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I'm trying to find my mother's birth family. She was born Grace Marian in April of 1937 in Haveril, MA. She was adopted at the age of 6 and her mother gave consent for her to be adopted. I have very little information about her adoption, since my grandparents (adopted) and mother would not talk about it, and they have all passed away. Her adopted last name was Dupre, but I don't know for certain what her birth name was. At one point my mother said it was Murphey, but my grandparents said it Boucher. The story changed throughout the years. I have a sneaking suspicion that my grandparents knew my mother's family - perhaps they lived in the same community?
If anyone knows anything at all, or can point me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate it. I am not able to go to MA to do a search in person, since I live on the west coast. So I'm really hoping someone here can help.
Thank you so much for reading my post!
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Hi! I just wanted to tell you to google massachusetts division of vital records which would have your mom's original birth certificate. If she were alive, I believe she could request it, but I am not sure about your being able to request it since she has passed. I hope so!
The name of the town is haverhill (my inlaws are from there, and the people are affectionately referred to as hillies). I think murphy and boucher are two real possibilities since historically the town had a bunch of irish and french canadian immigrants. (My daughter is named after one of her great grandmothers from there!) If you can't get your mom's original birth certificate, maybe you can search the haverhill newspaper for a record of her birth? Good luck!! I hope you are able to get the info you need.
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If she was born in 37 and not adopted until age 6 she will be listed in the 1940 census in her family of birth - but it will take a bit of work at the moment to find her because the 1940 MA census has not yet been indexed to search by name. It will be indexed to search by name in the future by Ancestry.com but it may take months because it is a manual process and so far they have completed 6 states I think. Once it is indexed it is no longer free and you would need to either sign up for a free trial (they require a cc but as long as you remember to cancel before the trial period is up you will not be billed). Right now you can manually go through the 1940 census on Ancestry.com for free so if you think her family probably lived in the same area - you can search the census pages for that specific area. There may be dozens of pages but really not all that time consuming if you can even just narrow it down to a county. When you are doing it - check to see what date the census was taken - probably April but check the top right of the first census page to make sure. Figure out what age she would be as of the April (or whatever month) 1940. Look for her name listed - look for either Grace OR Marian and if the spelling is off it is the census taker not confirming the spelling. Ideally you would like to see a Grace M or Grace Marian but you may get a Gracie or Mary even. If you find one that is an odd spelling check the surname to see if it matches anything from any of the stories and some/most census also show the address or street which may help as well to confirm. You may get lucky right away but it is a way to narrow down and then you have the parents name and can look for more info or family trees on Ancestry. Good luck - if you need help let me know. Kind regards,Dickons
Oh my goodness! Thanks Dickons and Loveajax! That is very helpful information.
Loveajax, what you were saying about the immigrants in the area makes sense, because my grandparents (adoptive) were originally from Quebec. And, my grandfather pronounced Haverhill as 'haver-ril', hence my incorrect spelling.
I didn't know I could request my mother's birth certificate without her birth name. I'll have to check into it.
I'm also going to do as you suggested, Dickons, and check the 1940 census on Ancestry.com.
Thanks again, you two!:thanks: