Adoption proceedings

HI James, A long shot here, but I have searching for a brother for years now who was born in Spokane, Wash, and taken from our birth mother. Does the 1948 by any chance stand for the year you were born? I think this brother may be younger than me, and I was born in 1956. Thanks for your time. Connie

I am not your brother, but your writings sounded interesting. The Social Security Death Index lists five Ruths born on or after 1920 who died in 1975 in Washington State. Since you have visited her grave you will know immediately if she is on the list. Logically by age one would think Ruth Albert is the best candidate. However, I have noted deceased relatives donҒt always appear on the index, so it could be someone else. [url]http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi[/url] 154 Ruths who died in 1975 in Washington State RUTH ALBERT 03 Jul 1932 Jun 1975 98407 (Tacoma, Pierce, WA) (none specified) 540-38-8150 Oregon SS-5 Letter RUTH NICHOLS 18 Aug 1928 May 1975 98371 (Puyallup, Pierce, WA) (none specified) 255-32-7447 Georgia SS-5 Letter RUTH JOHNSON 22 Dec 1920 May 1975 98106 (Seattle, King, WA) (none specified) 516-20-2942 Montana SS-5 Letter RUTH BAKKEN 12 May 1947 Nov 1975 99022 (Medical Lake, Spokane, WA) (none specified) 538-60-4506 Washington SS-5 Letter RUTH REEDER 09 Jan 1946 Sep 1975 98115 (Seattle, King, WA) (none specified) 534-52-0392 Washington SS-5 Letter Basically one would think compiling databases and comparing names would help. Search the births in Spokane, via a newspaper, to find if your birth mother is listed as giving birth to a boy, and the DOB of your brother. Next compile a list of all male graduating high school students for Spokane. Yearbooks or The Spokesman Review are potential sources for that information. [url]http://dnet.net/localNews/localPapers.asp?s=WA[/url] lists newspapers for Spokane and [url]http://www.spokane.net/cover.asp[/url] is one of them. On its homepage you can click on The Spokesman-Review. Or simply click on [url]http://www.spokesmanreview.com/.[/url] [url]http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news/archives_cci.asp[/url] says in part: ғContact our research department. They have access to a complete arsenal of research tools, including the above-mentioned archives, paper "clip files" that are the actual stories, dating back to the 1920s, and microfilm records dating back to 1881 for the former Spokane Chronicle and dating back to 1883 for The Spokesman-Review and its predecessors. You can e-mail them by clicking on the above research department. More than likely it will mean a visit to look at the old newspapers, so anything that narrows the timeframe will be helpful. ItԒll be a tremendous amount of research but you sound like a diehard--rare these days in the age of instant information. You might also get lucky going with a paid service, such as Ancestry.com for historical newspapers (they dont have a good many of them ). [url]http://landing.ancestry.com/newspapers/newspaper.aspx?html=shortc&o_xid=12764&o_lid=12764&sourcecode=12764[/url] They offer a two-week free trial if you can manage cramming it into a busy schedule. ItҒs mostly older newspapers but your birth mother had parents. A personal note: I am back to 1575 on the family tree since my birth family found me in 1995. Its natty knowing I come from English stock with quite a bit of German blood thrown in for good measure. My 10 times great grandfather sailed on the ship Fortune from Bristol, England in 1627 for Massachusetts. It took a bazillion hours to track down that information but it is pure gold to know. Reading your postings it is fairly clear the adoption of your brother was not in Idaho. It sounds like a family that has stayed put in Spokane over the decades. You have a lot going for you: no surname change for a male other than the one the adopting parents gave him, these people are alive, and you donҒt have to search ages ago into the Old World (not until the genealogy desire happens ). It is an interesting quandary how to search for DOB for a database. Id doubt the DMV for Washington State, but you can give the Washington Department of Motor Vehicles a try at [url]http://www.dol.wa.gov/.[/url] Having a law enforcement person for a friend might be helpful here (IҒd stay as legal as possible--but it is for a good cause), or hire a private detective (one who has worked for the Spokane police would be a plus). The postings read that you know about going through an intermediary, but you never mentioned a private investigator. Personally, I would care less what the adopting father does or doesnt want in the way of a reunion. Only your brother can speak for himself. Though please consider when you find him you will be giving him a lot of information all at once: such as he was adopted, he has a sister, and his birth mother is deceased. I hope you realize you are mostly engaged in discovery of the self. My experience has been mixed as I have such a large birth family. Some are friendly and others less so. There is no way to impute your enthusiasm into the person you are seeking, other than they were born that way. I would certainly hope your brother truly shares your genes and personality. Best of luck and Godspeed, JamesMyers1948 (yep, I am that old) It appears the links to the URLs are being lost in pasting from a Word document to here, so copy and paste onto the Web address bar to go to them.

