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If you were born in NYC, you may be able to find out more information than you have imagined you could. I did, it is time consuming, but well worth it.
1. You can find out your birth surname easily by looking in the birth index for the year you were born in the NYC Library located on 5th Ave, the one with the big lions. If you look at your birth certificate (the amended certificate) and locate the last five digits, these correspond with your birth index number. Then what you do is scan through the index for the match number. That will be you. Be sure to verify date of birth and borough of birth. Be prepared to spend at least a day looking as the books are extremely big and there are literally thousands of names per alphabet letter. There are often two books for each year, each for a 1/2 of the alphabet. If you can bring somebody with you that is best. These books are located in the geneaology room on the first floor.
2. Obtain non-identifying information though the agency that handled the adoption. Because this information often contains the age of your birthparents at the time of your birth, you can figure out approximately what year your birthmother was born. Then take a trip back to the library and look in the birth index for that year. This will be an easier process because if you followed step 1, then you already have your surname, so you can go directly to the surname of that particular year. You can then write down all of the woman born with that surname. Your birth mother should be included in that list.
Please be aware that you may have up to a two year range of what year you estimate your birthmother was born. In this case, your list of possibilities are going to be longer. However, from this list you should be able to narrow your search a great deal (unless of course your surname is SMITH or something equally common)
This is where I am in my search and I have narrowed my search down to 12 women! I know that my mother is one of these women. The problem is now trying to figure out how to locate these women. In any case, I will update this posting whenever I find out more info that can be shared. Please feel free to contact me through this website if I can be of any help or support. None of us are alone!
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RonJon,
Do you have your actual DOB??? If so then I would just search in the birth index for that year. It is going to be a lenghty search, but well worth it in the end.
The state will take forever of non-identifying info. If you were fortunate enough to be adopted through an agency, you could write to them to request non-identifying info. I received mine in two months.
Also, what county were you born in and what family court were you adopted through? Often times, a birth name is located on an adoption decree. If your adoptive parents do not have a copy of that, you can request one from the court that finalized your adoption.
my search is sorta in stall mode...im waiting for some documentation. thanks for asking.
nina
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Yes, you can get the birth indexes on microfiche through the nearest LDS Family History Center.
What you will need to do is go there and ask them to order the microfilm for the NYC Birth INdex of the year you are searching. There is a small fee, usually less than $5 though. They may say it is not available, tell them that you are aware that it can be ordered; the person might not know how to look it up or that is is even available, but it is. The file they should order is called "New York City Boroughs Birth Index" and state the year. Do not let the person know you are adopted and looking for a birth name. You can say that you are doing geneaology research and that shoudl be sufficient.
The microfilm is apparently much more difficult to search than a book, so plan on having to be there for a while (as you can not bring the microfilm out of the center).
Good luck, and please let me know how you make out with this.
Nina- this information is very good - but are you sure that your mother was also born in the 5 buroughs? If not then the birth indexes will not help in finding her first name/DOB. I was able to obtain my bmom's first name thru my baptismal record.
I completed my search 11 years ago and the indexes were the key for me.
I determined thru my non-ident that it was likely that she was born in the city and I confirmed it thru her birth certificate as her father was jewish and her mother french-not too common a circumstance in the 40's.
Let me know if I can help or if you just want another opinion on your search's direction.
Leigh
Lori- see if you can contact a NY search angel to do the library search for you. They do not accept $ other than for their expenses and are usually very knowledgeable about searching in their locality. They have a BB on msn- searchangels.
I suggest this as it has been my experience that a lot of the indexes' have been stolen from the LDS library and their collection is missing years as well as pages from the files they do have.
Good luck!
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Leigh,
That is great information also. I have used the search angels for support and they are quite helpful.
Based on the non-id info I received it is most likely that my birthmother was born in NYC. How did you complete your search? Did you find your ** on your own, or seek out the resources of a searcher?
Thanks again!
