Tips for finding birth parents for female child in orphanage 1902-1915 era
My grandmother (maternal) was adopted by Fred and Minnie Young Zell from Youngstown Ohio and she never spoke about it and when asked about her biological parents.
All she told us was she knew she was adopted, knew who her parents were but refused to say anymore.
It is believed to be that she was adopted out of the Cleveland Protestant Orphan Asylum. But cannot confirm that until I find out her birth name which her first name may or could have been changed as well.
Via census records she was not in the Zell home in 1910 but was in 1920 -She went by Thelma St Clair Zell DOB 07 July 1902 later married Khale Goss
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L2GN-7CX
I had mtDNA and found some relatives she is related to but we still cannot find the missing gap of her parents....
any idea of other ways to go to try and find out her birth name??
I honestly am ready to give up as I have looked for over a decade and must be missing something
Thank You
Deb
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I recommend getting DNA tested through AncestryDNA. Their database is much larger than other companies, and you will likely get DNA matches. I would be glad to help you sort through your matches once you get to that point.
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I did that years ago, ancestry dna I did years ago
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dont give up! ive been searching for my grandfathers birth info for over 20 years, I recently found his birth father through ancestrydna :) So it is possible, sometimes it just takes time. I would've found him sooner if i had done the dna years ago :/
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here is a link to the form you would need to send in order to have your grandmothers adoption file sent to you. The adoption file would include all info known about her at the time she was adopted. This may give you the answers you’re looking for.
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Ohio does not have any records, I checked a few years ago. They did not start officially keeping them until after 1928 and she was already adopted then. I also checked the Probate courts in several counties
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oh that stinks :(
I noticed that the Cleveland Protestant Orphan Asylum was located on St. Clair street .... sometime around 1917 they “moved to the country” and changed the name to Beech Brook. Have you tried contacting them to see if they have records?
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I would be happy to help you interpret your AncestryDNA results if you are interested.
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@DeborahAndio i was fortunate enough to get an offer for help from @JeffreyBryant1 about a year ago.... he helped me figure out who my adopted grandparents birth parents were! He’s super smart and organized and knows what he’s doing when making the Dna connections. I 100% would recommend accepting his offer to help. I’m very grateful for all he was able to do for me! Not only did he help me find my ancestors but also taught me how to make the connections (which I still struggle with lol but without his help I would still be completely lost when it comes to figuring out the connections. Thank you so much @JeffreyBryant1 :)
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I am looking for a sister born about 1954 in a unwed mothers home in the state of NY. Would you have any leeds for me?
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@WKathleenM4 i realize this question wasn’t directed toward me, but I saw it in my email and wanted to share this website with you. It just so happens that I was reading about homes for unwed mothers this morning. Here is a link to the site. https://blog.a3genealogy.com/2010/05/wordy-wednesday-homes-for-unwed-and.html
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