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At 95 my sweet Grandmother has always wanted to know who her birth mother or family was so I figured I would try to make her wish come true before she leaves this earth. Facts we know.. Born 2-22-1919 Abilene Texas or somewhere close Adopted by Tom & Janie Gary from Amarillo, Texas She does not have a birth certificate & the adoption papers have no mention of her birth mother or father. Things she was told by her adoptive Mother.. She was brought to them after birth by a man called Dr. Nicholson or may be Dr. Nichols...the story is he would go around picking up babies that were to be given away then deliver them to families that wanted to adopt. The birth family was believed to have owned a ranch dealing with cattle most likely. The birth family name was believed to be Madden. This was never in writing just something her adoptive mother had told her so it could be Maden/Madding/Madon or some other variant spelling. My grandmother has told me two separate stories about strange encounters of meeting people that have been very interested in her and her background. At age 6 her family moved to Nashville, AR where her dad worked for a plant that had to do with Peaches. When she was a little older she started working there packing peaches when a driver came in and had to know everything because she looked so much like someone. Then in the mid 40's after she married my grandfather Jack Goins they moved to Texarcana, TX where they bought a small store that she ran. An elderly man came in took one look at her and only thing he said was you do look just like my sister. Turned around walked out without purchasing anything and she never saw him again. Seems so odd, as if someone was keeping up with her but nobody ever shared any more information with her. Anyway, my hunt begins so if anybody has information or any tips on where I should start I'd really appreciate it. Thanks
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Hi DeeWasham, welcome to the forum.There are a lot of variable within your G-mothers story, so this is a long shot and hopefully it will help.If your g-mother has a birth certificate, it may shed some light on where she was adopted.Adoption records are usually kept in the county Orphans Court (or Court of Common Pleas) in which the final adoption took place.If you know the county in which the final adoption took place, there will be court records as to what the court did at that final hearing. If there is information in the court records it will contain only a small amount of personal info on the b-family. It may also contain an Adoption Decree which shows that she was legally adopted by a family, and if there was a name change at that time it will be noted.The adoption decree should name her b-parents. If the records are sealed, she may still be entitled to only non-id.My only attempt to help her is for contact to be made thru the adoption court where ever it is believed that a final adoption may have taken place. If your state recognizes only their state forms, the Clerk of the Court will send those forms free. A return of those forms does not guarantee that you will get the information your are seeking. The Clerk of the Court will share only administrative info, they will not give legal advice.It's hard to know what records were kept at that time, but it is worth a try. Judges have some discretionary powers, and it may be that he can help.I wanted info from my court files in PA, and could not meet the state requirements because all b-family and a-family had gone. The judge did not over turn the records but was instrumental in giving me the info I wanted.If I can provide any additional help, feel free to drop a note.I wish you the best.
Hi DeeWasham, welcome to the forum. There are a lot of variable within your G-mothers story, so this is a long shot and hopefully it will help. If your g-mother has a birth certificate, it may shed some light on where she was adopted. Adoption records are usually kept in the county Orphans Court (or Court of Common Pleas) in which the final adoption took place. If you know the county in which the final adoption took place, there will be court records as to what the court did at that final hearing. If there is information in the court records it will contain only a small amount of personal info on the b-family. It may also contain an Adoption Decree which shows that she was legally adopted by a family, and if there was a name change at that time it will be noted. The adoption decree should name her b-parents. If the records are sealed, she may still be entitled to only non-id. My only attempt to help her is for contact to be made thru the adoption court where ever it is believed that a final adoption may have taken place. If your state recognizes only their state forms, the Clerk of the Court will send those forms free. A return of those forms does not guarantee that you will get the information your are seeking. The Clerk of the Court will share only administrative info, they will not give legal advice. It's hard to know what records were kept at that time, but it is worth a try. Judges have some discretionary powers, and it may be that he can help. I wanted info from my court files in PA, and could not meet the state requirements because all b-family and a-family had gone. The judge did not over turn the records but was instrumental in giving me the info I wanted. If I can provide any additional help, feel free to drop a note. I wish you the best.
