Question of the Week: Are there adoptions in your family tree?

Question

Were any of your ancestors or relatives adopted? Tell us about them with an answer below. (For privacy reasons, please do not give information about any living people other than yourself.)

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Comments

Yes, me born in 1960.  Found my birth mother in 1994 and 6 half brothers and a half sister.  We have a great relationship and I feel super lucky!  Just before Christmas I was contacted by a half-brother on my paternal side which is amazing!  He found me through a DNA test!  No idea how to attack my family trees and wondering if there are any more half siblings out there!

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My great great grandfather was supposedly adopted after his father was involved in a fishing accident and died at sea. I’m very confused by the whole thing records wise because his marriage certificate has his mother’s name and it’s not the name of the woman he lived with as a child and teenager. Unless there are two men with the same name… which is quite possible and wouldn’t be the only case in the family.

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My father was born illegitimately to Ruby Agnes Ryan c1884, on 9/9/1909 at a home for unwed mothers in Stanley St. Newtown. a suburb of Sydney in Australia. Ruby named him Stanley John Ryan.

Six months later Ruby gave him up to a childless couple Thomas and Eleanor Bancroft to foster, they raised him as Stanley John Bancroft which is why I bear that surname. DOCS now refer to this practice as being a 'Back Door Adoption' and NSW laws were formulated about 1925 to deal with it however it went on behind closed doors for many years.

My Gedmatch kit number is A626300 and the

Genesis number is JS8758526

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Following the death of my wife Sue's parents due to natural causes we were preparing their house for sale and her sister Jennifer came across her baptismal certificate.

It gave her dat of birth and her siblings ages was listed as of that date.

Jennifer noted something had been erased beside Sue's name. She took it outside into the sunshine and was able to make out the word Adopted.

Sue telephoned her only living Aunt and asked who her biological father was, she was told he was a Captain in the US Navy (Name Unknown) which is rather curious as he would have to have been visiting Sydney, Australia in April or May 1940 which was about six months before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Sadly the Harbour Master's records for ships tied up in Sydney Harbour at that time have not survived the rigors of time.

Sue passed away in hospital on the 8th of March 2024 from natural causes, she gave me permission to send a sample of her DNA to Ancestry to be tested so I am not losing hope of discovering her biological father's name.

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Yes, my maternal grandfather, the youngest of ten children, was orphaned by his biological parents at the age of 4 and he was sent to the Iowa Soldiers Orphanage Home in Davenport, Iowa. Two brothers are documented as being in the orphanage at the same time. My grandfather was later adopted. I have learned some information about his biological family and I hope to learn more. I have taken DNA tests and confirmed the relationship to the biological. I’d also like to know more about the orphanage home.

Answer 1

I was adopted in the middle part of the 1970s. It's unclear as to the why. My half sisters were all adopted out due to a divorce. My daughter was adopted out because of my disability.

I have two adopted siblings. And two cousins that were adopted. There are many unofficial adoptions due to a step family situation through our my tree as well as legal adoptions.

Answer 2

My son is a twin adopted when he was nine. His twin died less than a month after birth. My son would like to know where his twin is buried. My search has not been successful. The twin that died: Daniel McHenry, born 11 Dec 1973, Tonawanda, NY, died on or about 31 Dec 1973, probably in the vicinity of Tonawanda,NY

Comments

Yes, my Great x2 Father, was adopted. But most people think that it was his father who was adoptive parent, but that is not the case. His birth mother was Sarah Hildreth, Lucy Jane Hildreth's sister. And Henry M Silsby's birth mom. Her sister later adopted him and married his father Isaac

Answer 3

Yes, my paternal great-great grandfather was adopted during emigration from County Wicklow, Ireland to Canada during the Great Famine period. He took his adoptive father's surname and I haven't been able to confirm his birth name. Some family lore suggests he was escaping capture by the authorities and had good reason to leave his real identity behind. Whether the adoption was legal, informal or a kind of indenture, I don't know. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Collier-3872

Answer 4

My father was adopted as an infant in 1929, Manhattan, NY through the Childrens Aid Society. We knew his birth name and my grandparents maintained his first name as dad's middle name. He was born out of wedlock and his mother could not provide for him, so she placed him for adoption. My grandmother kept a journal from the day they picked him up until the adoption was formalized. I know the judge's name, courtroom, and even the little outfit he was wearing. The Children's Aid Society provided the ethicity and background of his bio mom and dad, but no names.

Dad had no interest in finding out about his bios. The Englishes were his family and always will be. They are the only family we know, as well.

