Genealogy Chat

Hi Christine, I looked at the adoption files at what was Somerset House - the page that referred to my dad was missing!! He is in the BMD - his adopted name is handwritten at the bottom of the page, which led me to think the original should be there!! I have tried under Grans maiden name, even under the name of the uncle and aunt who brought her up - no luck. It is soooo frustrating, as dad knew he was adopted, he even changed his forenames then, and has told me everything he knew. I have found out his original 'dad' was married, and had been a long-term friend of the family - he was over 20 years older than my gran and had known her since she was a girl.. His wife was also unable to have children, so there's every chance he just visited a lot as he couldn't have any of his own. One suspicious thing my dad told me, was that his mum kept on about Juarez - whether this was a surname, or the place I don't know, but they did live in Cornwall, and marauding sailors........well!! maggie

Hi Maggie, The only entry you will find in BMD is the original birth name. For example my birth name before I was adopted is in 1951 Births on Ancestry. The name I became after adoption is not listed in BMD. The only entry for my new name is in the 1952 Adopted Children's Index at FRC. Adopted names do not appear in BMD at all. If you have found an entry for your father in BMD then that is his original name not his adoptive name. He could have kept the same surname from birth of course if for example he was adopted by his father's brother. I hope that makes sense. Does he have adoption papers ?. If not the only way to prove he was adopted is to consult Adopted Childrens Index at FRC, see if his name is listed and if so apply for the Adoption Certificate. It does rather sound as if your hunch could be correct. Feel free to ask questions. Cheers, Christine.

Christine, That really is a fantastic tip!! Good luck in contacting your sister. One part interested me - you said you noticed an birth entry. My dad was adopted aged 14 after his father was killed in the war- so he knew who his 'dad' was. I can find his entry under his adopted name. Should his original birth be in the BMD as well? I have looked under the original surname he was known by, but methinks he wasn't my dads dad at all!! maggie

Hi Gerry Strangely enough the adoption was exactly two years to the day of my sisters birthday in 1953, adoption order in 1955. It's a shame about your brother, but I wonder if one day, his children if he has any, will be interested in their family history ?. I think it's likely. Cheers, Chris.

Hi Christine That's a great inspirational adoption search post and I'm sure it will help others :-) I'd be interested to know how many weeks from your sister's birth until her adoption order was granted in the court. In my brothers case it was exactly 19 weeks but I know that in many cases it's longer. Have you given any thoughts to how your going to approach your sister? This is a hard one I know. I was advised to use a intermediary and did but my brother didn't and still doesn't wish contact with his siblings... our mother died 17 years ago. Happy New Year Cheers Gerry

For those of you seeking adopted siblings I’d like to share my story with you as it might, just might I hasten to add, help some of you find the person you are seeking. I was myself adopted in 1951 and up until mid 2006, when I discovered a birth entry on a local BMD, had had no idea that I had an adopted birth sister born in 1953. Having obtained her birth certificate and confirmed that this was definitely a sister of mine, I had no way of knowing of course who she became once she had been adopted. Due to some information about electoral roll which I picked up on this site from Derek’s postings, I noticed that in the year in which a person can first vote their date of birth appears before their name on the electoral roll listing eg. 23/7 for 23rd July. Armed with this information I realised that if my adopted sister had been adopted in the area I was (which was within 25 miles of birthplace) and had remained living in the same area, she would have reached voting age of 18 in 1971 and therefore be listed in the area’s electoral roll for that year preceded by d.o.b. I decided to take a chance (that she had remained living in the same area up until age 18) and trawled the entire electoral roll for 1971, seeking female entries with the same birth date as my sister. I found several names and researched them to see if I could find corresponding birth entries on Ancestry etc. For just one of the names there was no birth entry anywhere as far as I could tell, and I thought that this person, could like myself either have been adopted or be possibly born abroad or even have married before reaching 18 in which case her birth name would be different. Having satisfied myself that she was not likely to come from overseas as parents names (also listed in electoral roll) appeared to be locals who married a few years previously (BMD used again), nor could I find a marriage entry, I figured that the person whose name I had found could well be adopted and be my sister. I recently visited the FRC in London to see if I could discover an entry for the same name in the Adopted Childrens Index which was in alphabetical order so very simple to do. Previous advice from Gerry S also on this site, told me that an adopted person cannot be entered in the Index until 19 weeks after birth so using this as a starting point I looked up to 1955 where lo and behold I found the name I was looking for and which I had found in the electorall roll. Having now obtained the Adoption Certificate I have confirmed/matched the birth date to my sister and the location and Court name were also as expected. So the moral of this rather longwinded tale is, to all of you seeking adopted siblings, if you have a good idea or know what area/locality/town they may have been adopted in, it may be worth a look at the electoral roll for that area for the year the person became eligible to vote, 18 after 1969 but 21 up until then to see if you can find anyone with the same birth date you are looking for. You might just get a lucky strike as I have done. Good luck to all searchers for 2007.