A Tampa Midwife’s Records

I came upon the records of Tampa midwife Maria Messina Greco 3 or 4 years ago. I was a member of an Internet Genealogy email list at Rootsweb.com where the topic was limited to Hillsborough County genealogy. One day a lady named Marisol sent an email asking for genealogy help in Tampa. I’m an avid genealogist, and could not resist. Marisol lived in Havana, but her grandparents lived in Tampa and her mother Candida was born here in 1906, long before births were required to be registered with the state. She gave birth to two sons in Tampa but later moved to Cuba where Marisol was born.

Marisol was seeking reputable proof that her mother was born in the United States –the ultimate goal was to obtain a copy of her birth certificate. Although my efforts to help Marisol proved unsuccessful, my search for her mother’s birth record resulted in an amazing find. Since Marisol had mentioned that Candida was delivered by a midwife, I used FamilySearch.org, the genealogical website of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, to search for midwife records from Tampa. I was doubtful any existed, and was truly amazed to find two microfilm rolls of Tampa midwife records from 1908 to 1939. Unfortunately, Candida was born in 1906 and I could not find an entry for her.

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