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Old 02-14-2013, 03:22 PM
 
2 posts, read 2,715 times
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looking for Betty Virginia Rowlett. age 9 and Margaret Elizabeth Rowlett, age 2 when given away by their mother Gladys Gage/Rowlett in the San Jose area in the 1940s. Father Thomas Shelby Rowlett had passed away and mother had met a man who did not want children, so she gave her 3 girls away from a motel they were staying at. Middle sister Mary Alice is looking for them. Anyone with any information please contact me.
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Old 02-15-2013, 01:05 PM
 
Location: Portland, Oregon
10,988 posts, read 20,510,182 times
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My suggestion is that you review your adoption process. Odds are that the attorney or the agency who handled your adoption also handled theirs. Review your own adoption records for information about your mother's address at the time of your adoption for hints as to where your sister's adoption records could be found. You say your mother 'gave away' her children. Did she know the couple who adopted you? Did she seek out what in those days was called a foundling agency? If your adoption was handled by an agency write them and ask that if your sibblings contact them please forward your letter that you wish to be contacted.

Try posting your request on Rowlett Family Genealogy Forum
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Old 02-18-2013, 05:14 PM
 
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The mother put a sign up, who ever showed up got them free. There was no adoption she just gave them away like dogs.
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Old 02-19-2013, 12:01 PM
 
Location: Portland, Oregon
10,988 posts, read 20,510,182 times
Reputation: 8261
How do you know that? Were I you I would look at your own custodial parents and attempt to reconstruct what happened with paper work. You and I are about the same age and chances are the family that raised you didn't share all the details, that there was some confabulation. If any of their friends from the time that this happened are still alive ask them what they know of your circumstances.

Believe it or not but schools maintain records for a very long time. Go back to your first school district and look at the paperwork they have for you. That school may have an alumni association with a website, if so contact them for leads. Your older sister probably attended the same school before your mother abandoned all of you. Ask if any school record transfer papers were ever received for her. They may not tell you but they may look for them and give you a hint where to go next. The 2 yo will be more difficult.

I recall hearing that a neighbor of mine was a foundling from the 40s. My parents said that it was necessary that a notice be published in the newspapers before she could be adopted. If you can pin down the approximate date of the abandonment go to the library and look in the legal notices from that date forward for a year or two.

At some point the custodial parents would have had to go to the courts to obtain legal custody of abandoned children. Because this happened in California their laws would apply. Have you considered asking a question about the adoption of abandoned children in CA during this time frame on a legal forum? Even if you/they were never adopted there would at least have been foster parents and a court record.

Last edited by Nell Plotts; 02-19-2013 at 12:12 PM..
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Old 03-15-2013, 07:50 PM
 
2 posts, read 2,391 times
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Default Betty V Rowlett marriage record

I've been working on finding the sisters once I read about it via Scott Herhold's column. I found Betty V Rowlet born abt 1937 marrying Leonard C Montgomery on 23 Mar 1974 in Santa Clara County, CA. They divorced Jun 1976 in the same county. She later married Jerry Oliver Craw 14 Feb 1982 in Reno Nevada. There are several addresses for her in Sunnyvale.

I also have birth and death records for her father, Shelvay Thomas Rowlett.

Last edited by cmross6; 03-15-2013 at 08:02 PM..
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Old 03-15-2013, 09:44 PM
 
2 posts, read 2,391 times
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More info on Betty. Her birth date is 29 Oct 1936. She also married Fred Victor Cunha 22 Nov 1986. He remarried 20 Apr 2000 and died in 2011. He had children from a previous marriage (born 1979) that might be able to relate information about her. The last address that I can find for Betty is 1994, but she may have remarried. C
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