The 19 listings for high schools in Spokane are listed on Yahoo: [url]http://yp.yahoo.com/py/ypResults.py?stp=y&stx=8112373&city=Spokane&state=WA&uzip=99201&country=us&msa=7840&cs=4&ed=sHPbpK1o2TwnwcATAkp1SHxLE1MvAC7dbajHdwYFMePqTA--&qtx=High+School[/url] The public schools seem to be this group: Havermale High School John R Rogers High School Lewis & Clark High School Mead High School North Central High School Rogers Senior High School West Valley High School You might want to look in a Spokane phonebook at the library to double check I attempted searching for alumni on the net with a smattering of mostly weak results , and not enough to generate a database of past graduates. [url]http://www.thirdstbooks.com/ybwashington.html[/url] A better source will be locating yearbooks. This site mentions having a yearbook for Shadle Park High School in Spokane, WA for 1978. That high school doesnt appear among the current high schools listed at Yahoo. Darliee may be the proprietor, and the place is reasonably close at 3st Book Exchange, 1615 3rd St, (downtown) Marysville WA 98270 in Snohomish County. It at least gives the general idea of what is possible. IҒd find out who knows what in that store and what other sources are available. Its certainly worth a look-see and an incredibly friendly chat with the personnel or even lunch. Shadle Park High School 4327 N Ash St Spokane, WA 99205 Spokane County Phone: (509) 354-6700* *You could call them about yearbooks for other years, but҅ I wouldnt know what they will say, other than maybe helping you find an alumni group that would help. Other high schools also have listed telephone numbers. University High School is in Spokane Valley, WA. It has a handful of names for ґ78 and 79 at: [url]http://static.namesdatabase.com/schools/WA/Spokane/UniversityHighSchool.html[/url] Iђm not sure how you selected him being born in 60 or ё61 when at another posting you gave a range of 57 to ё63, but I assume you are thinking 60 and going plus or minus a few years. So for the sake of simplification a graudation in ё78 or 79 would have higher priority followed by the other years on either side. The assumption being he graduated at age 19 in 1979. One of my brothers was born in Deaconess in Spokane but since you were born in Sacred Heart your birth mother may have selected a Catholic family for the adoption. Meaning you wouldnђt want to elimanate Mount St. Michael Academy, Our Lady of the Rosary Academy, or St. Georges School among the high schools. At first glance it looks to me like the database of students for the years of interest is going to be in the range of 50,000 or less. Even less if you can better approximate the birth year of your brother. Meaning you likely want to install Excel from Microsoft for keeping track of the names and the ability to use filters. There will be a natural pacing--the rate at which you can access yearbooks. On the upside and as a reward if you can scan the yearbooks sooner or later you will have a photograph of your brother, at least a 90% chance. One big advantage to having e-yearbooks is you will be able to magnify the image and study facial features; scan at 300 dpi and not less as the photographs in yearbooks are minuscule. I run Adobe Photoshop as it is a great editing program for photographs, but others work, though it is best to keep the pages square on the scanner so there is less frustration later. I am starting to draw a mental picture of someone driving around with a laptop and scanner to the high schools in Spokane asking to borrow yearbooks (if they have them) and scanning beyond common belief. Your only problems are sourcing the yearbooks, the amount of time, and creating a database. If you are lucky enough to find a page with all the names for the class together, use the OCR in your scanner to save time (but check as optical character recognition is considerably less than perfect). Another thought is since you have been at this so long searching for your brother you may find others living in Spokane on this website willing to help with the yearbook dilemma. Since the megabytes wouldnҒt fit well into the website or over e-mail, a CD would be a better way to generate a yearbook from scanning. A good many computers today can write CDs and even DVDs. I have assumed your brother had a complete name change at adoption, but that wasnt true for me, my middle name at birth was selected by my adopting parents for my first name. So if you ever find your brotherҒs birth name (perhaps in a birth annoncement in The Spokesman-Review) you could use the Find button on your database for all relavant names--then look at the photograph. If your brother was adopted after being with your mother for several months then it isnt for sure his name was changed. Think of how easy it will be if he has an uncommon name. Even with a common name the list is going to be short especially if you narrow it to year after knowing his DOB. Take your time entering names in the database as it will pay off later, and create a column for year of graduation. Hopefully you will at least locate a date of birth for your