Nina
Nina,
I too determined that my mother was born in the 5 burroughs and by sneaking a peak at my baptismal record I noted her first name. With her last name (in my YOB they listed the mother's maiden name as well) and first name I found two women born in the buroughs the yer she would have been born. Based on some not so scientific hunches I followed up on one by ordering her birth certificate. I was lucky that my grandfather was jewish and my grandmother french-as when I recieved the birth certificate I was then sure it was her. I had a PI do a simple search of her with name & DOB it was pretty easy and not expensive.
What did your non ident say?
LDS Family History Centers are in most major cities. your best bet would be to go to their website and then look for a city nearest you. However, if it is possible for you to go to the NYC Public Library Directly, I would so strongly recommend that. The books are much easier to read than microfiche and apparently, many of the microfiche are damaged or missing. I recently learned this. If you are not able to make it to the library, sometimes the Adotpion Search Angels can help you. Good luck!!!!
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1. How can I get a search angel? I live in Florida and have a small child and there is no way I can get to NY.
2. I was born in Yonkers. Would my birth records be at that library you spoke about with the lions out front?
3. I was born at a hospital called Yonkers Professional Hospital. I can not find it. Is it no longer there or has it changed names?
I requested my adoption decree or whatever you call it from the Westchester County Family Court last spring and it was denied.
Don't really know what to do right now.
Thanks for any help.
Karynne
The following is the url for msn group for the search angels- they are a great group
[url]http://groups.msn.com/searchangels[/url]
Yonkers is often in the index but there is no guarantee as it kinda falls outside of the 5 burroughs. You would want to especially take note of the beginning of the index the year following your birth year when they record out of town records.
I would suggest that you write to nyc for a LONG FORM COPY of your birth certificate. You do not want the short form-which will just have your name, DOB & parents' names. The long form should list the hospital name address, doctor's name etc. That will help you in locating the hospital and who took over for it.
Were you an agency adoption? Private? You might want to obtain this info from your adoptive parents. If you were born/adopted in NY you should also sign up with the NYS registry. They will forward your request for info to the agency if there was one or take what info is on the original birth certificate-which is very little.
Good luck!
Hi Nina,
I am helping my best friend search for his birth grandmother. His mother, Barbara Scott (adopted name), was born in Springer Hospital on May 4, 1942. she was adopted by Carl and Mary Jean Scott in Johnson City (or Binghamton), NY. Her birth mother's name MAY HAVE BEEN Charlotte Adams, but that's all we know. My best friend is sick and we are trying our best to find out some health information from his mom's side of the family. Obviously, I can't travel to NY to go through adoption records or anything. Can you give me some suggestions on things I can do from my computer here at home to try to locate information about his mom's birth parents? Thanks a lot for any help that you can give me.
Kenn
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ninagoodman
If you were born in NYC, you may be able to find out more information than you have imagined you could. I did, it is time consuming, but well worth it.
1. You can find out your birth surname easily by looking in the birth index for the year you were born in the NYC Library located on 5th Ave, the one with the big lions. If you look at your birth certificate (the amended certificate) and locate the last five digits, these correspond with your birth index number. Then what you do is scan through the index for the match number. That will be you. Be sure to verify date of birth and borough of birth. Be prepared to spend at least a day looking as the books are extremely big and there are literally thousands of names per alphabet letter. There are often two books for each year, each for a 1/2 of the alphabet. If you can bring somebody with you that is best. These books are located in the geneaology room on the first floor.
2. Obtain non-identifying information though the agency that handled the adoption. Because this information often contains the age of your birthparents at the time of your birth, you can figure out approximately what year your birthmother was born. Then take a trip back to the library and look in the birth index for that year. This will be an easier process because if you followed step 1, then you already have your surname, so you can go directly to the surname of that particular year. You can then write down all of the woman born with that surname. Your birth mother should be included in that list.
Please be aware that you may have up to a two year range of what year you estimate your birthmother was born. In this case, your list of possibilities are going to be longer. However, from this list you should be able to narrow your search a great deal (unless of course your surname is SMITH or something equally common)
This is where I am in my search and I have narrowed my search down to 12 women! I know that my mother is one of these women. The problem is now trying to figure out how to locate these women. In any case, I will update this posting whenever I find out more info that can be shared. Please feel free to contact me through this website if I can be of any help or support. None of us are alone!