Genealogy Chat

GRO stands for General Register Office.

Hi there, The GRO is a list of Births, Marriages and Deaths on microfiche for England and Wales. These can be found at large local history libraries, record offices and Latter Day Saints Libraries. It is only an index, it does not show any of the certificates. It gives you the name of the person who was registered, where they were registered, the quarter of the year in which they were registered and a page and volume number so you can obtain a copy of the certificate. Try a search on www.freebmd.rootsweb(.)com . Remove the brackets. This site is not complete so if you do not find him, then try the GRO Mary

That's a good idea Mary: Being a novice on here still, does GRO stand for General Records Office?

Hi there, I think I would try the 1901 census for the mother of the 98 year old lady using her maiden name and also her married name, your friend must know these. You may get lucky and find the boy living with his mother before the adoption. If you know the name of the boy, then try and find his birth certificate, he will have hads to be registered with the GRO good luck, Mary

I don't think offical adoptions were recorded before the 1920s , usually people were "taken in" by family or neighbours or even sent to orphanages /schools. Sorry its not much to go on. Kim

I'm trying to help a friend whose mother died a couple of years ago, aged 98. She has some old photos, and very few names that go with them. She has now been contacted by a distant relation, who reckons that her mother's mother had a boy, before marriage who was 'adopted', but subsequently re-appeared some years later within the main family. Her mother had apparently expressed some thoughts that 'he' (her brother) was not like the rest of the family..... but that is all she's got to go on. This would have been just before the turn of the century, 1899 or 1900 or thereabouts... is there any way she could find a record of this adoption? Were such things recorded then?