Before dad passed, my sister convinced him to do a DNA test. My brother and sister wanted to learn about hereditary traits; I was curious as well, but being the family genealogist, I wanted to know about the stranger in my DNA. It wasn't long after the test results were published that I was able to arrive at a reasonable degree of certainty as the identity of his mother. Backing up a step: I had a friend go to the Municipal Archives in NYC Public Library in the Schwarzman Building. The birth records are housed in the Schwarzman Building. I told my friend the exact book I was looking for so he wouldn't have to spend all day digging around. He found the records for 14 Feb 1929, male child born to mother last name Wilson and the original birth ceritificate number. It all matched.

Fast forward to DNA. I found 1st-2nd cousins. Through research and contacting the first match, I have been able to prove to a reasonable degree of certainty who his bio parents were.

Answer 5

My cousin, Peewee. He’s the son of my aunt’s (by marriage) sister. He was just always my cousin so I never asked questions so I don’t know the story behind the adoption and now, of course, it’s too late as everyone besides him has passed.

I did verify who the parents were (I always knew the sister’s name) and found that they had more children. Guess it will always be a mystery to me but I gained another cousin so that’s a plus.

Answer 6

Yes - my grandmother, Irene (Clere) McGuire Coleman was supposedly a French orphan, left by her non-English speaking mother with the Catholic Church in Philadelphia in 1913. Her parents were not married; her father was also from France and her mother returned shortly afterward. She was fostered by a woman named McGuire and later taken in by a young Catholic brother and sister named Smith. I have been researching her for almost 20 years and have not been able to find anything about her.

Answer 7

I’m the adoptee I know best in my family tree. In fact,I have two family trees, clearly labelled “adoptive” and “birth,” so as to avoid confusion. I’m 70 now, and I grew up knowing I was adopted, as my parents told me when I was so young that I never remembered the first time we talked about it. When I was 17, I had a dream that led me to want to find my adoptive parents’ ancestors, although I had never heard of genealogy. When I was 40, I decided to try to find my birth parents. That was before the days of home DNA kits, and I had no info at all about my birth family. But I read books about how to locate them, and fortunately, I found my birth mother and her children, the only siblings I had ever known. My birth mother wasn’t sure whether my birth father was her former husband or another man. For 20 years I had a gut feeling I was her ex-husband’s child, although he wanted nothing to do with me. Finally I took a sibling DNA test, which revealed my brothers and sister were half siblings, meaning that I was the child of the other man. By then my birth mother had died, but as she had told me his name, I was able to locate his children and grandchildren (he was already gone by then, too.) Finding my birth family has been an amazing adventure, and one of the best things about it is that I now have two family trees to research!

Comments

Yes two family trees! So, So many profiles to create and explore!!

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Absolutely! Genealogy is a happy addiction for me, so I’m having twice the fun. My husband is also a keen genealogist, so I was delighted when he let me add his ancestors to WikiTree, as he didn’t have the time or knowhow to do it himself. I even enjoy working on the trees of more distant family members and friends.

Answer 8

Yes- my deceased grandmother born 1898 Never knew her parents.

now deceased, We see her 1st in the 1900 census of Norristown, PA. age 1 yr and as a boarder. I was hoping DNA would give me the answer but although I have went through many possibilities I have not found her parents. I would just like to talk to someone to get me back on track. I have been researching this for over 15 years. This would be the ultimate challenge for any one of the best genealogist on Wikitree. Thank you for your consideration

Answer 9

My mom's paternal grandfather William Nicholson was adopted in 1868 in Iowa.  His adoption was known and passed down in the family, along with his birth name Lafferty, but no additional details.  Back in 1977 I wrote the county requesting a copy of the adoption, thinking in my ignorance that surely it would be unsealed after 100 yrs!  No, adoption records in that county were sealed -- but William's adoption did not go thru the court.  The agreement between Mary A Lafferty, his "only surviving parent," and John Nicholson, the adoptive father, was recorded in the Book of Deeds.  That was my first major genealogical coup!  The story passed down in the family was that the mother was ill and couldn't care for William.  Based on information discovered in the last 25 yrs or so, it seems that contact continued between Mary and the Nicholsons, at least for a time.

Years later, thru DNA and traditional research, we were able to identify Mary's maiden name and parents/siblings, and Mary's husband James.  We only have more questions, now.  James was still living at the time of the adoption, and in fact had remarried a few months earlier.  Mary remarried about 6 months later.  Did Mary and James divorce, or separate, or did one abandon the other?  Was Mary really ill and recover, or perhaps did her future husband not want to raise another man's child?  Perhaps someday we'll find a record of a divorce, if it happened, but likely the rest of the questions will never be answered.

