Man Reunites with Family 31 Years After Discovering He was Adopted

From the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel:

Seventy-three years ago - as the Great Depression dragged on - a migrant farm worker struggling to raise four children after the death of his wife made a momentous, life-changing family decision.

He felt he couldn't care for 10-month-old Simon along with the other three children, so he gave the boy up for adoption.

Raised in the Rio Grande valley of Texas as an only child, Simon Martinez was going through old family trunks in 1978 after his parents died when he found a box with a handwritten note inside. It was from his birth father, describing the agonizing decision he had made.

Read more of the story, including details of how Martinez's adoptive cousin used genealogical research to find his birth family, here.

Orphaned Siblings Reunited 75 Years Later

Here's a story from the Grand Rapids [Michigan] Press that's both a heartwarmer and a tearjerker. In 1932, a destitute father dropped off six of his children at St. John's Home, an orphanage in Grandville, Kent County, Michigan. On Saturday, the last of the children reunited. Some of the siblings have passed away, but their families have met the other siblings. The reunion "was the last in a series of reunions brought about by a handful of dim childhood memories, a few deathbed revelations and, ultimately, a series of Internet searches."

This and That

Reading through my e-mail this morning, I came across these little snippets of interesting items to share with my readers:

• *The Dowagiac [Michigan] Daily News has a fascinating article about Verge Hawkins, who is lecturing on African-American history at the Museum at Southwestern Michigan College's spring lecture series. He encourages families to study genealogy together "because if you have different generations, they can focus on some things and tell their story. When you tell your own story, you're a much stronger person."

• *"Today Michigan lawmakers will begin contemplating one of the most heated questions within the adoption community -- should upwards of 20,000 people be allowed to access family information that has been kept secret for decades? Bills in both chambers of the Legislature would allow people adopted between 1945 and 1980 to obtain their original birth certificate. It also would allow birth parents to tell the state whether they want to be contacted, and how. A hearing on the matter will be held today before the House Families and Children's Services subcommittee." My paternal grandmother was one of the "lucky" adoptees whose adoption was finalized in 1940 (when she was 16), so she was able to access her own birth certificate. Thousands of Michigan adoptees have never had that chance. Read more here.

• *From Cyndi's List Mailing List, a website where you can do an Irish placename search, Irish Ancestries.com. The placename finder is on this page.

• *Looking for Michigan newspapers that might carry obituaries online? This list appears to have current--not historical--papers, but some have archived obits, so check it out.

• *From the Oakland County Mailing List at RootsWeb came this terrific news: "Later this year the State Library will be putting digitized death certificates for Michigan on its website. The years covered will be 1900-1910. Granted its not as much as some states but for Michigan that's a major step!"

Adoptee Reunites with Biological Sisters

From the Muskegon [Michigan] Chronicle:

As a child, Joyanne Converse used to look in the mirror and wish she looked like somebody -- anybody -- in her family.

Someone with the same color hair. The same eyes.

The same smile.

The same nose.

But as the youngest of Ed and Lucille Bell's five children growing up in Muskegon, all of whom were adopted, it seemed an impossibility.

"I didn't know anyone who looked like me," she says.

Read how this woman reunited with four of her five biological sisters, here.

Adopted Son Finds Birth Mom...at Work

Both the Grand Rapids Press and the Muskegon Chronicle--newspapers from my ancestral cities in Michigan--carried this story, and no wonder! It's one of those "truth is stranger than fiction" stories, and does it ever have an ending that will warm your heart!

For years, Steve Flaigg, an adoptee, had searched for his birth mother. Come to find out, she turned up to be a co-worker he had known for several months. Go here to read the rest of the story.

This article has a personal connection for me. It mentions the D.A. Blodgett Home, an institution that figures largely in my family history. When my maternal grandfather's mother became ill and had to be institutionalized, several of his siblings were placed in the Blodgett Home for a while until after she died and their father remarried (he and another brother were placed in relatives' homes). Also, this was the place where my paternal grandmother and her brother were dropped off after their non-custodial father removed them from their mother's home in east Michigan. They lived there for just a short time before being fostered out and eventually adopted by two families in the same small west Michigan town.

UPDATE: This article reoports that Flaigg and his birth mother, Christine Talladay, will be featured on several morning television shows, including NBC's Today show Thursday morning and perhaps Fox's Fox and Friends on Friday morning.

Robbins Reunion 2007

Sunday, November 4th was our annual Robbins Reunion/Thanksgiving Dinner/Fall Birthday Celebration that usually takes place at a buffet house in Spokane on the last Sunday of October. This year, due to scheduling conflicts for some of our family members, we moved it forward one week.

