate. Per that link, a TDL expired for not more than two years satisfies the "primary document" requirement.

This stuff pisses me off to no end. My mom went through all this **** a couple of years ago and it was a nightmare. I guess because she might be a terrorist. Or a fraudulent voter. Jeeezzz.

Claude! said:

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Based on the requirements in Identification Requirements | Department of Public Safety (texas.gov), you shouldn't need a birth certificate. Per that link, a TDL expired for not more than two years satisfies the "primary document" requirement.

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Agreed - i went down to the montgomery county dps office and they say that the website is incorrect. Verbatim "austin" is wrong........

Gotta be kidding me....

I just wanted to commiserate, my mom sent away for her birth certificate to San Francisco (born 1945) and she forgot to write her birthdate on the form.

Claude! said:

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Based on the requirements in Identification Requirements | Department of Public Safety (texas.gov), you shouldn't need a birth certificate. Per that link, a TDL expired for not more than two years satisfies the "primary document" requirement.

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I think this is the bull**** part:

That is fishy because there is some issue where either due to age or number of renewals, they are required to both go in person and bring birth certificate. Trust me we tried it and they would not renew her license without the cert so we had to make a new appt and obtain the birth certificate because her original was falling apart and the seal was flat.

What was her mom's first name, if you don't mind sharing.

Month of birth of your grandma would also help. I found a Abbeville newspaper archive published weekly that has birth announcements.

Newspaper announcements I could find from the area:

Feb 10 1934
Girl named Jaqueline Marie from a couple named Hymel

March 13 1934
Unnamed girl born to Mr. and Mrs. F.G. Cole, Jr.

April 21 1934
Girl named Delores born to a couple named Ledet

May 18 1934
Girl named Peggy Jo born to a couple named Mitchell

July 4 1934
Unnamed girl born to a couple named Boutte

July 6 1934
Unnamed girl born to a couple named Brown

July 27 1934
Unnamed girl born to a couple named Broussard

October 1 1934
Unnamed girl born to a couple named LeBlanc

October 23 1934
Unnamed girl born to a couple named Dubois

Oh boy I just found another newspaper. Here we go again.

Haha thanks. She was born 2/3/1934 to Hazel Premeaux (maiden name). But no clue who my grandmas dad was…neither does she…

Emotional Support Cobra said:

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That is fishy because there is some issue where either due to age or number of renewals, they are required to both go in person and bring birth certificate. Trust me we tried it and they would not renew her license without the cert so we had to make a new appt and obtain the birth certificate because her original was falling apart and the seal was flat.

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I couldn't agree more. I can't understand how she wouldn't be "grandfathered in" or something at this point. We have every other document and I guess a birth cert was never a requirement?

I take it she's a good Catholic Acadian girl. If so, and you can determine which church she was baptized in, the records would be there.

Hooti Hound Ag said:

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Claude! said:

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Based on the requirements in Identification Requirements | Department of Public Safety (texas.gov), you shouldn't need a birth certificate. Per that link, a TDL expired for not more than two years satisfies the "primary document" requirement.

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Agreed - i went down to the montgomery county dps office and they say that the website is incorrect. Verbatim "austin" is wrong........

Gotta be kidding me....

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Can you try a different dps office? In my experience the level of customer service and willingness to help has varied greatly from office to office.

Oh no, she's Cajun…

She's 89. Really want her driving ?

AggieStan said:

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She's 89. Really want her driving ?

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More likely a Texas Identification Card, not a Driver License. Had to do this with my mother in law. Texas ID Cards fulfill the official documentation need that is often required for government, medical or financial documentation needs (which Driver's Licenses often give as dual purpose) but gives no driving ability.

Hooti Hound Ag said:

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Haha thanks. She was born 2/3/1934 to Hazel Premeaux (maiden name). But no clue who my grandmas dad was…neither does she…

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That may give me enough to find something. Down the rabbit hole we go.

Did Hazel die young? Weird coincidence as I'm finding an Abbeville obituary and news articles of her dying suddenly in 1942 at the age of 23. Unmarried, no kids mentioned in article or obituary. Really strange.

My condolences to OP when all their research inevitably leads them to the conclusion that this isn't even their real grandmother.

Lol no, I have my mothers birth cert haha

She did not. Died in California in her late 90's

Correct, just want an ID card. No way she drives again.

Wow that's annoying.

I remember my grandfather telling me about a time when some Texas government office asserted to him that he was not a US citizen because he was born in "Indian Territory" (in what would become Oklahoma before it became a state).

He was mightily angry. Somehow it was resolved.

Interesting…this isn't a route I thought of. But you're spot on! Also went to catholic high school in Beaumont (St Anthony's). Wonder if they would have some type of archive / record.

Should've posted on the outdoor board. They'd have found your grandmother and her grandmother in about 30 minutes.

EFE said:

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Oh no, she's Cajun…

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Hooti Hound Ag said:

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Interesting…this isn't a route I thought of. But you're spot on! Also went to catholic high school in Beaumont (St Anthony's). Wonder if they would have some type of archive / record.

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There are a lot of Catholic churches in the Lafayette diocese. If your grandparents were married in the Catholic church, it should be recorded in their baptismal records located in the parish where they were baptized. Your grandmother would have needed to obtain a copy of her baptism certificate (from the parish where she was baptized) as part of her marriage prep. So if you know where she was married, that church should have her marriage certificate, and they should have notified the church where she was baptized and had it noted in her baptismal records. That should help you find out where she was baptized. This is all according to Canon law, so it should be there, unless there was a flood or fire that destroyed records.

A Catholic baptismal record will have her place of birth and full name. With that you should be able to go to the courthouse and request her birth certificate.

This is amazing. I have her marriage certificate. So this should help!

It doesn't help that Texas DPS staffs some of the most unhelpful people ever. Literally every government grunt is more concerned about the "power" they wield which equates being unfriendly and throwing up roadblocks in your pursuit. I can only imagine how much worse Louisiana state govt employees must be.

Jack Cheese said:

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Claude! said:

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Based on the requirements in Identification Requirements | Department of Public Safety (texas.gov), you shouldn't need a birth certificate. Per that link, a TDL expired for not more than two years satisfies the "primary document" requirement.

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I think this is the bull**** part:

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That's racist.

You'd think there would be exceptions to these rules for white people.