brother. A birth annoncement is more likely to have that single fact (plus whether the baby was male or female). Beyond that you have facial recognition in the high schools photographs. Failing the above you want to go with addresses for your birth mother. There is probably one on her Social Security application, though it would be dated to the time she first applied. Perhaps you can locate her obituary since you know her date of death, again likely in The Spokesman Review. It may not give her address at DOD but if any relatives attended the funeral they may know where she lived or have scraps of paper around that has the information. Perhaps a relative has a family Bible with history. Make sure to get her death certificate as that has high probability of giving the needed information. That should be no problem whatsoever as you have nearly complete information to get a copy. Another thought probably best saved for a sunny day is get the names of everyone in the cemetery where your mother is buried. Uncle Whoever may have buried her close to a family section. It would take you into genealogy but there probably are second cousins and other relatives around considering it is guaranteed everyone has a pedigree. Basically with address information you turn to an investator for help. One of my relatives is in law enforcement and he recommended over Thanksgiving dinner a police officer in southern California who is excellent with searches in his off hours. Considering the adopting father was a detective you are going to need someone on par to do the search. ItҒs mostly address driven as they have excellent databases, way beyond what is in the public domain. Me and you wouldnt believe giving someone an address from years ago would mean anything, but it can be run to list more than ought to be there. If you want the name of the southern California detective IҒll get it from my relative and forward it to you. Give him the information the father was a retired detective in Spokane and the DOB of his son, and he likely would generate a file including all former and current addresses. For sure if he ever as much as received a traffic ticket. He may have eluded that fate since his adopting father was a detective. To hear it told they have more tools but I couldnt explain them to you as I donҒt understand myself. On the SSDI there are two Ruths who died in 1976 in Washington State who were born on or after 1920. RUTH WART 14 Jul 1928 May 1976 98626 (Kelso, Cowlitz, WA) (none specified) 468-26-3098 Minnesota SS-5 Letter RUTH METZGER 26 Apr 1922 Apr 1976 98404 (Tacoma, Pierce, WA) (none specified) 534-14-4859 Washington SS-5 Letter If she happens to be on the SSDI you could send for the SS-5 Letter. Check out the SSDI for the document the deceased used to apply for Social Security. LetҒs take Ruth Wart, for example, and the SS-5 Letter for her. The request form is at: [url]http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi?letter=y&lastname=WART&firstname=RUTH&ssn=468-26-3098&birth=14+Jul+1928&death=May+1976&middlename=&namesiffix=[/url] Date of request: 26 Nov 2004 Social Security Administration OEO FOIA Workgroup 300 N. Green Street P.O. Box 33022 Baltimore, Maryland 21290-3022 Please send me a photocopy of the actual application for a Social Security card (Form SS-5--Social Security Number Record Third Party Request for Photocopy) filed by the person listed below. I obtained this information from the Social Security Death Master file at RootsWeb.com, Inc. who obtained it from the Social Security Death Master file, originally compiled by the Social Security Administration. My understanding is that the fee is $27, when the Social Security number is provided or $29 if the Social Security number is unknown or incorrect. Enclosed is a check or money order for $___________, made payable to the Social Security Administration. Thank you for your assistance. WART, RUTH 468-26-3098 Birth: 14 Jul 1928 Death: May 1976 Sincerely, Address: Daytime Phone Number:Ӕ

[url]http://www.growingfamily.com/webnursery/hospitals/template/hospitalpage.asp?hospitalID=5844[/url] This website lists newborn babies for Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Washington. It gives first name and last initial for 2003 and 2004. I looked at Brendon Alexander, born November 21, 2004. It gives weight, length, and time of day for his birth. It even gives his parents first names and physicians name. One can compile his name to be Brendon Alexander B., pretty good if one wants such information. Extrapolating this to mean you could find yourself or your brother from the 50s and 60s may be an overstatement, but at least it doesnҒt appear they guard that information inside a vault. Going back past 2003 is likely something one would have to do offline, but then again you can contact the hospital for guidance. That is expressly a private matter for you to do, but I thought Id show you were to start. You might explore Customer Service as it seemed to be going in the right direction, but you might want to do yourself first to learn how it works, and maybe find information overlooked. If