Just my thoughts.... As I do my family history I always have a medical dictionary at my desk. When I get a death record in and it tells me a cause of death, I try to look it up and understand exactly what it was that caused the death. I believe that tracking ones family medical history is just as important as understanding and tracing ones "family" history. My husbands family has six documented generations of prostate cancer, each time when not caught "becoming" bone cancer. Because of this "tracking" my husbands Dr. knows to keep an eye out for the "signs" that indicate this condition is present. When I found that George had died in 1855 and I found his "diagnosis" listed in the newspaper account of his death, it made me want to know more. It wasn't so much that I "needed" to know, I wanted to know. I've seen babies deaths attributed to teething. Women going thru menopause at one point were often declared insane and placed in facilities. Was George really insane or were there other "symptons" or behaviours to say differently? Call it curiousity but with the history of depression I've seen in a few of my lines I have to wonder. Maybe he was just depressed? Maybe I am just more curious than most genealogists... Guess I'll always wonder was it really teething that baby died of or was there something else going on? Guess we'll never really know will we? Doesn't mean we can't ask or wonder. Cure or no cure, Stigma or not, I'd want people to know if it was my records. I'd want them to be aware that its something they may have to deal with in the future, life offers no certainty, but having some idea what may be down the road certainly doesn't hurt. Some genetic disorders appear once and are not seen in a line again. Others like cancer and other diseases have a habit of making themselves known over and over and those who come after us have a right to know. Was the definition of insanity in 1855 different than it is today? I'm sure it was. But for now, GGGgrandfather George's records will remain sealed by the state of Ohio and I will continue on with my research. Maybe I'll never know the answers to those questions, but at least George will know I tried! Karen ----- Original Message ---- From: Patricia <pdz99@sbcglobal.net> To: ohlorain@rootsweb.com Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 12:51:25 PM Subject: Re: [OHLORAIN] adoption question I believe that one can acquire the birth certificate of the adoptee, but nothing beyond that, because I've investigated this i/t/o my mother who gave up a child for adoption. I never followed through with the request for the birth certificate, because it was not my business, I felt. As far as mental illness, there's always been a stigma attached to it, and if it were me, I surely wouldn't want anyone to know my history! Really what is the point? All this stuff about medical knowledge, what difference does it make? There aren't too many genetic diseases that have a cure! And what if one has schizophrenia in one's family? There's nothing to do about it. My paternal gggm had the disease where one's extremities are longer than should be; that same disease that Abe Lincoln had. No one since has shown this disorder, so what good would it do me to know this? IMHO, Patricia Karen Krugman <miprofgenie@sbcglobal.net> wrote: Ohio seems particulary protective of records such as adoption and mental health. I was trying to see a file on my third great grandfather who died of "insanity" in 1855. No way would they allow me to see that file. Funny you can get birth, death, marriage with no restrictions but anything having to do with mental health or adoption and the door seems to be closed forever! Bummer! ----- Original Message ---- From: "re5212@aol.com" To: ohlorain@rootsweb.com Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 9:35:10 AM Subject: Re: [OHLORAIN] adoption question My 2 cents on researching and adoption: My grandmother's husband died and she put her son out to foster care because she needed to work. As a new immigrant she was all alone. This was in 1898. She paid room and board for her son and visited him regularly, so he knew her. Ultimately this foster family wanted to adopt her child and she agreed to give him a better life. As he grew up he became reacquainted with her and visited with her all through her life. Grandma eventually remarried and had more children and I descend from this branch. We all knew her first son who was a very nice man with a nice smile, who looked more like Grandma than any of us did! He was part of our family and we called him Uncle. We have the case number of the adoption but due to Ohio adoption laws can't see the file. We want to see this file to check if it gives Grandma's birthplace and arrival info. We have been searching ship lists for 16 years and find her no where... so she must have done the backstroke across the Atlantic ! In any event, I find from researching other family lines that the GenWeb site for DeKalb Co IN for instance has brief transcripts of old adoption records ! All parties to this adoption are long deceased. It seems to us an adoption file from over 100 years ago could be viewed. Richelle Parma, OH -----Original Message----- From: pdz99@sbcglobal.net To: ohlorain@rootsweb.com Sent: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 8:43 AM Subject: Re: [OHLORAIN] adoption question My genealogy program doesn't allow for adoption lines. Once a person is adopted, that "bloodline" doesn't go backwards--only forward. In my opinion, it's hard enough tracing our bloodlines, let alone the adoptee's line. I have cousins from Lorain County who were adopted due to parents' early deaths, and I tried to get info on them. All the agency would do was take my name in case the adoptees were looking for realatives. In addition, I have an adopted "aunt" whom I would never be able to trace, as she was just "given" to my grandfather and wife. She was born in 1910, and lived in a farming community. Best regards, Patricia Daly MScheffler wrote: Some people trace both the blood lines and the ancestors of adoptive parents. What is important is to make sure that a distinction is clear on any printouts that you distribute so as to not mislead. Your genealogy program may have a way to include two sets of parents. You may be able to find the birth parents or you could just chose to mark that your grandfather was adopted and go on to other lines. You might at least want to check out the particulars related to adoption in the area where your grandfather lived. Then you can decide whether is seems realistic to try to track down possible records to determine who the birth parents might be. Margaret Scheffler ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 7:02 AM Subject: [OHLORAIN] adoption question > My Mom's dad was adopted.....how do I handle this? Do I try to find the > original family or just not do anything on the chart about it other than > note > "adopted"? All my grandma knew was that her husband's mother, Mary, came > here > from England. She didn't know what happened to the dad or anything but > his > name was Spooner. We don't know the mom's maiden name, either. > > No one is left alive who knows any more than this. > > I found my grandpa's obit. He died when my Mom was a year old and my > uncle > was four. My grandma worked at either Taylor's or Bailey's Dept. store > in > downtown Cleveland. The adopted sister watched my mom and uncle for free > so my > grandma could work. There was no welfare, food stamps, etc. back in 1915 > so > I wonder how in the heck she raised her kids without going crazy. > > Alice ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to OHLORAIN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to OHLORAIN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ________________________________________________________________________ Check out the new AOL. 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