G2G: Can someone help me to find a birth certificate for my grandmother

Question

I'm having conflicting information for Felicita Melendez Ortiz, can anyone help me find her birth certificate. Her bday is Aug. 25th 1900 born in Puerto Rico. The closest thing that tells me about her mother is a census of 1910. which she was 10 years old with no father, but then on ancestry it's giving me hints that her father is Aurelio Rodriguez but there is no source for that. Thank you in advance for your help and thank you for reading. 

Answer 1

Hi Nellie, can you share the Family Search ID or the Wiki Tree ID for Felicita? Or could you also provide the town from the 1910 census. If you know of any descendants for Felicita that will help as well.

Update:
I found the family on FamilySearch.org and tried to link all the birth records I could to the siblings. There were two sets of twins, however their births were registered in the town of Barros/Orocovis and the town of Coamo. That to me is a strong indication those are the two towns to look into. I could not find any birth record for Feliciana in either town but I can show you how to sift through the records on your own. 
For one I would get familiar with the names of the towns and their histories. It makes a huge difference if you know that a hurricane hit and the whole family maybe moved in with relatives in the next town over. That is very much applicable even today. This site is probably the best ever in terms of finding exactly the document you need. Checking Civil Registration indexes on FamilySearch.org is also a good idea. Every town in PR has an index for both Church and Civil registration. The indexes are located either in a section called indices or at the front or back of every book. Knowing that your family unit was married means checking under the hubsband's name of Melendez and then skimming for the second last name of Ortiz. I found that to be the easiest way to find all the siblings. 

The other thing I would suggest is not using Ancestry. I think the algorithm for their hints is less than stellar and I'm being polite. I see you're on Family Search already, so this is a pro tip for anyone else referencing this answer. Most people who really need a document will sift through indexes or grab a cup of tea and flip through pages and pages of scanned books until they find their ancestor. Ancestry and FamilySearch hints are pointing to what other people have found or, as in the case for Family Search will only point to a document once you have all the info on that document, rendering the hint kind of late to the game, and it is not always accurate. You must trust your instincts and find real sources. 

Here are the links I used in my search for anyone else in this situation. Index of Births for Coamo 1885-1911 Index of Births for Orocovis/Barros 1885 - 1923

Comments

Hi Alexis, sorry for the delay. I had to figure out how to find this comment. Melendez_Ortiz-1 I believe that is what you need for Felicita. on the 1910 census the town was Bermejales, Barros, Puerto Rico, USA 

siblings was: 

Florencio Ortiz	14
Santos Ortiz	12
Dolores Ortiz	10
Feliciana Ortiz	6
Antonia Mercado	5
Felix Ortiz	4
Juan Ortiz	3
Aurea Ortiz	1 I hope this helps. thank you for wanting to help me.

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Hi there Nellie, okay I will try my best. Just know I have family from Barros, now called Orocovis. Their records were lost beyond a certain point. It is highly recommended once you get to a certain year, 1885, that you start looking in adjacent towns - for instance if you think they came from the bigger cities up north try Morovis, Vega Baja/Alta, and Corozal, etc. I have had success with that strategy but only with some siblings in a family.

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They are from Coamo? I’m not so familiar with the names but that is what is shown on my Mom’s birth certificate. Thank you Alexis.

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You are most welcome Nellie and I recognize you on Family Search! Probably because our families were around the same place at that time. I have updated my answer above. Good luck to you and don't give up. Maybe the documents are just not online yet.