Hello, I have been placing queries about my grandmother for a couple of years now. She was "a foundling" in Boston in 1889. And, in 1892 she was adopted by an older couple while they were living in Melrose. (They had just moved there from Killingly, CT, and they were in their late 50's in 1892.) In the spring of 1899, Mrs. Mary DEXTER died, and Mr. John DEXTER would probably have not been allowed to raise his adopted daughter. The house was sold and John seems to have moved to a rooming house in Boston. I had placed many queries about trying to find out where my grandmother went to live. And, I want to thank ALL the researchers VERY much .. who attempted to find her in the 1900 Census. This summer I found out that I had access to the Heritage Quest web site through my local library, and every once in a while I do searches on Census information there. Last week I hit it lucky! My grandmother was given the name, Mary Anna Clark DEXTER, at her Adoption. * But, on at least one occasion she was known as Mary Anna CLARK. I don't know why I found it this time, but I found a Mary CLARK, Age 10, who was living in the Boston Female Orphans Asylum (aka Boston Female Asylum). At that time it was on Washington Street in Boston. Voila' !! At some point .. maybe around 1905, maybe when she turned 16, she went to live in "The Temporary Home for Women and Children" on (then) Chardon Street in Boston. And, she remained there probably until ~1909. At that point her girlfriend was allowed to go live with her widowed father in Medford, MA, and my grandmother went to live there also. They are in the 1910 Census there. There my grandmother met her future husband, and on Christmas Eve, 1911, they walked to a Minister's house and asked him to marry them. I probably can't find out how many years my grandmother was living in each "facility." But, I was very surprised to find out that my grandmother had spent half of her youth .. living in different places in Downtown Boston. One "glitch" in the works is that I found out that John DEXTER went to live in the Tewksbury State Hospital in 1904 and in 1905 he died there. In his records, he had 3 visitors. One of them was listed as his daughter, "Mamie," who was living on Vernon Street in Norwood at the time. John's only other child was his birth-daughter, Clara, who was married and living in Killingly, CT, at the time. (She did not visit him.) I had no idea what this Norwood connection was .. until this week when I discovered that Mrs. Mary DEXTER's relatives were living in Norwood from ~1909 on. Her older step-siblings had the surname, LAVARE, and her step-sister had the married name, Mrs. Lavinia VINAL. (All were in Bristol County, MA, or Little Compton, RI, as far as I know.) My grandmother would have been Age ~15 in 1904 when she might have visited her Adoptive father. And, her "cousin?" would have been Age ~10 or 11 in 1904. So, there is a chance, that this LAVARE family took my grandmother in for a year or two, or possibly she was allowed to stay with them for a few summers. ...As I have mentioned before, I had found a "distant cousin" in CT who is a descendant of that LAVARE family. We compared family photos, and there is a strong family resemblance. My family had always believed that John and Mary DEXTER were the grandparents of my grandmother. But, this does not appear to be true. My "cousin in CT" has "guessed" that the DEXTER's themselves were the birth-parents .. having had a late-in-life pregnancy. This "theory" is bolstered by the fact that the DEXTER's left a large farm and life-long home in Killingly, CT, to move to Melrose, MA -- right around the same time this baby girl was born in Boston, MA. And, during her early years with the DEXTER's, my grandmother was hidden away in the back rooms of the home when important company came to visit. And, because of a conversation my grandmother overheard while living there, the DEXTER's did know .. the circumstances of her birth. But, a few years ago I went to Probate Court in Cambridge and had her Adoption file opened. Of course, the few pieces of paper said "NOTHING is known of the birth-mother." And, both my mother and I have looked for a birth certificate, and NONE exist for my grandmother. John DEXTER worked at a Courthouse at the time, and I believe he made the birth certificates "disappear." (one for birth and one for adoption). That is all I'll write for today. I just wanted to make sure that people know that "successes" do take place, and no matter how small .. each one is another piece for the large jig-saw puzzles we are working on. And, I wanted to make sure I thanked everyone who had helped me in my searches. ... I haven't been able to be at my computer too much this summer and fall .. as ..I.. became a grandmother for the first time in June! :o) * "Somehow" my grandmother was given the name, Daisy WATROUS, at her birth. I believe she might have been in a hospital for her first 3 months, as she did not become a "Ward of the State" until she was 3 months old. Thank you for your time. Betty (near Lowell, MA) "There are two lasting bequests we can give our children; one is roots, the other is wings." Hodding Carter, Jr. "What does Jesus want in his "stocking" on Christmas morning? Loving kindness, a warm heart, and the stretched out hand of tolerance!" The Bishop's Wife (1947)