I may be wrong but I don't think there were Official Adoptions back in 1877. I think at that time it was still the case where a person who was willing to take the child and bring it up as their own just did so. I am not sure though when official adoptions came into being. As to ordering birth certificates when you are unsure if you have the right person from the GRO index, you can ask the local registrars office if they will check the entry for you against other details that you know to be correct for the birth etc., that you are looking for. If you had found an entry in the GRO index for say Fred Bloggs and thought it might be the one you are looking for, you will know from that entry which quarter of the year that person had been born and which area the birth had been registered in. If you also knew that his father was John Bloggs and mother was Ann Bloggs neé Smith or had some other piece of inforamtion such as an address or something, you could ask the local registrars office to check the entry that you have found to see if the other information you have matches that given on that particular entry in their registers. They will not give you any information from the entry but they will say Yes or No to whether the entry you are interested in matches your information, that is all. You would have to send the £7.00 fee by cheque, some local offices do take credit cards and some now have e.mail so you can ask about payment methods. If they are successful in finding the right entry then they will keep the fee and send you a copy of the entry. If however, the entry does not match up they may keep part of the fee as a search fee, about half I believe, and return the rest of the monry to you. I have done this a few times and have not yet been charged for the search on failed enquiries, I think it depends on each individual office whether or not they charge but can't be sure. The Genuki website will give you the addresses etc. of all the local registrars offices for the UK so if you go to the relevant Page for your place of interest and click on Civil Registration you will find the address and phone number and the occassional e.mail address to. Go to www.genuki.org.uk I feel this searching system of the local registers is far better than thrashing about ordering 2 or 3 copies of what might or might not be the correct entries. You may have to pay but not the full £7.00 and a copy of the entry is cheaper from the local office than from the FRC as Myddleton St. or from the GRO at Southport. You can look at the GRO website which explains about ordering copies from them and about their search service which is more expensive. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/registration/default.asp You could also look at the Family Records Centre Website too at http://www.familyrecords.gov.uk/default.htm Hope this is of some help Regards Jenny DeAngelis. Spain. > New subscriber here though I have been reading the lists for a couple > of weeks. My names being looked into are: > FREER Malton 1877 Later became Taylor. This was my great grandmother. > When she had my grandmother Elsie Freer (b.1895) it was alleged that > she was adopted by the Taylor family. Any idea how I can check if this > was a legal adoption?

At 23:51 20/06/2003 +0200, Jenny wrote: >I may be wrong but I don't think there were Official Adoptions back in 1877. I'm willing to be corrected if anyone knows better, but I think official adoption came in in the late 1920s. Before that it was a completely informal arrangement which was simply the subject of consent between the parents of the child and the would-be parents. One of the daughters of one of my ancestors was informally adopted in this way by one of his brothers and his wife as they were unable to have children of their own. That was in the early 1900s. Regards STC >I think at that time it was still the case where a person who was willing to >take the child and bring it up as their own just did so. I am not sure >though when official adoptions came into being. > >As to ordering birth certificates when you are unsure if you have the right >person from the GRO index, you can ask the local registrars office if they >will check the entry for you against other details that you know to be >correct for the birth etc., that you are looking for. > >If you had found an entry in the GRO index for say Fred Bloggs and thought >it might be the one you are looking for, you will know from that entry >which quarter of the year that person had been born and which area the birth >had been registered in. If you also knew that his father was John Bloggs >and mother was Ann Bloggs neé Smith or had some other piece of inforamtion >such as an address or something, you could ask the local registrars office >to check the entry that you have found to see if the other information you >have matches that given on that particular entry in their registers. They >will not give you any information from the entry but they will say Yes or No >to whether the entry you are interested in matches your information, that is >all. > >You would have to send the £7.00 fee by cheque, some local offices do take >credit cards and some now have e.mail so you can ask about payment methods. >If they are successful in finding the right entry then they will keep the >fee and send you a copy of the entry. If however, the entry does not match >up they may keep part of the fee as a search fee, about half I believe, and >return the rest of the monry to you. I have done this a few times and have >not yet been charged for the search on failed enquiries, I think it depends >on each individual office whether or not they charge but can't be sure. > >The Genuki website will give you the addresses etc. of all the local >registrars offices for the UK so if you go to the relevant Page for your >place of interest and click on Civil Registration you will find the address >and phone number and the occassional e.mail address to. Go to >www.genuki.org.uk > >I feel this searching system of the local registers is far better than >thrashing about ordering 2 or 3 copies of what might or might not be the >correct entries. You may have to pay but not the full £7.00 and a copy of >the entry is cheaper from the local office than from the FRC as Myddleton >St. or from the GRO at Southport. > >You can look at the GRO website which explains about ordering copies from >them and about their search service which is more expensive. >http://www.statistics.gov.uk/registration/default.asp > >You could also look at the Family Records Centre Website too at >http://www.familyrecords.gov.uk/default.htm > >Hope this is of some help >Regards >Jenny DeAngelis. >Spain. > >> New subscriber here though I have been reading the lists for a couple >> of weeks. My names being looked into are: >> FREER Malton 1877 Later became Taylor. This was my great grandmother. >> When she had my grandmother Elsie Freer (b.1895) it was alleged that >> she was adopted by the Taylor family. Any idea how I can check if this >> was a legal adoption? > > >==== ENG-NORTH-YORKS Mailing List ==== >----------> ALL CAPS or UPPER CASE Letters Permissible Use <---------- >When typing a surname? YES! Absolutely! A must! For general text? NO! >It's shouting, bad manners (Netiquette) and hard to find surnames. > >============================== >To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571sourceid=1237 >