you think about it statistically there are not many RuthҒs in the area so any Ruth as mother would catch attention. It ought to be in the range of 1-to-5 for all the hospitals in Spokane over the years in question. I typed in Ruth in the Keyword Search and found none for a newborns name. You are ahead of me though as you know RuthҒs last name. Speaking of which my adopting mothers name was Ruth on her birth certificate but she always went by Ruby. Odd circumstances to say the least, even though we are not related--except by this desire to know about the birth family. It doesnҒt really end as genealogy takes it to whole new level so be sure to collect every drop of relevant and not so relevant information as you proceed--youll want it when you go looking for great, great, great grandfather and where he came from and lived. A genealogical tease for the future goes: did my great, great, great grandfather fight in the Civil War? That is American history that becomes very special. My adopting fatherҒs father fought at the Battle of Gettysburg. He, John Henry Myers, was 68 when he and his last wife, Grace, had my adopting father. I like it because my nephew from my brother (natural son of my adopting mother) was asking all about it at Thanksgiving dinner. John Henry was with Capt. Jeremiah Z. Brown in Grants Overland Campaign on the march to Appomattox. That captain was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor on 22 June 1896 for his bravery in the fight. You can view the citation at: [url]http://www.homeofheroes.com/moh/citations_1862_cwa/brown_jeremiah.html[/url] My adopting grandfather was one of those 100 men. [url]http://www.homeofheroes.com/gravesites/states/pages_af/brown_jeremiah.html[/url] This website shows JeremiahҒs grave and gives more information about him. Earlier John Henry had lost part of a finger at the Battle of Spotsylvania on May 10, 1864, around 4 pm in the afternoon. It didnt stop him as he got out of the hospital (and from what me and brother could see in a photograph of the wounded at Spotsylvania that meant laying on a hillside with the wound dressed) and went right back into the fight--now that is determination! [url]http://yp.yahoo.com/py/ypResults.py?&&city=Spokane&state=WA&uzip=99201&country=us&msa=7840&cs=4&ed=sHPbpK1o2TwnwcATAkp1SHxLE1MvAC7dbajHdwYFMePqTA--&stp=y&stx=8300674[/url] lists the hospitals in Spokane. Only a few would be relevant--Deaconess and Sacred Heart for sure, and possibly Holy Family and Shriners, and maybe others on a stretch.

James, Thank-you so much for your reply and all the trouble you went through. You gave me a plethora of information, but you sound much more knowledgeable with a computer than I am. Uncanny thing though, you mentioned hiring a private detective maybe one who used to work with the spokane police...My brother was adopted by a retired spokane police detective and his wife. That was what made me think the adoption might have taken place in Idaho. Also, my ruths last name was (maiden)Wales, (married) Winters and yet she was buried under the name Morgan. No divorce was legally obtained from Winters so I'm not sure what happened to lead to Morgan. Again , thank-you for the information, much of which I will make good use. God Bless and Good Luck Connie

James, Thank-you so much for your reply and all the trouble you went through. You gave me a plethora of information, but you sound much more knowledgeable with a computer than I am. Uncanny thing though, you mentioned hiring a private detective maybe one who used to work with the spokane police...My brother was adopted by a retired spokane police detective and his wife. That was what made me think the adoption might have taken place in Idaho. Also, my ruths last name was (maiden)Wales, (married) Winters and yet she was buried under the name Morgan. No divorce was legally obtained from Winters so I'm not sure what happened to lead to Morgan. Again , thank-you for the information, much of which I will make good use. God Bless and Good Luck Connie

My reading is, these microfilms can be obtained for a 4-week, non-renewable period through a library inter-loan, 10 reels at a time--but ask a librarian for details. These pertain to the Spokesman-Review. The first website is more of an introduction whereas the list is on the second website. [url]http://192.211.20.10/search/ispokane/ispokane/1,1,79,B/frameset&FF=ispokane&67,,79[/url] [url]http://192.211.20.10/search/ispokane/ispokane/1,1,79,B/holdings&FF=ispokane&61,,79[/url] It will be a lengthy process, waiting for the inter-loan and then reading the microfilms. The question would be where to start. Hopefully the birth announcements are on the same section and page. I am skeptical there is any indexing of them, but ask a research librarian. It might be good strategy to concurrently search the hospitals in Spokane to save ultimate effort. One thought is, you know when you were born so you could obtain that reel to see what-is-what. Perhaps your husband and children will help, as squinting at a microfilm reader does tire the eyes. Here is the progression I followed so you can read for yourself and explore around. [url]http://www.secstate.wa.gov/library/newspapers_wsl.aspx[/url] Click on Washington Newspaper microfilm [url]http://www.secstate.wa.gov/library/microfilm.aspx[/url] Click on online catalog [url]http://cals.evergreen.edu/search~S2/[/url] Click on the radio button for Washington Newspapers Click on the Washington State map with the counties The map appears in large size. Click on Spokane County. You want to click on page 5 for the Spokesman Review. Click on The Spokesman-Review (not linked), number 61. 