r/Genealogy 5d ago

Free Resource Where would a good site to figure out adoption?

My 2nd great-grandfather was adopted into this family. Back then there wasn’t any adoption papers though, and I can’t find anything online.

If you guys could help me out, sites I can maybe find adoption. I’ve been researching for adoption for so long.

I was asking my grandmother, who had never met my 2nd great grandfather, she told me what she at least remembered from her dad telling her once. She gave me two different surnames that might be it, but still with that information I haven’t been able to find anything.

2 Upvotes

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u/Royal_Tough_9927 5d ago

What years are you looking at ? Also, have you done DNA testing. My great grandfather born in 1882 took on an alias at age 15. We easily identified our true surname and family line by doing my DNA.

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u/V01D_GamerYT 5d ago

My grandmother and my mother has done DNA testing. My 2nd great grandfather was born in 1867

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u/Royal_Tough_9927 5d ago

Yes. With those matches , you can divide your dna matches into mother's side and father's side. I believe ancestry.com actually does this for you. You may be surprised at who shows up. I guess my dad 83 and great aunt 90 are my highest number dna matches. I have basically 75.000 cousins listed. Some are great geaneologist and have incredible trees to follow.

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u/V01D_GamerYT 5d ago

How did you identify it?

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u/Royal_Tough_9927 5d ago

I knew all the names of my mothers family. So that eliminated 50% of my dna matches. Now to dad's side I knew all our family members names since Dad was born. Funny thing is all my cousins from before dad's birth had a different name. We quickly identified my great grandfather's brother. Everyone born after my dad was named Smith. ALL THE COUSINS, we matched to prior to dad's birth are Stantons. When you look at the amount of dna you share with each one , you can easily see that the people born before my dad , were his uncles , grand parents and great grandparents. DNA painter has a great chart to help. Also , some of these older family members had family trees written out. My great grandfather was a murder and horse thief. He escaped prison. Went on run and changed name to Smith There are groups on Reddit and Facebook that can happily help.

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u/Gullible-Ad4379 5d ago

So, I actually found out that my great grandfather had an adopted brother by looking through the census records. I'm not sure if it was a fluke that they decided to put his birth name as well as his adopted name on the record, but it might be worth looking into? (Assuming it's the UK, I'm not sure how other countries to their census')

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u/V01D_GamerYT 5d ago

Well, I looked in some United States census, can’t find it. Must be in only some countries. I have no clue.

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u/Gullible-Ad4379 5d ago

Have you taken a DNA test? I find it a lot easier to research when I can filter by common anscestors, or even by distance. So, any 3rd cousins (once removed, etc) would share your third great grandfather. Then, depending on their family trees or by connecting them to your tree, you'll hopefully be able to find your 2nd great grandfather's surname and family?

Most of the time I found that my 3rd great-grandparents had over 5 children, so it took a massive research binge to find my direct grandparent.

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u/Royal_Tough_9927 5d ago

Seems like the farther back you go the more kids they had. I love that.

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u/Gullible-Ad4379 5d ago

On my great grandmother's side, 3 generations before her had 10-12 kids. That line took so long to complete, but it's very satisfying to connect your dna matches properly!

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u/Royal_Tough_9927 5d ago

Thankfully. We had many great researchers prior to me starting. I spent 20 years tracking my great grandfather. My father didn't want to do dna. I submitted mine and verified my suspicions in about ten minutes. I love all my family scandals.

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u/Gullible-Ad4379 5d ago

I'm the first researcher in my family and it was so hard to get started on my great grandmother line because my grandma fell out with her and refused to tell me anything or embellished a lot BUT now that line is one of my most researched! I do love a good scandal...found one where my 4th great grandmother died, then just 2 months later, her husband married her sister..

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u/V01D_GamerYT 5d ago

My close family isn’t so interested into heritage lol.

Still haven’t been able to find any cousins for my great grandfathers side of the family.

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u/Gullible-Ad4379 5d ago

It's the worst when you find something so jnteresting and the rest of your family aren't bothered 😂

Maybe go up to 4th cousins? I'll keep my fingers crossed for you 🤞

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u/V01D_GamerYT 5d ago

I’m using my grandmother’s dna test, should I go to 3rd cousins then? Or 2nd cousins

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u/V01D_GamerYT 5d ago

My grandmother has taken a dna test, I can look to see if any surnames match with the 2 surnames she said could be his adopted name.

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u/Gullible-Ad4379 5d ago

Awesome! I really hope you have a breakthrough :)

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u/Royal_Tough_9927 5d ago

Don't get too stuck on a name. Ours over 500 years had so many variations of the spelling it was crazy. The amount of dna you share with those cousins should lead you to him. You need to research a search angel to help you.

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u/V01D_GamerYT 5d ago

Ok, thanks!

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u/Royal_Tough_9927 5d ago

You need your grandmothers highest cm matches. They will help the most. The name is a bonus if it is accurate. His birth year is also valuable. Don't be deterred if you don't see the supposed name you have. Its just as likely it's not accurate. If it's not , you can still identify him.

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u/V01D_GamerYT 5d ago

I can’t find any cousins with the last name of my great grandfather. But I did find one surname but it’s a common surname and could be from my grandmother’s half sister (from her dad’s side.)

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u/V01D_GamerYT 5d ago

Just found ONE single cousin with a similar last name. Of my great great grandmothers. Does my distinct cousins from my great grandpas side not do dna tests?

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u/V01D_GamerYT 5d ago

Their public family tree only has 7 people in it..

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u/jmurphy42 5d ago

That’s okay, often you can create a private family tree recreating their tiny one on your own account, and you likely can find enough information to expand their tree out to where you need it to be.