Looking for Info on Kenneth Dawson (b. abt 1949-?) of Kansas/Arizona
Hello,
Looking for info on my 1/2 1st Cousin Kenneth Dawson, FS # L2YP-NQ5, who was likely born about 1949 in Kansas. He kept the surname of his mother Wanda Lou Dawson (1932-2006) FS # L2S3-FK9, who is my half-aunt. Wanda Lou Dawson said she had Kenneth Dawson when she was 17 years old and the baby was born out of wedlock. The biological father's name is unknown, but he is likely from Kansas. Wanda had difficulty talking about Kenneth when she was older, per her daughter Jeanene Michele Forshey. Family lore has it that when Kenneth Dawson was 12 years old, she had him placed in foster/adoptive care in Arizona.
This has been 'a needle in a haystack' project for me for some time. Any help would be most welcome.
Yours,
Brian Paul Kaess
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Adoption records are usually found in the county where the adoptive parents lived at the time of the adoption, which could have even been outside of Arizona, so that is 'a needle in a haystack' challenge.
Did Wanda have any other children? Their DNA matches could reveal Kenneth or his descendants.
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If you are biologically related to Kenneth, then your DNA matches should connect you to Kenneth or his descendants.
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Yes, Wanda had another child, a daughter named Jeanene Michele Forshey of Anchorage, Alaska, a 1/2 sister to Kenneth Dawson, and 1/2 cousin to myself. I haven't done a DNA test yet, so I can't check any matches. Jeanene has done a DNA test and the only substantive thing she told me was that we had Finnish ancestors soemwhere on the Dawson side, but she is still trying to tighten her hypothesis that they were Finns who came to America and settled with the 'New Sweden Colony' in the NE. She didn't have much to say about any matches with Kenneth. It is a bit of a conundrum. So, please advise, where do I go from here?
Brian
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If you can get Jeanene to "invite" you to see her DNA results in Ancestry, then you could see if Kenneth or his family members are DNA matches.
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@Brian Paul Kaess Due to the newness of record (less than 110 years old), you may find it very difficult to find records that are actually visible to you. This is due to privacy laws and contractual restrictions that FamilySearch has to abide by.
Use of AI is always a possibility that may help you. There is an announcement that has a prompt that can be executed with most AI tools that prompts for the state you need help with (probably Arizona) and it will give you lots of links to agencies that deal with adoptions in the specified state.
You could modify it to look for foster care resources as well.
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