Hi Coleen, From my experience, I think you would have more luck joining an adoption mailing list, especially one for Minnesota if one is available. The people on the adoption lists would be more knowledgeable about the laws and resources available to you. Rootsweb has some adoption lists and here is an URL that has quite a few: http://www.rootsweb.com/~jfuller/gen_mail_adoption.html Cyndi's lists would be a good place to look too. So much depends on the individual states and the time frame you are looking at and the circumstances. Since you are asking about one that took place over 100 years ago, I "doubt" that records were sealed then. There is a good chance there was not even a formal adoption, at least not as we would think of it today. Another problem that you may run into even with a formal adoption is the records not existing anymore. There was only a couple pages found on my Mom's adoption. Please don't let this discourage you. If you don't look, you will never know. Just don't expect it to be easy........you might find it right away and you may not. I have run across records in Land records, church records, guardianship records, probate records, you just never know. Check census records too, I found my Mom listed under her birth name on the 1920 Census, she hadn't been adopted yet. Again, I strongly urge you to join an adoption list. They know the laws, the tips and the "tricks"! One more thing.............don't ever mention the word "adoption". It's instant freeze and all communication will be cut off from that moment forward. Hope this helps, Pam B On 7/20/05, hoffman@ticon.net <hoffman@ticon.net> wrote: > > I am looking for someone that was adopted over 100 years ago. Does anyone > know > if I would be able to obtain the records or if they would be sealed? Thank > You, Coleen > > > ==== MINNESOTA Mailing List ==== > To view completed census transcriptions online, go to: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/census/inv/index.html > > ============================== > Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the > last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx > >

I have to add a bit to this also. My grandmother born 1873 to an unwed 17 year old who died in childbirth was given up for adoption by her grandfather (father of the unwed mother) and I do have the court papers typed up on my website - this was in Illinois and the court papers are dated 1875. I was always led to believe she was adopted quite soon after birth due to the number of other children at home at the time. In fact the "grandfather" & his 3rd wife had just had another child themselves and we were told he gave her up due to the already large family and the older children witnessing this said he had tears in his eyes as he gave her to the couple, and in the court papers it states "from this day she shall be known as" and her name ~ ~ she did keep her given birth name - just the last name was changed or "to be known as" etc. It took me many years to find this record as I thought she had just been raised by this family and not actually adopted into it. So possibly they had to wait the number of years to get the record finalized or they felt it best to give her their surname. The couple had been married 7 years and no children of their own, but then went on to have a daughter and a son after adopting my grandmother. The father has never been "found". Antoinette (Tacoma, Washington) ----- Original Message ----- From: "P Belden" <pbelden6@gmail.com> To: <MINNESOTA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2005 1:33 PM Subject: Re: [MINNESOTA] Adoptions > Hi Coleen, > From my experience, I think you would have more luck joining an adoption > mailing list, especially one for Minnesota if one is available. The people > on the adoption lists would be more knowledgeable about the laws and > resources available to you. Rootsweb has some adoption lists and here is an > URL that has quite a few: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~jfuller/gen_mail_adoption.html > Cyndi's lists would be a good place to look too. > So much depends on the individual states and the time frame you are looking > at and the circumstances. Since you are asking about one that took place > over 100 years ago, I "doubt" that records were sealed then. There is a good > chance there was not even a formal adoption, at least not as we would think > of it today. Another problem that you may run into even with a formal > adoption is the records not existing anymore. There was only a couple pages > found on my Mom's adoption. > Please don't let this discourage you. If you don't look, you will never > know. Just don't expect it to be easy........you might find it right away > and you may not. I have run across records in Land records, church records, > guardianship records, probate records, you just never know. Check census > records too, I found my Mom listed under her birth name on the 1920 Census, > she hadn't been adopted yet. Again, I strongly urge you to join an adoption > list. They know the laws, the tips and the "tricks"! > One more thing.............don't ever mention the word "adoption". It's > instant freeze and all communication will be cut off from that moment > forward. > Hope this helps, > Pam B > On 7/20/05, hoffman@ticon.net <hoffman@ticon.net> wrote: > > > > I am looking for someone that was adopted over 100 years ago. Does anyone > > know > > if I would be able to obtain the records or if they would be sealed? Thank > > You, Coleen > > > > > > ==== MINNESOTA Mailing List ==== > > To view completed census transcriptions online, go to: > > http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/census/inv/index.html > > > > ============================== > > Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the > > last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: > > http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx > > > > > > > ==== MINNESOTA Mailing List ==== > To view completed census transcriptions online, go to: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/census/inv/index.html > > ============================== > Census images 1901, 1891, 1881 and 1871, plus so much more. > Ancestry.com's United Kingdom & Ireland Collection. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13968/rd.ashx > > >