This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/Bk.2ADE/1507.1 Message Board Post: You might want to check the probate records in the county clerk's office, particularly if there was a guardian appointed by the court. There may also be references to an adoption there. In any case, the county clerk's office is probably the best place to start. I've found guardianship papers as early as 1870 in Adams Co.