This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Bergschneider,Beers,Spindler,Robinson,Neudecker Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.illinois.counties.sangamon/4563/mb.ashx Message Board Post: I wrote awhile back about a family secret regarding my grandmother, I'd said we'd always known her as Alberta Frances Berkschneider, but I'd spelled it wrong, and got a few facts wrong, but was working with what I knew at the time. It was actually, Bergschneider, and even though she'd been married twice, first to Raleigh Vestal Robinson, and then to R. Lloyd Henry, we just always referred to her by her childhood name, but when locating a birth certificate for my dad, Ronald Lee Robinson, we discovered that her name was Alberta Sylvia Mary Beers, born in MO. Right before she passed away in 1972, she told my dad there was a family secret, but it was never revealed to him. Well, since I last wrote, and with many prayers and help from kind souls, I have discovered the secret that was haunting my dad for so long, but unfortunately, it was both confusing and hurtful, and has opened up many more new questions. I earlier wrote that my grandmother, Alberta may have been in foster homes, that would explain why she was now called Beers, and that she had a sister named Donna, and a brother named Leonard Beers, and her parents were Bert C. and Margaret Clara Beers. Well, part of that is true, but not quite. My grandmother was indeed born Alberta Frances Bergscheider, but her natural parents were Omah Frances Bergschneider and Anton(Tony) Bergschneider, she had a sister, Donna and a brother named Gilbert. When she went to live with the Beers family, I think around the age of 3 or 4, could be a little older, she acquired a new brother there, named Leonard Beers. The hurtful and confusing part of the secret was that, when my grandmothers' mother, Omah was in the hospital giving birth to Gilbert, her husband, Albertas' dad, Anton, gave her or sold her to the Beers family! When my g-grandma came home from the hospital, and discovered what had happened she went to a Catholic Church they belonged to, (not yet sure which one, although, I think it was in Edwardsville, IL, where Omah died in 1958), the priest told her to hush up about it, and do as your husband wishes, she of course divorced him, and did searches for her daughter, but to know avail. I don't yet know what resources and help she got in her search, I do know that at some point, Anton was thrown in jail for non support of the two remaining children, Donna, and Gilbert. Besides being apparently evil, Anton was not a poor man, I was told he was a commodities trader on the Chicago Exchange. Omah eventually married a deputy sheriff, Frank Spindler in 1932, and he tracked my grandmother to California. Around her junior high school period, Alberta went to stay with her natural mother, but only stayed for about a year, before returning to the Beers in I think, Los Angeles or Oceanside, CA. There's actually a street in Oceanside named after Alberta and Leonard in a subdivision called Plumosa Heights. I hope to uncover why this was done, this wasn't a legal adoption, how did this happen, how did Anton know Bert Beers, what agencies were involved, etc. My father has been very ill with cancer, and now he can have some peace, now that he knows the secret. I have to thank many folks who've helped in this search, but one in particular, Jan Frey, has been the one who opened this wide open, she saw my inquiry here, and passed along some numbers to Bergschneiders in the Edwardsville area, and lo and behold, the first one turned out to be Gilbert Bergschneiders wife, George Ann, she in turn gave me the number to Donnas' husband, Harlowe Neudecker in North Olmstead, Ohio, and both of them revealed the secret to me. Now we're going to all share stories and pictures that I've never known existed. In my earlier quest, I said there were pictures of my grandmother on my Myspace, and soon, I get to add many more, and I am ever so grateful, and truly feel blessed, and believe my angels have guided all these wonderful people to help. If anyone would like to see them, they're at myspace.com/ledbyintuition Thank you, Cynthia Rena Robinson Fischelli