First, thank you for taking the time to respond to my post. Unfortunately my G-Mother does not have a birth certificate. I did ask her if she knew where her adoption took place and she stated Amarillo, TX. She does have some adoption papers that she was eventually given but unfortunately there is no information on her birth parents so I am wondering if there are some sealed records we can still get access to that may pertain more information.
Hey DeeWasham, I read your post and I don't have much to offer.If you are able to establish what area the adoption took place, you can go to that court. The Clerk of the Court will forward state inquiries for her to fill out. Share with the court all known information.Judges have some discretionary powers and after this length of time perhaps he can help.Unfortunately, even by forwarding all of the legal requirements, there is no guarantee that information will be provided.Also, she may already have more information than what the court records contain. It's hard to know what information is in those court records. The last hope is the possibility of contact with an attorney to see if the records can be unsealed.I had no paper trail to follow because I was black market, but the Judge was kind enough to wade through all of the legal requirements and send info I didn't have.I wish it was possible it offer more help.I wish you the best.
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Hey DeeWasham, I read your post and I don't have much to offer. If you are able to establish what area the adoption took place, you can go to that court. The Clerk of the Court will forward state inquiries for her to fill out. Share with the court all known information. Judges have some discretionary powers and after this length of time perhaps he can help. Unfortunately, even by forwarding all of the legal requirements, there is no guarantee that information will be provided. Also, she may already have more information than what the court records contain. It's hard to know what information is in those court records. The last hope is the possibility of contact with an attorney to see if the records can be unsealed. I had no paper trail to follow because I was black market, but the Judge was kind enough to wade through all of the legal requirements and send info I didn't have. I wish it was possible it offer more help. I wish you the best.
This might help you get started: [url]https://www.dshs.state.tx.us/vs/reqproc/adoptionregistry.shtm[/url] If you scroll down the page, you'll find this: "How do I request the opening of a sealed adoption record? You must petition the court that granted the adoption to open the sealed record. If you do not know which court granted the adoption, you can download an application form with instructions on requesting the court's identity." You can download the application, and hopefully you can find out which court granted the adoption. Then, proceed from there with trying to open the sealed record. Since your grandmother is 95, you might get lucky and find a judge who will unseal the birth certificate for her. After all, her biological parents are most likely deceased, and even any siblings could be as well. Just an FYI: Since you probably are not well-versed in the world of adoption, please know that in all likelihood, she'll only find her mother's name listed on the birth certificate. So, if she can open the sealed records, she still may only be able to find her mother's side of the family.
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Do you happen to have an Ancestry.com membership? It would be easy to look up the federal censuses from 1920, 1930, and 1940 to see if the surname Madon, Madding, etc. shows up for the county she was born in. I would focus in on households that list ranching or farming as occupation. The easiest way is to search the censuses by decade and location for this particular case. It would probably be best if you search with a wildcard after the first three letters: Mad*. If you don't have access to Ancestry.com, I can take a look for you if you'd like. This kind of reminds me of something I discovered a couple years ago about a collateral line in my family tree in Texas. I had always assumed a certain cousin had been born to our family but discovered that she had been orphaned, and my great-great aunt and uncle took legal guardianship. I found that out by combing through all the federal censuses and seeing what the census takers had listed for "Relationship to Head of Household."
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for FREE records >> [url]https://familysearch.org/[/url] for Census records>> click on search, scroll to United States bottom left, then Census, and lastly scroll all the way down to see US census by yr
DeeWasham
RavenSong, I do not have an account with ancestry.com. I have done some free searches but of course everything I did find was closed off to me. If you don't mind taking a quick glance I would surely appreciate it. :D
This could be the Doctor The time fram fits. Started practice in1912. Everett Oscar Nichols, Sr Dr. Nichols graduated from Tulane University Medical School. He opened practice in Plainview in 1912. In 1914 he opened Plainview Sanatarium and Clinic, which he operated until 1950, when it became a foundation and was renamed Plainview Hospital. He built E.O. Nichols Hospital in 1955. surviving are his wife, Jewell; a son, Dr. E.O. Nichols Jr. of Plainview; two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. If you google map and put all three of these destinations in, they line up on the map. <Plainview TX, Abilene TX, Amarillo TX> There is a George W and Corrina Medland. Abilene Ward 4, Taylor, Texas Corrina is born in Arkansas.