Did your ancestor adopt any children? Even if there are no records of the adoption, don't "ignore" the child in later years because they "aren't related to you." Searching them helps to completely obtain information on the family unit and you may always learn something about your direct line ancestors while completing work on non-biological children raised by your ancestor.
In past times, there were often "in-house" or "internal-family" adoptions. Typical scenario was a young girl who gave birth, then the child was raised by either her parents or by her boyfriend's parents (or grandparents in some instances). In any case, the child was amongst people who were blood relatives, and resemblance was visible. The system may not have been perfect, but we all know the saying .... "blood is thicker than water". I know of a case where the child was conceived by her natural mother having had an affair with a member of the clergy. The child was then legally adopted by the holy man's male cousin and wife in another state. Today we look askance at such arrangements, but ... well ... we can't alter the past, but simply learn from it.
ReplyDeleteI was able to also find the mother of one of my adopted cousins and those who are highly suspected to be her half-siblings which she and her daughter reconnected with a few years ago. A DNA test would clear that up, but it would probably just prove what they already know.
ReplyDeleteAnd just because a child was adopted doesn't mean his or her parents were dead. I have a 3rd greatgrandmother whose brother adopted one of her daughters. Don't know why. She outlived that daughter by about 44 years.
ReplyDeleteSometimes there were instances where the husband was the culprit that did the running around when the baby born/was registered the wife's consented to taking the child and given the name of his family. (to protect the identity of the girl). I have come across this a few times that we know of for sure. There are also some where the baby was that of a sibling and they did not want to raise the baby so it was give to a sister as the sister's child as if it was her own to raise, no questions asked.
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