Need help solving a brick wall

Question

I am searching for a connection to my mother's birth family, her story is quite bizarre and frustrating. This little venture has proven to be a difficult task for a very long time. My Mom it would seem was an actual 'black market baby' she spent most of her adult life searching the vitals and petitioning the courts to open her 'adoption' records; in TX the records are sealed. I watched as begged her adoptive mother for information but it was to no avail, her adoptive mother told her "If you knew what I've done, you would never love me". Growing up she was always ostrosized by the extended members of her adoptive family and did not grow up with cousins. My mom was told by an adoptive aunt at one point 'To stop searching for something that she would never find, and she was only going to get someone in trouble'. This Aunt went on to say that my mother had been sold for $50 to a nurse at the hospital where she was born, this was done by the Sisters of Charity'. Apparently, the girl that had my mother never intended to give her up....in fact she had left the hospital with her baby. After a week the girl brought the baby back and asked that the Nuns look after the baby while she made arrangements to get them both home.  That evening my adoptive grandmother (a nurse at the hospital and a close personal friend of the medical director Dr. English) left the hospital with my mom and what my mother believed to be an altered birth certificate. My mother is very probably listed in someone's  family tree as having died as an infant....or better yet not listed at all which would make my brother and I the skeleton in the closet. My mother was born (according to the limited view of her B.C. that she was afforded by a judge several years ago) April 12, 1943 / her mother's name which she believed was altered is listed as Virginia English/ her father is listed as John Doe / place of birth Hotel Deiu Charity Hospital in Beaumont, Texas. My mother died at the young age of 54 due to complications of a somewhat rare blood disorder, she never found her so called 'Truth'; a part of her was always saddened when she talked about what they must have told her mother if she had actually returned for her. So I have picked up the proverbial torch and am looking for my mothers 'truth'.

We have located a second cousin on 23andme, it was solidified after my brothers DNA results came in and they shared a good match and a large match on the X chromosome. Problem is there is a 45 year difference in our ages and the new cousins age, we don't know whether we are supposed to look at this matches grandparents or g grandparents for a common ancestor.......

 

Molly Cavalier

Comments

Wow, I am saddened to hear of your story..your mom's heartache. I could only imagine how heartbreaking this would be for you. Just seeing your own mom hurt like she did would be awful. I'm extremely New to anything ancestry. I'm sorry I can't offer any info but I hope that you can find out everything that you are looking for. If I could help, I would in a heartbeat. Good luck to you

Anesha D.

Bowling Green Kentucky

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No offense intended. Assuming the first name Virginia is the real name, In the 1940 census for Beaumont etc , there's Virginia Keller , age 16, in reform school.  Her residence in 1935 is Beaumont.

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No offense taken. Virginia Keller? Interesting, I haven't run across that name....I will definitely give it a once over and see if it yeilds anything. I have gone through the Texas birth registery all 4000 names of people born in Jefferson county texas during 1943. I did find an 'infant of Mayfield' born within 3 days of my mom, I can't find any follow up information on this female infant though. I'll will look into this Keller lead as well. Thank you for taking the time to help me out.

Molly

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Thank you for reading my post. It was so heartbreaking to watch my mom revert to a helpless emotional disaster whenever she talked or even thought about her 'adoption'' she otherwise such a strong woman, she was a neonatal nurse for years before managing an in home nursing business. For probably the last 10 years of her life she worked with the mentally disabled, and that was her passion.

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Check 1930 census for Virginia around Beaumont, then check those families in 1940 to see who lost a daughter

Answer 1

There's the adoption angels here on WikiTree, and there's a group on Facebook, who would probably be eager to help you out. I would suggest getting your DNA onto GEDMatch and putting the kit number on your profile, so people can help you and coordinate.

I would also suggest using DNA Painter, and building out what you can of your father's line on WikiTree so you can keep track of who you are certain is related on your father's line.

It's curious to me that the medical director at the time, you said, has the surname "English" and so does your mother's mother supposedly. It could be that your maternal grandmother just grabbed an easy name... or they could have been related. If that's the case, you're looking at an uncle or a cousin or a grandparent.

As for your DNA matches, it's important to remember that families are fluid - you could be looking at half first cousin instead of a second cousin. Additionally, I like to point out at times like this that my own mother had me when she was nearly 40, but had her first child 21 years before I was born. My mother's mother... she had her first child when she was 16, and her final child when she was 41.

