Genealogy Forum NEWS
August, 1998
Adoption & Orphan Research
Adoption
Submitted by
GFS MAINE@AOL.comIn 1899, a young boy was adopted in Portland Maine, from the Munjoy Hill Orphanage. He was one of two boys in the crib (approximately 5 years of age), at the time Mr. and Mrs Walter Howe of Roxbury Maine came to choose. Walter and Alvina chose the young lad, and took him to Roxbury to raise as their son . Having three daughters, they needed a male to assist Walter with farm duties.
He became known as George Howe, young, and athletic. He raised Oxen and drove them like horses, with reins. At the age of 21 years, Walter told him of his early days, in the orphanage, and that his name was not Howe, but NORWOOD. Walter also handed him $100.00 and said that it was part of the adoption agreement. He retained the name Howe, and used Norwood as a middle name.
Now in his fifties, George wanted to see if he could find any living relatives. He didn't have the wherewithall to do a sophisticated search. By going to Portland and looking in a phone book, he came across the name and traced it to a Legal office. He was reserved and just wanted to see the gentleman, and told us later that he felt like he was looking in a mirror. He never introduced himself, and left.
Forward to more recent times, George passed away in March of 1958, I was at home and went to see this look alike. only to find out that he too had passed on , in the same hospital, a month before father.
Records are impossible as the County Court house burned in the early 1900's and the orphanage location is unknown, as it too burned in the same time period.
Thus we have the tale of the unknown family, Other NORWOOD researchers have checked their files for the person who left the two young boys at the orphanage, and nothing has been found. I have had 2 professional researchers look into it and found nothing.
Adoption Resources
Submitted by GFA Terry@aol.com
There are several things you can do when searching for a living person. First, you may want to go to the Genealogy Forum's message boards. Post your research interest with a note containing the words " Adoption/Missing Persons." Other forum members will see your note and may offer advice.
DearMyrtle, our Genealogy Forum columnist, has a special area just for those who are searching for living people. If you are using one of the newest versions of AOL, you can click here to go to How to Find Living Persons area. (NOTE: HIstorical Links removed)
Finally, you can check with the Adoption Forum here online. Go to the keyword of ADOPTION to find them.
Good luck with your search,
GFA Terry, Golden Gate Genealogy Forum Assistant
My Adopted Grandfather
Submitted by
GFS Heather@aol.com
When I started doing Genealogy Research over 20 years ago, which was without computers by the way, I started on my fathers line for we knew nothing about it. My father, Howard Edward Bowers, died in 1959, 7 months before I was born, he was an only child.. His parents Joseph Edward Bowers and Bertha Mae Worthington died in 1957 and 1958.
All I knew on my Grandfather Joseph E. Bowers, was that he was adopted by a Mr. and Mrs. Bowers, abt. 1880. My grandfather was born in 1878 so was only 2 when he was adopted. Joseph's birth name was Charles Augustine HASSAN, and I knew his parents names were James Hassan and Mary Lippert, both of which died before 1880. My grandfather was put in the St. Joseph Orphanage in Erie, PA.
I had no idea where to start, for I had no experience with doing genealogy research. I first wrote to the St. Joseph Orphanage, however the letter was sent back. So I wrote to the Chamber of Commerce in Erie, PA, and they told me the Orphanage had burned down. They did give me the address of the Catholic Community Services, which had some of the records of the Orphanage.
So then I decided to write to the Catholic Community Services, and told them all the information I had and was wondering if they could help me. I received a letter back stating someone else had written over 40 years ago requesting the same information, and gave me her address. I thought to myself, there is no way this person could be alive, but I wrote the letter anyway, for I thought you never know. I told the Catholic Community Services I had not heard anything back as of yet, so they gave me all they knew. And come to find out my grandfather had 4 other brother's who were also put in the Orphanage, and gave me the names and places of those who adopted all the boys.
A few weeks later I received a letter from this individual, her name was Agnes, who had requested the same information I had, she was only 18 years of age when she sent her letter. She descended from one of my Grandfathers brother's. She told me that my letter was sent to her old address and a young doctor who lived there now, but he knew her family so forwarded my letter onto her! I can't explain the excitement I felt , to finally make a break through on this line. Agnes got me in touch with relatives who were all on the East coast of two of the brothers of my Grandfather.
