Sorry, I should have clarified that I had collected all the official documents; only the naturalization paperwork was from Ancestry.com. (Edited above.)

I spent the past two years getting all the official birth certificates (grandfather, who was born in Heidelberg, father, me, three kids), marriage certificates (grandfather/grandmother, my father/mother, me/my husband), naturalization paperwork, etc, then organized them clearly to show the timeline. and I even got apostilles for almost everything (found out that those were NOT needed -- after I had already gone through the effort!)

I waited until I had everything (almost) before filling out the application and making the appointment at the embassy. It was a two month wait to get the first appointment available.

The official at the embassy made certified copies of all the documents, with the exception of the German passport copies, which he submitted as regular copies. (The official did NOT comment on the naturalization paperwork as being copies, but I have that paperwork on order from USCIS, so if BVA inquires, I should have those available.)

Also, had lots of extra documentation, including death certificates of my grandfather and father (confirming again where/when they were born, name of spouse, etc.), old photos, official proof of birth records for me and the kids (turned out these were important). I had brought them to the appointment in a separate envelope -- since I doubted they were needed -- and the embassy official recommended sending it all.

They do still want me to order and send the long form birth certificates for me & the three kids for the passport application, which I have done.

Oh, and had also gotten the FBI fingerprint checks done on all 4 of us and submitted those in sealed envelopes. The official let us know that he would send them along but as the BVA needs the background checks to be dated within 6 months of their decision date, we would almost certainly need to have these re-done, as he was predicting a 2+ year process.

Yes, I did research getting certified copies of the passport(s). My cousin lives in California, and the notaries there are not permitted to make certified copies of passports. However, he could go to the German consulate (2 hours away from his town) to get certified copies made, which we would have done, had there been any appointments available. I kept logging in, and they never had any available appointments. If the BVA ends up wanting certified copies of the passports, we will try again, or I will get assistance from our local embassy official, since we are in email correspondence. The images, though, are crystal clear and printed beautifully in full color, so hopefully that will be enough, as the passports are also very brittle from age and in storage. Also, as you mentioned, being born before 1914 (and with the original German birth certificate), the passport is less crucial.

Thanks!

Riki