Answer 10

Yes, I was adopted back in 1953. Always wondered if I had any siblings. I was 49 when I found out that there was and he lived close. Contacted him and his wife, found out that he was my younger brother . Also learned there should have been a older sister that was adopted in about 1952, but never have found out any thing more. Our birth mother died before I found my brother but he did get to meet her..

She had never told anyone about the three children that she had. Would still like to find out about my older sister.

Answer 11

I was adopted out in 1947 the 2nd child born in a marriage, they kept the first born , had another 14months after me and kept that one and a further 4 children , birth mother said  the last baby died at birth. I was never told I was adopted , found out when I was in my 40's .

Answer 12

I was adopted. I am 71 now. I found my biological mother well over 30 years ago. I had 16 years of a great relationship with her (although we lived 4 hours apart) before she passed quite unexpectedly, in seemingly good health. No real cause of death was ever found. Unfortunately, she never mentioned anything about my father. However, with Ancestry's new ability to divide DNA into maternal and paternal sides, because of a 28% match on what would be my paternal side I was able to get in touch with a cousin, and thereby determine who my father is. He is 89, and although I wrote a long letter, I got no response. I am guessing his children received it and he was not told. I have tried contacting my half-sister and half-brother, but neither of them will respond either. I have phone numbers, but I just can't bring myself to use them and confront them when they obviously don't want any contact with me. All I really want is to know what my father looks/looked like. That would be enough, but I can't find anything anywhere online with a picture of him.

Answer 13

Yes, I was adopted when I was 8 years old. I had no contact with my biological family years before or after my adoption. I recently began my search to find out where I came from biologically. For many of us, that have been adopted, there is always that wondering of who your parents were, where are they, why, and so many other questions. I was blessed to have the parents I did growing up, but the curiosity has always remained. Through my exploration I have discovered my father and grandfather and then the trail grows cold.  Here's to being patient and hoping to continue this journey of learning. 

Answer 14

Yup, me, plus my aunt in law, possibly some more!

Answer 15

My grandmother and grandaunt were appalled when it came to light that their married younger brother-in-law, who was married, sired a daughter out of wedlock. The married couple soon fled to California where they later died. There were no children from that marriage. The mother and infant were not named in any family records.  I  did not find out the existence of this person, until one day a first cousin popped up on my paternal aunt's DNA matching page that I managed, that I had never seen before. Soon I was contacted by the woman's granddaughter who was managing her DNA. She said her grandmother had been adopted as a toddler, and had no idea who the biological parents were. We soon concluded that my great uncle was indeed her biological father, but never had any luck in discovering who the mother might have been: a genealogical mystery that is one of our family's brick walls.

Answer 16

My father was adopted at about age 2-4 years. He was born around 1926, in/close to South Webster, Ohio, to a large family that couldn't afford another child, I think.

Apparently, it was an unpleasant situation on the farm (abuse?), so when his natural mother would come to visit him at his new parents' home, he would cry and hide behind his adoptive mother. It apparently became so bad that his adoptive mother told her not to visit anymore.

His adoptive parents lived in another small town at least 40 miles from where he was born and I can't imagine how they would travel in the mid-1920s to visit when there were almost no roads. I have no idea who the birth family is or how his adoptive parents found them. I *suspect* it may have been a relative.

He has a legal sworn birth certificate with his adoptive parents named as his birth parents but the certificate number has an 'A' in front of it which means adopted.

I have several possibilities for surnames for his birth family but my brother and I remember them differently, so there is no guarantee. My brother resists DNA testing, so all I have is mine and my sister's results.

Since it almost 100 years ago, I doubt we will ever know that side of the family, but for genetic disease purposes, it would be nice to know.

Answer 17

I was put up for adoption at birth. My biological uncle was put up for adoption. My biological father was left on a doorstep as an infant. I have an adoptive cousin who was also adopted. Bizarrely, I discovered that my biological and adoptive families are connected a few generations back...so I have relatives I'm related to one way biologically and another way legally!

Answer 18

I have a great aunt who adopted two children after her biological child passed away. There may be others.

Answer 19

I was adopted. And a cousin. And my mother's father was adopted out of Canada.

Answer 20

My Great Grandmother, Marguerite Stein, whose adoptive name was Marie Elizabeth Gilbert, was adopted in 1891. I'm reasonably certain of who her birth parents were, but lack sources. I do have her adoption decree, which does state her last name at birth. Her father had been killed in a construction accident. Her mother could no longer care for her and, when she was three, put her up for adoption. Marie had a good life with her adoptive parents. She became an opera singer and sang in many places in the United States and Europe, including La Scala.