I then decided to check the census records to see where my grandfather was in 1880. It listed him in the Orphanage along with his brothers! I then checked for immigration records on my grandfathers birth father, James Hassan. And I was able to get his Naturalization papers, which stated when he came here, how old he was etc.
My grandfather had stated to my mother, that he lived with his adopted parents till they both died, he was about 40 years of age when they died. So I decided to try to track down his adopted parents. I found them listed in the 1880, 1900 and 1910 census, which gave me there names, Edward and Mary Bowers. I then found Edward had been in the civil war, I also found his Will, listing my grandfather as the Executor. I also found out where Edward was buried. By this time I was now on the internet. And I left messages on the Message boards in the Genealogy Forum and also US GenWEB. In the past year one fellow answered a query of mine on my Bowers line, we were not related but he went to PA for me and took photos for me of Edward’s grave! Then another fellow had emailed me and said my Mary Lippert, birth mother to my grandfather was a sibling of his ancestor, and he gave me her parents names, and all of her siblings and their descendants!
I realized when I had looked at the baptismal record of my grandfather, it listed a few witnesses being John and Caroline Lippert and a Mary Dellar. Come to find out these were the brother and sister to my Mary Lippert and also her mother!
So my advice to all of you is to NEVER give up. It has taken me 20 years to gather all this information, but I was persistent and it definitely paid off. It is hard to get records for someone who has been adopted, especially if it was in the 1900's. If you know the name of the birth parents use all resources you can, census records, court records, church records, hospitals where the child was born, etc. Also look for records of the adopted parents for that may also give you some clues. I was lucky since the adoption took place in the 1800's and I was able to get the information. So Never give up!
GFSHeather
Adoption Basics
Submitted by
GFS Jill@AOL.com
"The majority of genealogists and those involved in the adoption process are for the most part very family-oriented people. Family historians and more than a few adoptees are both interested in their roots however...... Adoption can be a sensitive topic; even for the genealogist and living relatives. What attitudes did people take toward adoption in the past? How should we approach raising questions about family adoptions within recent memory? How will we divulge or share this information as it relates to us with our own descendents?
Adoption itself is a concept found in Jewish and Christian scriptures. Moses is just one of several individuals who was raised, for the most part, by someone other than his biological parents. Christians believe that they are adopted, in a spiritual sense, by their Heavenly Father, upon acceptance of the redeeming work of Christ. There is also evidence of physical adoption in ancient Greek, Roman, and Babylonian cultures.
It is important to take into consideration that not all societies view children in the same way. World viewpoints and religious beliefs also figure greatly into this. Some throughout time saw children only as miniature adults, others treated them as chattel, still others sacrificed all they were and had for the benefit of the next generation. Adoption also is looked upon as either a godsend, a necessary evil, a cop-out, a sacrifice, or a loving, viable, option depending upon an individual's perspective and experience.
In medieval Europe it was common for children to live with another family until marriage. Though not legal adoption as we know it today, after the age of five or so, children of nobility were sent to either a monastery to be educated or to live with another family of noble standing. Even the middle class children were often found living and working in the home businesses of other tradesman whose craft they were learning. (They may have visited their "real" parents a couple times a year.) Adoption was also practised as a way for a childless couple to circumvent property laws and provide an heritor when women were not allowed to own property.
It was not unheard of for a wet nurse to take over parental responsiblities for the child she was nursing. If the mother was ill or had a full house already, another woman might be paid a small sum to continue caring for a child and take him into her home and raise him as her own, perhaps as a replacement for one she had lost.
Transfers of children to substitute parents occurred informally in America until the 1850's when our first adoption statutes were effected. Before this time children were adopted for various reasons: economic (farm labour), natural disasters, illness, and premature loss of a parent.
