Did you know...?

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Up until President Martin Van Buren, none of the U. S. presidents were born a U.S. citizen? He was the first U.S. president to be born in the U.S. and so automatically becoming a citizen. Another interesting fact I learned recently is that Jimmy Carter was the first U.S. president to be born in a hospital. I was actually born at home. The doctor didn't arrive until after I was born. Nineteen years later, I found out that I did not have a birth certificate on record. I needed a birth certificate to get a passport to go to Okinawa, Japan. When I went to the courthouse in the county where I was born, there was no record of my birth, so my mother had to appear before a magistrate and sign an affidavit verifying my birth date. The doctor was supposed to have filed my birth at the courthouse, but evidently did not do so. Anyway, now I have an active passport that I keep up to date. I've needed it for many trips that I have taken over the years to Europe and Mexico and several Caribbean Islands. I will renew it when the time comes. Even if I don't plan to do any more international traveling. Do you have a copy of your birth certificate? Do you have a passport?