keoki182 asked:


I know I've asked about this thing in the past. I just wanted to vent that genealogy is a fantastic hobby and is very rewarding when you find even the smallest breakthrough in your family tree.

I've been working on my family tree for a few years now and had to work hard to find out my grandmother's birth parents as listed on her original birth certificate. The two parents names do not appear to fit with people born at the time indicated on the cert! Father Louis Schallenberger, 30 years old at time of grandma's birth - Jan 26, 1925 - cert says his hometown unknown, job unknown, current residence uknown. Mother Bernice Ochs, 29 years old at time of grandma's birth - cert says her hometown was Dayton, job listed as 'housework', baby was born in Cincinnati OH.

I can find people (and the Yahoo Answers community has helped me) who somewhat resemble these parents, but not enough for me to throw caution to the wind and decide that I must be related to them. In the case of the father alone, the US census records find a Lewis Schallenberger (b. 1896 Pennsylvania), a Lawrence/Leo Schallenberger )b. 1896 Indiana), a Louis Schellenberger (b. 1893 Indiana but lived in California during the time my grandmother was born), etc.

There's a good chance the mother's, father's, or both parents' names are wrong on the cert, whether they're made up or just misspelled or middle names as first names. I just can't believe how many similar/slight misspelled names belong to both Louis Schallenberger and Bernice Ochs according to Ancestry.com...there are so many checks and balances I feel I have to go through as an amateur genealogist before feeling confident that I can fill in the blanks with an individual.

For any of you without an adoption in your family tree, consider yourself lucky. Since Louis Schallenberger/Bernice Ochs did not marry after conceiving my grandmother, I am taking leaps of faith to decide how they might have met up in or near Ohio in the mid-20s. Obviously, you cannot approach either person's family (assuming the actual parent's family may be located) to ask if their great grandpa or grandma ever had a kid out of wedlock and gave it up to an orphanage in Cincinnati

Illegitimate children are just amazingly difficult to track in family history, particularly if you're the first of your family to know any details regarding the birth parents. For any of you who have solved an adoption issue of your own in your genealogy, what methods did you use to put the pieces together? Did you base your search mostly on geographical proximity of the potential parents? Did you resort to a DNA test to try to match ancestry? Do you have any tips at all for a very frustrated genealogist with 25% of his tree's limbs missing?

Taners asked:


My husband is part Blackfoot. In photos of his Grandmother you can see that she is Native American. Her father was Norweigian, her mother Native American. Her birth certificate lists her as white. I have been told that because she had a father that was white, she was listed as that. Because Native Americans were discriminated against it was better to list the child as white.

DNA testing is not possible because this is a Mother to son to grandson. My husband father receives his mother's mitrochondrial DNA but cannot pass it to his offspring. My husband's father has passed away, so cannot do DNA testing there.
I do not consider being Native American to be a blemish. They are the true Americans. The "new" Americans came and took their lands. The "new" Americans are the blemish, not Native Americans
My husband is not interested in casinos, he only wants to find his true roots.

]]> http://dnaancestryonline.com/how-do-i-trace-native-american-ancestry/feed/ 5 http://dnaancestryonline.com/how-do-i-know-if-im-adopted/ http://dnaancestryonline.com/how-do-i-know-if-im-adopted/#comments Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:10:08 +0000 daisyk1-dna http://dnaancestryonline.com/?p=546

brunettechik asked:


I am 22 years old and my youngest brother is like 38. I just find it odd. I have always been the black sheep. I am wondering how do I find out if I'm adopted? I mean they are still gonna be my parents regardless. I am just curious. I was online looking up my family tree and my brothers came up an ansestery.com but there was no record of me ever being born. I have seen my birth certificate but I recently found out that your original birth certificate can be hidden to where the adopted child will see a birth certificate with the adopted parents as the birth parents. I am just wondering about this. I live in NC. Thanks for any answers.
p.s. My parents deny it. So asking them is not an option because I already have. I asked this question earlier and someone suggested I was my brothers kid ans I've always noticed my youngest brother was always nicest to me and spend alot on me at christmas. My mom always tells me i look like him. But i Don't know. I cant afford to get a dna test.

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