While browsing through records you might come across private institutions in the 19th century with such names as: "Mother Charity's School for Wayward Girls," or "Sister Hope's Home for Lost, Penitent Women." Although not just for unwed mothers, these were later patterned and improved upon by such organisations as the Salvation Army and their "Booth Memorial" Homes and Hospitals, where a young woman could be housed, given medical care, and even educated throughout her pregnancy, and for a short time afterwards, if needed. Adoption agencies did not come into play for another generation or so, as most relinquishments were still arranged privately during the Civil War period and its aftermath.
As Americans moved to the city, poverty and disease sometimes forced parents to lose their children to the streets. The Orphan Trains (1854-1929) were an outgrowth of this and the overburdened orphanages in the east. Sometimes these events worked out well for the children; other times they did not benefit.
Living conditions improved in the US for everyone, including children, as the institutions of slavery, indenture, and child labour were abolished. Here are some highlights in adoption law which may have affected your ancestral families in this country:
1851: Massachusetts enacted the first adoption statute (no safeguards for informed or voluntary consent included)
1891: Michigan enacts the first statute requiring judicial investigation into a prospective adoptive home prior to the final approval of an adoption
1917: Minnesota requires the agency or state to investigate and make recommendations to the court preceding adoption
1920's: Other states begin issuing adoption policies (not laws). One of these advised "never tell a child that s/he was adopted!"
Incredibly, many adoption records were open before the 1930's. Few attempts were made to provide confidentiality by altering birth records or secreting court files. This is to your advantage if you are seeking an ancestor from this time frame. The flip side of this was the absence of protection from "nosey neighbors" for the birth parent.
In the middle of the 20th century much was done in secret and closed adoptions were the norm to protect the privacy of the birthmother and adoptive couple (infertility was not talked about), and to encourage adoptions on both sides of the triangle. Edna Gladney was a strong promoter of this practice and some states eventually outlawed her maternity homes/businesses due to her strong political and promotional practices. Much has changed in the last fifty years but adoption laws continue to vary from state to state.
Adoption becomes intertwined with genealogy when you have the following situations in your family tree:
*hereditary diseases
*a seeming "dead end" for which adoption may provide the answer
*more than one set of parents for an individual
*no birth records for a more recent ancestor
*an unexplained temporary disappearance of a young woman
*a name change for a child
*family secrets that older relatives refuse to discuss
Do keep in mind when discovering an adoption occurance (whether it be in 1760 or 1960) that nothing should be assumed. The child may have been orphaned when his mother died in childbirth and his father could not cope or be found; or the father killed in war and the mother too shocked to care for her baby. (Often a relative reared the child in these instances.) Never assume that the mother didn't care about her child and just gave him away. On the flip side, don't assume that she was co-erced. The mores of the times (or her parents) may have dictated that she place the child for adoption. In extreme situations, the biological mother may have been raped; she may have been a prostitute; she may have abandoned the child on someone's doorstep. . . there are as many reasons as there are babies!
Adoptive parents were generally not encouraged, until the latter half of this century, to tell their children they were adopted. This, combined with the embarassment and stigma of an unwed pregnancy, led to family secrets surrounding childbirth and adoption. Perhaps you yourself are a member of an adoption triad (biological parents, child, adoptive parents) and know very well the circumstances and questions that often arise. Be extra senstive when conducting family interviews where you know an adoption took place in the recent past. Phrase your questions carefully and let Great Aunt Sue know you are curious for good reasons. Talk about family health history, or your desire to see future generations benefit by the knowledge and memories she carries. In the end, don't pry if she refuses to budge. Respect her wishes and her privacy rather than start a family feud or grudge.
How will you cover the adoptions, if any, in your family history? Have you ever contemplated how you will tell your children or grandchildren of an adoption in the family? What will be your attitude and how will you convey it? Books, tapes, workshops, and information available on the net continue to assist us in our understanding and awareness of the adoption issue; past and present. You don't have to be seeking a parent or child to access keyword: ADOPTION and read through all the resources that are listed in that forum. Links to websites in the adoption forum on AOL will take you to books on genetics and adoption, adoption referral and support groups, adoption laws in various states, international adoption information, and more on the history of adoption. (Also try a websearch using a search engine like Alta Vista on "adoption, history of" )
These are the sources of information I used in gathering my information: "The Writer's Guide to Everyday LIfe in the Middle Ages" by Sherrilyn Kenyon; and Adoption Throughout History
GFS Jill
A member of an "adoption triangle"
HELP FOR ADOPTEE GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH
submitted by
GFS Acadian@aol.com
This information has been compiled from:
Genealogical Books in Print
Genealogical Helper
The Source
Heritage Quest
Shaking Your Family Tree by Myra Vanderpool Gormley
----
Organizations
Adoptees Birthrights Committee
Box 7213
Metairie LA 70010
Adoptees' Liberty Movement Association
Box 154, Washington Bridge Station
New York NY 10033
Send SASE for nearest branch
Adoption Registry of Indiana
P.O. Box 361
South Bend IN 46624
Send SASE for registration form
Adoption Assistance Agency
18645 Sunburst Street
Northridge CA 91324
Orphan Train Children
Elizabeth A. Ward Mrs. Eloise Thomsen
Route 2, Oak Ridge Estates 5843 Grant Street
Rogersville MO 65742 Omaha NE 68104
Orphan Train Reunion
Mary Tenopir
504 8th St.
St. Paul NE 68873
(308) 754-4016
Tracers
39 Broadway
New York NY 10006
(212) 558-6550
Triadoption Library
7571 Westminster Avenue
Westminster CA 92683
(714) 892-4098
----
Investigators and researchers
Pat Rutherford
26081 Avenida Aeropuerto, Suite E
San Juan Capistrano CA 92675
(714) 496-3373
Heritage Searching
7125 Bilpar Road
Las Vegas NV 89131
----
Magazine
People Searching News
P.O. Box 22611
Ft. Lauderdale FL 33335
----
Books and Articles
Search, a Handbook for Adoptees and Birthparents
by Jayne Askin and Bob Oskam
$15.95 KCAAO
Box 15225
Kansas City MO 64106
Adoption Laws, by Joseph D. Harrington
Public Welfare Bulletin, Spring 1984
Reprint $5.50 American Public Welfare Association
1125 - 15th Street N.W.
Washington DC 20005
The Adoption Searchbook, Techniques for Tracing People
by Mary Jo Rillera
$11.00 plus $1.00 p&h Genealogical Books in Print
6818 Lois Drive
Springfield VA 22150
or
Everton Publishers, Inc.
P.O. Box 368
Logan, UT 84321
(800) 453-2707
The Source, edited by Arlene Eakle and Johni Cerni
See pp. 190-192, bibliography pp. 212-213
$39.95 plus $4.00 s&h Ancestry, Inc.
P.O. Box 476
Salt Lake City UT 84110
(800) 531-1790
Orphan Train, by Frances S. Marks
Heritage Quest, #15, Mar/Apr 1988, pp.3-7
(also contains suggestions for parent search in general)
Heritage Quest
P.O. Box 40
Orting WA 98360-0040
(206) 893-2029
"The Orphan"
submitted by
GFS Rhonda@aol.com
My grandfather HUGHES was born in England in 1898. He lived most of his life on a farm in New Brunswick with his two sisters, Stella and Fanny. I always remembered visits to the ladies and always called them Aunt Stella and Aunt Fanny. My grandfather had a very pointed "New Brunswicker" accent mixed with some ties of English diction. I never questioned his relationship with the FOX family in New Brunswick.
When I first began this addicting hobby, my grandfather was 70 years old. When I asked him his family information, he would always avoid answering questions. He would only say that his mother died when he was young and he came from Middlemore Home. As it was a very sore subject with him and my grandmother had died many years prior, I left it alone.
He passed in 1975 and I was given his Eastern Star Bible. While thumbing through it I found a copy of his birth certificate. I then began tracing his lineage. I questioned my grandmother's sisters about his living in New Brunswick with the FOX family and found he was NOT related. He lived with the family after being "sent over" from Middlemore Home in Birmingham England. His father had placed him and his older brother with the home. Grampie was sent to the FOX family to live on their farm, labor with board and room, education, and religious education. His brother was not so lucky with his family and he fled back to Great Britain.
