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I'm wanting to find out more about the child my great-grandparents adopted. Why would a couple in their 70's, who already had 12 children and numerous grandchildren at the time, adopt a little 6-year old girl? I'm curious to see if she's still alive and what the story was.
Because she needed a home. Because they needed help around the house, as they got older and she became more capable of helping. Those are a couple of possibilities.
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Originally Posted by PA2UK
The census probably won't tell you why they adopted her but it may give you details you can then use the track down the records that will. She may have been an orphaned relative or neighbor - they may have been her Godparents. I have a few couples in my tree who adopted a seemingly random child later in life but it turns out they were were somehow related. Try finding her parents names and death records, that will tell you more than the census.
The census probably won't tell you why they adopted her but it may give you details you can then use the track down the records that will. She may have been an orphaned relative or neighbor - they may have been her Godparents. I have a few couples in my tree who adopted a seemingly random child later in life but it turns out they were were somehow related. Try finding her parents names and death records, that will tell you more than the census.
Adoption in the early 1900's was treated in a far different way than we see it as now. One of my mother's cousins was adopted. He grew up with the family, assuming he'd been born into it as a clown and happy member of the family. The adoption had been very secret. They'd even got out of town and 'returned' with a baby. Nobody ever said why they adopted a baby inbetween natural children and went to such lenghts to hide it, but someone slipped and said he was 'just adopted' when he was a teen.
He ran away and finally came back, and to the rest he was still just a cousin, but the relationship with his parents was never the same since he felt like they'd lied.
I don't know why but for a lot it was something which had to be a deep dark secret back then and scenerios like 'pretending' to be pregnant weren't unheard of.
Adoption in the early 1900's was treated in a far different way than we see it as now. One of my mother's cousins was adopted. He grew up with the family, assuming he'd been born into it as a clown and happy member of the family. The adoption had been very secret. They'd even got out of town and 'returned' with a baby. Nobody ever said why they adopted a baby inbetween natural children and went to such lenghts to hide it, but someone slipped and said he was 'just adopted' when he was a teen.
He ran away and finally came back, and to the rest he was still just a cousin, but the relationship with his parents was never the same since he felt like they'd lied.
I don't know why but for a lot it was something which had to be a deep dark secret back then and scenerios like 'pretending' to be pregnant weren't unheard of.
I think there are still some taboos attached with being adopted. My SIL was adopted and she was told sometime as a child but for some strange reason, her brother (who was not adopted) was never told until he was an adult.
Also, some people would raise a grandchild as their own child if the parents were too young - many of these were kept secret. Bobby Darin, for example, was told as an adult that his "sister" was actually his mother and that he'd be raised by his grandmother. I actually have suspicions about my husband being a child of this.
Adoption in the early 1900's was treated in a far different way than we see it as now. One of my mother's cousins was adopted. He grew up with the family, assuming he'd been born into it as a clown and happy member of the family. The adoption had been very secret. They'd even got out of town and 'returned' with a baby. Nobody ever said why they adopted a baby inbetween natural children and went to such lenghts to hide it, but someone slipped and said he was 'just adopted' when he was a teen.
He ran away and finally came back, and to the rest he was still just a cousin, but the relationship with his parents was never the same since he felt like they'd lied.
I don't know why but for a lot it was something which had to be a deep dark secret back then and scenerios like 'pretending' to be pregnant weren't unheard of.
Often those types of dramas indicate an illegitimate birth that was hidden. The actual mother and *her* mother were taken out of town so the pregnancy couldn't be witnessed by those who know the family. Then both return claiming that the older of the two, the mother's mother, had a child while staying with relatives.
I'm looking for what happened to my Grandmother, her siblings and my G-Grandfather after my G-Grandmother died suddenly in 1935 and the children were all split up and sent to live with different people. I can't wait to see what surprises the 1940 census holds!
There may be some surprises, but, the 72-year 'blackout' on census records is too long. 50-years would be more reasonable.
Be grateful it's only 72 years - it's a 100 in the UK (their most recent census release was 1911 last year). The whole idea is to keep the personal details private for a "lifetime" - so most people on the census will be dead by the time it's released. Of course plenty of people live longer than 72 years but it makes sense when the average life expectancy is somewhere in the 70s - probably when the rule was set, it was 72, now I think it's closer to 78. But I guess that's why it's 100 years in the UK - the amount of people who live to be 100+ is minuscule so they don't have to worry about it. 50 years would certainly mean a good portion of people on the census are still alive and there's more risk that a lot of people would object. Obviously, you'd be okay with it but not everyone would be and the census bureau has to consider them.
What do you hope to find?
A treasure trove of information on family and relatives that died 50+ years ago before I got into genealogy.
The 72 year rule was implemented because of privacy issues and the life expectancy at the time. There was talk at one time of changing it up to 100 years now because people are living longer.
Be grateful it's only 72 years - it's a 100 in the UK (their most recent census release was 1911 last year). The whole idea is to keep the personal details private for a "lifetime" - so most people on the census will be dead by the time it's released. Of course plenty of people live longer than 72 years but it makes sense when the average life expectancy is somewhere in the 70s - probably when the rule was set, it was 72, now I think it's closer to 78. But I guess that's why it's 100 years in the UK - the amount of people who live to be 100+ is minuscule so they don't have to worry about it. 50 years would certainly mean a good portion of people on the census are still alive and there's more risk that a lot of people would object. Obviously, you'd be okay with it but not everyone would be and the census bureau has to consider them.
A friend of mine worked the cencus last time, and the MAJOR hedge people had was the nicely organized collection of data. Fifty years would mean that many people would be alive and it would be simple to find their descendents who were alive. I think that is the main concern.
I don't expect to find out anything new on my family. All have been accounted for living and deceased. I've heard so many sad stories of how families survived the 30's from living off the weeds in their yard to eating lard sandwiches. I don't understand why it was kept secret for so long. Makes no logical sense to me as Spock would have said.
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