Comments

I started at Adoption Angles but ended up here because technically I am not the adoptee nor of course the birth family. I have tested at 23and me, my brother and his daughter also tested there. With 23andme's new V5 chip upload options are limited. But we got on Gedmatch Gensis. I then joined the DNA Detectives on Facebook who advised that I also tested through Ancestry DNA, so I did and then uploaded everywhere I could. The only things that we haven't done is write the Sisters of Charity.....for fear of any information that they may have disappearing forever, but maybe if I worded a letter just right stressing the very real possibility of illegal activity.... they may help or they may hide behind Texas 'sealed records law'. Additionally, my niece has stated that if I filled out the forms through the courts she would appear in person before the judge (I live across the country from my home town today). I think this would be a waste of time though because my mother was allowed to view her records and she believed they had been changed.

I also think the the English surname and the English doctors name are more than a fluke. What makes ever stranger is that apparently when I was born my adoptive grandmother called her friend Dr. English and he came out of retirement to examine me in the hospital when I was born. It's all just weird, I'm sure it would make a great movie...but right now I just would like some answers.

Molly

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Apparently he was called Dudley English, and his daughter has now made a 7 foot statue of Jesus for the hospital

https://www.bing.com/search?q=%22dudley+english%22+beaumont+texas

In the 1940 census he's a doctor, but works for the oil company like everybody else.

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Yes! Dudley, apparently he had a brother that was a dentist in the area too.....but I can't remember his name. I've often thought about contacting his daughter in hopes that perhaps she may have heard something but I don't want to open a whole nother 'can of worms' because I can't explain the relationship that my adoptive grandmother had with Dr. English. So I've chosen to let sleeping dogs lie.

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Letting sleeping dogs lie doesn't mean you can't investigate it. I made a profile for Dudley. Let's see if we can't build it out and find a Virginia somewhere. :)

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I built Dudley's paternal line, but only vertically, not horizontally... that is, if you'd like to do some research and add profiles for his siblings, aunts, uncles, grand aunts, grand uncles, great grand aunts, great grand uncles, etc, go to it.

I'd also suggest going on Ancestry and seeing if anyone in your matches has the following surnames:

• Popham
• Fleming
• Coulson
• Denton

Also, you never mentioned if any of your AncestryDNA matches had the English surname when you used the search. Any luck with that? Or absolutely none? My own experience(s) lead me to ask, since my great grandfather's surname was Carrier, and I had no Carrier matches. Turns out that on paper he was Carrier, but in genes he was Crandall. Things like that happen.

Another fun thing to note... a Virginia Lee Cade married a Jesse James English in 1954 in Sterling County, Texas. And said Jesse James English was born in Jefferson County, the same county Beaumont is in. His father's name was Jesse. Jesse James English was from Port Arthur. Maybe it's related? Maybe it's not?

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I am game for anything at this point lol. I will probably be slow at adding to the Dudly English profile.....I like to proceed myself on my intelligence, however you should have seen how long it took me to add my brother to my tree last night. I even added his DNA but not sure if it's there. LOL Then tried to upload my Gedcom file, I even got as far as compare files. I thought I completely finished.....but can't see anything. Frustrating. So don't think I'm sitting idle here, it's just that I apparently enjoy do everything a second or third time because I can't seem to grasp the logistics of the program.

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I will definitely follow up on the surnames suggested. None of my matches on Ancestry or Gedmatch have the surname English, of course not everyone adds the surnames that they're researching. My brother and I have a match on Gedmatch and we know it's a good match, it shows 2nd cousin my brother and 3rd cousin to me which is weird but we're dealing with genetics here. Anyway, the match is substantial. 136.6 cm on 7 chromosomes AND 79.5 on the X the largest segment. On the X is 48.9. Since my brother is obviously male and our match is female we believe it to be maternal. So with that info we are looking at one of 4 lines Grimes (found very few in my matches) Lane (found none) Brown (several) and Cox (several). Problem is I can't place anyone from that family in SE Texas during 1942-43. Then I started thinking and realized a whole new problem. Beaumont Texas has and had one of the largest Inner coastal ports, this time period is right in the middle of WW2 aggggg. Not to mention Spindle Top blew it's top just 40 years before and was the largest oil strike in history during that time so the population had quadrupled. My mountain just keeps growing, my grandparents could be any where in this country, or give the war....they could be in another country. Oh boy.

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A thought on writing the Sisters of Charity - stress the rare blood disorder your mother died from, that this is a physical problem that you fear for yourself, siblings, children, etc. Perhaps they might help from that perspective.

