Who was my father's, Earl Norman Solwick DOB 08-17-1914 in Duluth, MN, birth parents?

Question

My father, Earl Norman Solwick, was adopted and I am searching for his birth parents and family.  He was born 08-17-1914 in Duluth, MN.  His adoptive parents were John Anton Larsen-Solwick from Norway and Ida Elizabeth Frost.  His adoptive mother was from the Duluth, MN area as well as her family.  His adoptive parents lived/homesteaded in Musselshell, MT and traveled to Duluth, MN for his birth and brought him back home to MT.  I have pictures of him as a tiny infant and his baptism certificate at only a few months old at their home in MT.  I have not even been able to find a birth certificate for him. I suspect that his birth parents or at least his mother was known by the family as they traveled specifically to get him at his birth.  I would appreciate any help I can get locating his birth parents and family.  I have done my DNA and have several matches of cousins.  My DNA shows Norwegian and Finnish and not Swedish.

Comments

He must have a birth certificate and papers of the adoption. https://www.mnhs.org/people/birthrecords

https://libguides.mnhs.org/adoption/restrictions

https://www.health.state.mn.us/people/vitalrecords/adoption.html

---

I have done a search for the entire state of MN for Aug. 17, 1914 and a couple days before and after and I can find no record of my fathers birth.

---

Solwick is his adopted surname.  You could try a search by birth date only and see who comes up.

---

I did a search without any names for Aug. 16 to 18, 1914 for St. Louis County and the two neighboring counties without any success.

---

Oh boy,  anything from here would be just a guess perhaps check MT?  Is there anyone who might have your grandparents papers or would anyone have your father's papers?  Is there anyone who might have any family stories?  

The only other thing would be to keep trying the DNA route. I am not familiar with how different Swedish and Norwegian DNA is?  Might his adoptive parents have come from Sweden but originally their families came from Norway?  Sorry I am left with more questions than answers.

---

Interesting in the 1920 Census John is listed only as Solwick not larson solwick.  His wife is said to be born in Minnesota as is Earl? Perhaps if Earl is adopted his mother was related to his adoptive mother?  Perhaps exploring Ida's family might give something?  https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&q.anyPlace=montana&q.surname=solwick

Here is the 1920 Census with their listing his mother born in Minnesota but of swedish descent,  his father of from Norway with norwegian descent and Earl with norwegian descent?  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GR65-6QB?i=1&cc=1488411&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AM83Y-PHB

---

His death certificate and census reports throughout his life all say he was born in Duluth, MN. He died at 38 years old from suicide when I was nine years old so I know very little about him.  There was one lady who refused to tell us about him or his "possible" adoption who took the information to her grave.  They were friends and neighbors in MT before they both moved to San Diego, CA around the same time.

---

His adoptive father's name was Johan Anton Larsen and when he immigrated to America he changed his last name to Solwick to not sound so Norwegian.  His adoptive mother had one sister, Emily, who remained single her entire life.  There was speculation that possible she was my fathers birth mother.  I can't find any information beyond that.  I have researched neighbors in the census reports but that is as far as I have gotten.

---

Sorry I replied to my last comment with the 1920 Census showing the descent's listed,  see previous comments please.  This is an interesting challenge.

---

Changing from Larsen to Slowick to avoid an association with Norway?  Slovik/Slowick is a norweign name?  I am searching here do you have records in Norway with his last name as Larsen?

---

I have a newspaper article featuring Karen Birgitte Nielsen, Johann's mother and telling the story of his father, Anton Martin Teodor Larsen DOB 1845 in Hovik Verk, Norway, sailing competition accident/death in  Oslo Fjord on  September 7, 1895.  My grandfather had a brother, Karl Larsen, who was a physician in Solvik, Norway and a sister,  Marie Larsen Ruud, whom I met several times in San Diego, CA as a child on her visits from Norway.

---

I wonder,  on the census it says that his father and mother are norweign, even though his mother on the census is not.  I wonder if he was a family members child of the Larsen family?  Could you look for a child born his birthdate in Duluth with the last name Larsen?  It is a long shot but?

---

My father's adoptive father was born a Larsen in Norway and his mother was born a Frost in MN to parents who were both born in Sweden.  I did check birth records for Larsen although there were none. At the time of his birth, my grandfather was the only family member living in the U.S.  I would suspect that Emelivet (Emily) Frost, my grandmother's sister, could be the birth mother except that my DNA heritage does not include Swedish.  I did check for births to a Frost.

---

With which company did you do your DNA test? What degree are the cousins you found? (first cousins (share grandparents) second cousins (share great grandparents) third cousins, etc? Have you uploaded your DNA to the other companies, My Heritage, FTDNA, or GEDMatch, which aggregates results from most DNA companies? You might find new matches on GEDMatch, and if you log into the "New" version instead of the classic site, you might get a GEDCOM with a family tree with names that might help you. GEDMatch also has a chromosome browser that will help you determine if these cousins are related on the same piece of DNA.

I started at Ancestry with a 3rd cousin and have been able to find 3300 members of my biological family. It takes time, determination, and a little luck, but there are many tools that can help you.

---

The MNHS has a huge majority of the birth certificates for that time period, however, illegitimate births are blacked out of the databases for privacy purposes.

Answer 1

Wow Karen.  Without knowing his birth name, you have quite an uphill battle on your hands.  

Just wondering if your aunt Emily is still alive and can shed some light on the subject??

Best of luck.

Comments

Aunt Emily (Emelivet Frost) passed away in 1940 before I was even born, unfortunately.

Answer 2

What a challenge! However, you did do a DNA test.  It should be possible to glean some information from your DNA matches.  Do any of your matches  have public trees which are linked to their DNA results? If so, even if you don't have an Ancestry subscription, you can see the first few generations back of their family trees. Maybe take your strongest DNA match and hit shared matches.  Filter the search for public linked trees.  Go through the matches and look closely at their trees.  Do you see any patterns?  What names appear repeatedly?  I would think this would suggest families connected with your grandparents that you could investigate further.  I'm sure there are WikiTree members that are knowledgeable about DNA and could give you more specific advice.

Answer 3

I was born in Duluth and have a Norwegian line with quite a story.