The FOX family treated my grandfather like a son, his "sisters" Stella (long since passed away) and Fanny were his family. Aunt Fanny wrote me a letter telling me about the home and how children came to Canada through the many homes in England. It all finally made sense why Grampie had never mentioned his family in England (he had 6 other brothers and sisters and his father had remarried and died in 1938). Through contact with a sister in law in England, I was able to reconstruct the patriarch and matriarch of the family and through census, able to find siblings and produce a family tree back 2 more generations.
My grandfather, "The Orphan" was rightly called one of the "Home Children" of the late 1880's-1920's. Home Children . Right now is an ongoing project to find names, parents, siblings, and departures and arrivals of the Home Children. Many "orphans" in some family trees may also fit this category. If your ancestor came into Canada, Australia, or other areas served by the "Home Children Homes", you may find your orphan belongs in a family in England, Ireland, or Scotland.
I do have a listing of such homes as well as religious homes which took in orphaned children and poor children provided to me by Barnardo's Homes which holds some records or gives addresses for further research of orphans or Home Children.
ADOPTION
submitted by
DearMYRTLE@aol.com
If your research involves tracing an adopted line or finding live individuals, the following online resources will be helpful!
I developed an entire series of articles and internet links called Finding LIVE People. You would also find much useful information, and an adoption registry through the Adoption Forum on AOL. (Historical Links Removed). One reader recently attended a seminar and reported on web sites useful in tracing live people, so be sure to check out the article titled Legal Seminar's Web. Often you hear of people finding people through the Phone Search Facilities of the Genealogy Forum (Link Updated 7/30/04) and the World Phone Book .
For the latest information on national and international adoption registries and intervention resources, check out Cyndi's List - Adoption.
http://www.cyndislist.com/adoption.htm (Link Updated 7/30/04)
Good luck with your research!
Myrt :)
Tracing your adopted ancestor overseas is not impossible -- if you're lucky!
submitted by
GFS GregU@aol.com
My grandfather never knew that his father, Edward HAUSER, was adopted, (until I found out and told him just before he passed away.) The most valuable clue was Edward Hauser's 1893 marriage record in Burlington, Iowa. While the other grooms on the page gave just the state, county or country they were from, for some reason Edward Hauser was very honest and said he was from "Daukstetten, Germany", ... and in the space for his father's name, the clerk wrote "(adopting) Hauser, Peter". This puzzled us since we never heard that he was adopted before.
The next step was finding the location of the town; there was no Daukstetten in Germany, but after playing with the spelling of the name, I realized that when it's pronounced with a German accent, a "g" can sound like a "k", and the "u" was actually an "n". So on a hunch, I order the microfilm of birth records from Dangstetten, Baden, Germany. I searched through ten years of birth records, centered on February 1858 -- the month that he was supposedly born according to the 1900 census -- and found that during that decade there was only ONE "Eduard" born in that parish, and he was born February 14, 1858!
The father of this child was Stephen TEUFEL (a name I hadn't heard of before), but the mother was Verena HAUSER (which was the name of Edward's mother on his marriage certificate). So it seemed likely that when his father Stephen Teufel disappeared, he was adopted by someone in his mother's family and, as with many adoptees, he kept the same first name and took his mother's surname.
I have since backed up this circumstantial evidence with the Baden emigration paperwork that Eduard Hauser filled out when he left the Dangstetten area a couple years before my Edward Hauser arrived in the U.S., so I'm fairly certain I have the right person.
So when you are searching for the parents of an adoptee, the main clue that might link them to their parents is their *birthdate* and *birthplace*, and hopefully he or she has a unique first name or some other distiguishing feature.
Greg Ullman
GFS GregU
Beginner's Center | File Libraries | Internet Center
Message Boards | Resource Center | Reunion Center
Surname Center| Previous NEWS Issues
BACK to Cover Page - GFSNEWS 08/98
© 1998 - 2004 Graphics By Carol, All Rights Reserved
Content © 1998 - 2004 GFNEWS, a monthly publication of Golden Gate Services, Inc. of Armada, MI The Editors welcome your ideas and articles, success stories, favorite genealogy research tips, comments and suggestions. The Genealogy Forum is a proud member of the FGS - Federation of Genealogical Societies