Answer 2

I strongly recommend getting tested yourself at AncestryDNA and/or the FamilyFinder test from FamilyTree DNA.  And then if at all possible, get your father tested too.  Once your results are on GEDmatch, you can use your results and a tool there called "Not in common with" against your father's results, and be able to isolate those matches that are *only* from your mother's side.  Yes, it's a little more expense, but there's a pretty good chance of gaining a better idea of who it was.  No guarantees though.

Having your brother's results as well as your own gives you multiple tools to find matches, because each of you may match better against some than the other one does.

Comments

I have tested myself at 23andme,.my brother and his daughter have also tested through them. All three of us then uploaded to Gedmatch Gensis, the only upload available because of the new V5 chip. My niece and brother have uploaded raw data where they could, but it's limited due to that dang V5 chip. I then also tested through Ancestry DNA, I have uploaded this results everywhere including the Standard Gedmatch sight. If my father were alive I have no doubt he would have already tested, but he passed nine years ago. There is just myself and my brother, and he would have my mom's original X. That's the only thing we have at our disposal and the geneological aspect of inheritance is overwhelming to me. But I am not a quitter, I'll forge on.
Molly

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I know that MyHeritage said they have through to end of April a program where they give out DNA-Tests to adoptees to find the birth family. More infos are on www.dnaquest.org

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Yes! I did apply for one of those tests.  You had to write explaining why you felt you should be given one.  I am excited about it but I haven't heard whether or not I was chosen yet.

Molly

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Hi Molly. I assumed you know you can upload your Ancestry DNA for free to FTDNA and My Heritage as well?

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I asked someone of MyHeritage on twitter if he knows how long it takes the applicants get a respond. According to him they are currently reviewing the applications. So you might get an answer soon.

Answer 3

Hi Molly,  maybe I am just having eye strain but in looking at our records for the Adoption Angels I do not see you on any of the lists as having worked with us.  There are other groups who use the term so perhaps it was not our project here on WikiTree?

In many states the laws have changed as recently as the last year or two concerning opening of adoption records.  In most states if your parent is dead and you have a valid death certificate and can show relationship to the person in terms of being a child or sibling, you often have rights to the information.   This does vary by state.  But if you have not requested things like the Non Identifying Information Report you should.  If you have one but it is more than 5 years old request a new one because with changes in many states you may get more information.  

DNA testing is your best bet.  GedMatch has started melding the new Genesis Chip data in with the other data but the jury is still out as to how well this is going to work.  A lot of variations on how the SNPs are handled.  

I would get a standard test (not 23and me) from Ancestry or FTDNA and use that for matching as the pool for matching is much larger.  This should be uploaded to GedMatch.  

I have sent an email to our Adoption Angel coordinator with a link to this thread to see if we have your info on file.I do not see an issue with working with a daughter of a deceased adoptee.  Actually one of the cases I am handling right now fits that description.

There is a waiting list as we only have so many Angels and we have a large number of people asking for help.  And before we can do anything we have to have the Adoption Angel Request Form filled out.  It sounds like you have some of the other things we would need.  Our link is below

https://www.wikitree.com/contact/adoption/

In Texas these links might be helpful:

 https://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Adoption_and_Foster_Care/Adoption_Registry/closed_adoption_records.asp

https://www.dfps.state.tx.us/policies/Case_Records/default.asp

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Jefferson_County,_Texas_Genealogy

https://www.co.jefferson.tx.us/cclerk/Recording/Locate-Birth-and-Death-Records

https://beaumonttexas.gov/departments/health-services/

The hospital noted above has been torn down.  So the question becomes where did the records go? I would contact the links I just gave you and ask that question as well.

Comments

Oh my gosh, thank you for so much information!!!! I must apologize for misleading anyone by saying I started at Adoption Angles. The fact is I did go to that site however it appeared to be directed towards adoptees or birth families since I was niether I didn't want to presume that I being the child of an adoptee could request help at that site. So I left the site and went to the forum to post my question.

Hotel Deiu was demolished I believe in the 70's. To the best of my knowledge the hospital records there were absorbed by St. Elizabeth Hospital which is now Chistis or something similar to that.

I will fill out the forms at Adoption Angles, and if I have a break through before my spot on the wait list comes up I will contact right away.

Thank you again
Molly

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Thanks for the clarification!   Waned to make sure a submitted form had not fallen through the cracks!   By all means fill out the form and someone (could be me or one of the other Angels) will be in touch!

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Thanks for all the great info Laura! You are an amazing Adoption Angel. Molly, I think from reading your posts, you had a fear that the Adoption Angels does not help someone unless they are an adoptee themselves. This isn't the case. We help children of adoptees all the time as well as people not adopted, but looking for birth family. We would definitely welcome your request.