61 was 67 in an earlier go-around so the number may be different. The one with the year as 1894- is right. Click on View Additional copies or search for a specific volume/copyӔ. There is no need to select a copy or volume to get the whole list. It loads slowly. I checked to see if the Spokesman Review is available in Skagit through Thurston counties and I couldnt find it available more locally. Again, ask your librarian as there may be other sources not at this website. -------------------------------------- In response to your e-mail. The law enforcement officer I was referring to is in southern California, San Diego if I heard right. My brotherҒs wifes brother is a deputy sheriff here in Umatilla County in Oregon and has done both detective and patrol duties. He used this officer in California to do research for him, so that is a high recommendation. (Think computer wiz from what I heard). He is suppose to e-mail me the information and IҒll forward it. I have no idea what costs might be involved--hopefully it is minimal, but I dont know. There are many private investigators, however, so do some thinking on that, if you cannot solve the problem yourself. I did a double take on thinking about a private investigator who might be retired from the Spokane police force. YouҒd pay money and have questions about allegiance. But he would be more familiar with the territory. Coeur dAlene is close to Spokane, though I would be highly skeptical that is where the adoption happened unless you have a specific remark from someone, or know that was the custom in those days. It doesnҒt seem to make any difference as the family stayed around Spokane from what you have said. You are not going to get into the adoption files without consent from the other party, and not even then, so that is ineffectual. Well, maybe as that is what I am attempting to learn about, and someone recommended WARM which I had never heard about until a few days ago. It was my sister, Robin, who found me through an intermediary, Carole Van Dendos, and Carole was somewhere in Washington State back in 1995. I was born up there in Tacoma, and I think Carole used the DMV in Oregon (though I wouldnt know). I donҒt think a Spokane detective would have adopted in Idaho for secrecy. But police are loath to give out their address. That is more what you are up against. The good news, unless your brother is also a policeman, is that may not present any difficulty in the future--unless you want his fathers address. I did some thinking. He must have retired after the adoption as the typical age for retirement is 55 for law enforcement. So add the 45 years from 1960 to 55 and he would be 90 if retired at the adoption, plus I donҒt think a 55 year old man would have been allowed to adopt. A good many people in those days adopted in their thirties or thereabouts. So he would likely be around 75 with a wife a few years younger, if a typical couple. I e-mailed the Spokesman-Review and hopefully they will respond with how to research through them, but you might find the above part of the letter more convenient. Its one of those how-much-time-is-there decisions for researching and traveling. Well, the week-end has ended and my blitz on the computer is over for days. Now that you know what I think perhaps you can find a better, quicker, easier way to get the necessary information. I did microfilm reading when looking up my adopting grandfather regarding his Civil War service and that was something else--not quickly forgotten. You might call the hospitals first, to see if that is a short-cut. Their numbers are in the Yellow Pages (I used Yahoo.) By the way I have the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (from 1949) coming in to the library on microfilm to read and find out if my ґhalf-sister is my full sister. IҒve been at it for nearly a decade, first learning a this and then a that, until it is a story. So I learned a bunch researching the Spokesman-Review for you and it will help me. I wouldnt know if God is helping you, but wow can I feel it. IҒll say this much, my prayers are with you, and speaking as a found brother you are doing something very wonderful. It so reminds of Jimmy Stewart and what would life have been like if others didnt help--and just maybe your brother is having a wonderful life waiting for happiness. JamesMyers1948 PS: IҒve been sending these messages two different ways as I still cannot figure out this adoption website. So bear with me, as Ill learn. I am going to use the Quote this time and you can let me know if that is a good way.