ROOTS-L Archives

Archiver > ROOTS > 2007-02 > 1170694260


From: "juanita" <>
Subject: [ROOTS-L] Poor Family - Where to go next
Date: Mon, 05 Feb 2007 10:51:00 -0600
In-Reply-To: <cc1.a79e31a.32f89372@aol.com>


I really have a brickwall. My paternal grandmother, born 1877 in
Iowa, was adopted....a fact that my dad (her only child) never knew.
I discovered that information when I began researching my family
history. I did eventually find my grandmother's biological parents
but their names are about all I can find about them. I know who they
were, where they married, names of their children.

My grandmother's adoptive parents were divorced shortly after she was
adopted - that information was buried in the court testimony during
the divorce. If it hadn't been for a divorce, I'd never have found
my grandmother had been adopted. The State of IA refused to give me
any information about adoptions.

My grandmother's biological father died suddenly in 1882 in IA,
leaving her mother with three young children - my grandmother being
the oldest at age 5. The only info is apparently a small notice in a
local newspaper about the father dying. My grandmother's baby sister
was adopted by a man who lived a few blocks from the family. He and
his wife then moved to KS and later to CA. The child (my
grandmother's sister) was adopted the same year my grandmother was,
in 1882.

Both of the girls' surnames were changed.

There was a boy, age 3 yrs. He apparently kept his birth surname as
later records for him - two marriages, 1895 IA State census, WW I
draft, death, all show that.

I cannot find what happened to the mother of these three children.
Since the son apparently kept the family surname, it would seem to me
he may have been with his widowed mother. I can find no proof of a
remarriage for her. She was about 25-26 yrs. old when widowed.

The family apparently was destitute from what I can determine. I
know they had a small home but it was lost the same year the father
died due to non-payment of taxes. The home was purchased for $100 in
c. 1880 when they moved from OH to IA. They later borrowed $125,
putting a lien on it but were unable to repay it. They never had any
other possessions. There is no burial info for the husband and I
don't know who paid for that. I've checked pauper records but
located none for him.

I could find no guardianship records or Wills.

I've tried to find the mother in a poor house, but those records are
rather scarce. I have checked her siblings to see if she may have
gone to one of them ... found no evidence. I found obituaries for at
least two of her brothers - one who died in 1926 and another in the
1940's - neither mentioned ever having a sister with her name.

Are there any other places or records I can check to find this
missing great grandmother?

juanita

This thread: