Birth certificates seem integral to us today, but it was a while for this relatively recent document became commonplace. While the state of North Dakota has birth records back into the early 1900s, and some even before then, not every birth was reported. There were a variety of reasons as to why — the area was not very populated; they didn’t know who to report the birth to; and women often gave birth at home, with the help of friends, families, midwives, and others, who did not follow through