This tradition was started 14 years ago, when my son Matt and my niece, A, were babies. We have a unique family: my biological niece at four months of age, through the open adoption process, was placed with a wonderful, loving family who was able to care for and meet her needs in ways our own family was not. A's adoptive family asked my parents to continue to grandparent her, but also asked that they would include their older daughter, also an adoptee, as one of their grandchildren. My parents willingly complied. As it turns out, Matt and A were born nine days apart, and A's older adoptive sister is only four days older than my daughter, Missy. So several times a year, our extended families get together to celebrate birthdays, holidays, and what it means to be a family.

At our fall gathering, we celebrate the autumn birthdays, including my cousin's (when he can attend) and my sister's, both born in October. The November birthdays include Missy and A's sister. And since it's difficult to get everyone together at Thanksgiving, this Robbins Reunion has become our own Thanksgiving celebration. This year, I added a new tradition, one I was inspired by from a post at Dumb Little Man (hat tip to Denise at Family Matters), and something I wish I had started years ago: a thanksgiving journal. I purchased a nice snap-fastened, gilt-edged, lined journal and had everyone write a little something about what they were thankful for. Even my youngest nephew, age three, was encouraged to add his scribbles! The entries were heart-warming and humorous. In addition, I added information about where we held the reunion, who all attended, and some particular details about that evening that made it distinct from any others (hat tip to Becky of kinnexions, and her Phend-Fisher Family Reunion Ledger posts). I hope this journal will become a family treasure over time. In the photos below, you can see some of the family members writing their thoughts of gratitude in it.

SOURCE: Various family members at Robbins Family Reunion, Spokane, Washington. Photographed by Norman J. Midkiff and Miriam Robbins Midkiff, 4 November 2007.

While my parents were in town, they brought me a box of letters. From 1966 to 1978, my mother wrote to her parents in Grand Rapids, Michigan from various locations in Alaska where our family resided. My grandparents, as I've mentioned before, saved everything! These notes and messages are our family's history, and I've been enjoying reading a few every night before bed. I've been loaned these to scan and preserve, and perhaps, from time to time, I'll share some of them with my readers (after first receiving permission from my mother, of course). My posts on our "Alaska Adventures," as Mom has always called them, always generate the most viewers and comments on this blog!

Ancestors in the 1930 U.S. Federal Census - Part 2

April 1st was Census Day for the 1930 U.S. Federal Census. In honor of that census day, throughout the month of April I am posting lists of my known direct ancestors and where they were residing during that census. I'll also list who's missing; for us family historians, missing individuals on census records can be the most frustrating and intriguing challenges of genealogy!

(The census image has been removed)

My then-five-and-a-half-year-old paternal grandmother, Jane Marie YORK/Jeanne Marie HOLST, is enumerated with her adoptive parents, Alfred Henry HOLST and Nellie May CONCIDINE, on Randall Street in Coopersville, Ottawa Co., Michigan, along with older adoptive sister, Lucille. Both girls' names have been mis-spelled. Note also that Jeanne is listed as an "Adopted Daughter," even though she wasn't legally adopted by the Holsts until right around her sixteenth birthday. Legally, she was only their foster child. Jeanne's then-foster parents must have known something about her biological parents, because both her parents are listed as being born in Michigan; while Lucille (their biological daughter) is listed with her parents' birthplaces being Germany and Michigan, matching Alfred and Nellie's places of birth.

(The census image has been removed)

Jeanne's biological brother, Harry Orlando YORK/James "Jim" Howard ERWIN, was enumerated just 17 homes earlier, also on Randall Street, with his adoptive parents, Howard W. ERWIN and Effie M. GAUNT. Notice that there is no "adopted son" notation for Jim. Again, his adoptive parents must have known something about his biological parents, because both his parents' birthplaces are listed as "Michigan," while his adoptive parents had been born in Illinois and Michigan. I don't know how old Uncle Jim was when he was legally adopted, but I think he must have been directly adopted from Blodgett Children's Home (in Grand Rapids, Kent Co., Michigan) instead of being fostered out for many years, like my grandmother was. While researching the adoptive families of my grandmother and her brother, I discovered that the Holsts and the Erwins were shirt-tail relations...in other words, they were related to the same people without being related to each other. I am only supposing here, as no one is alive who could tell me, that Uncle Jim was fostered out/adopted first, and then the Holsts, who had lost infant twins a few years previously and could not have more children, became interested in fostering a child of their own. They probably heard about my grandmother from the Erwin family.

These children's biological parents were Howard Merkel YORK and Mary Jane BARBER. I was going to add their census information to this post, but it's getting a bit long. I'll save Howard and Mary Jane for next time.

(Jane Marie YORK/Jeanne Marie HOLST grew up to marry my paternal grandfather, Robert Lewis ROBBINS. See his 1930 U.S. Federal Census enumeration here.)

(Part 1, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12)