Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Be a Time Traveler

I think Randy Seaver has previously posted a challenge similar to that of today's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, but it's an idea that deserves to be revisited multiple times.

Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision.

1.  We all wish that we knew more about our most elusive ancestors — the ones we might not know the surname for, or the one who was probably adopted, changed his name for some reason, or lived through war or a natural disaster.

2.  Be a time traveler.  Where would you go, whom would you speak with, what would you ask them?

3.  Share your time traveler adventure on your own blog, on Facebook or other social media, or in a comment on this blog.  Share the link to your stories on this blog, so readers can respond.

Randy didn't state this was only one trip, but that's how he wrote his response, so I'll stick with that.

Since I'm time traveling only one time, I have to choose to be there when my cousin Raymond Lawrence Sellers was adopted.  This probably took place in Cumberland County, New Jersey, with a small chance of it having been in Burlington County, New Jersey instead.  Raymond was born September 23, 1945 and apparently was surrendered for adoption by my Aunt Dottie soon after that, possibly before the end of October 1945.  So those are my estimated time and place.

As for whom I would speak with, I'll try to cover the bases.  I want to talk with the adoptive parents and anyone else who participated in any steps of the adoption.  If it was a documented adoption through the court system (the second version of events that I was told), that would include a presiding judge and any administrative personnel who observed the process or handled paperwork, either in the court system or at the adoption agency.  If it was an informal adoption to friends or extended family (the original version I heard), then probably the only other individuals would have been additional family members or friends who were there.

The one question that I would be asking is the name given to Raymond after adoption.  Without that piece of information, my research has been stalled for the almost 10 years that I have been trying to find him.  New Jersey still keeps its adoption records sealed since 1941.  My aunt registered with New Jersey as being willing to speak with Raymond if he ever contacted the state to try to find his birth parents.  Not only have we never received any communication from New Jersey, Dottie died in 2021.  I have not checked with the state to find out what alternatives might be available for contact given that fact, because I'm not optimistic that there are any, but I still need to do so just in case.

If I can learn Raymond's new name, I can try to trace him through his life.  I can look for school records, marriage records, birth records (of possible children), and death records.  I might find out he died young as a child.  But I also might discover that he married and had several children and grandchildren.  I concede that I consider the latter unlikely, as I have not been alerted to any DNA matches, and I have all of the databases covered with close and fairly close relatives who should match Raymond or his next generations if they test.  So either no one among Raymond and his possible progeny have tested, or it was only him, and he either has not tested or died without testing.

But even if the answer were that he died young and had no children, no one to connect with, I would finally have an answer and could tell his siblings, particularly my cousin Pattie, who since Dottie passed away has been the primary standard bearer hoping for a resolution to the search.  I'm sure that, even posthumously, Dottie would appreciate that we knew what had happened to the son she gave up.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Happy 75th Birthday, Cousin, Wherever You Are

Seventy-five years ago today, on September 23, 1945, my paternal aunt, Dorothy Mae "Dottie" Sellers, had a son whom she named Raymond Lawrence Sellers.  The father was Clarence Newcomb "Zeke" Lore.  This was Dottie's second child, and the second out of wedlock.  Although she had kept her first son, because of different circumstances in her life this time, she made the difficult decision to give Raymond up for adoption.

Dottie is currently 94 years old.  About the time she turned 90, she asked me if I could help her find Raymond.  She kmew she doesn't have too many years left on this earth, and she wants to reunite with her son if possible before she dies.

Raymond was born in Bridgeton, Cumberland County, New Jersey.  He was also surrendered for adoption in Cumberland County.

The state of New Jersey has closed all adoption records after 1940, and that's a hard-and-fast rule.  We have no way of gaining access to the file.  The only procedure available to us through New Jersey is to have Dottie register with the state and attest that she is open to being contacted by Raymond if he goes through the state's system to try to find his biological mother.  We've done that.

I have searched the Social Security Death Index and the Claims Index with Raymond's birthday, just in case someone who looked like a likely candidate would pop up.  No luck there.

The way a lot of connections have been made after adoptions is through DNA.  Mostly you hear about adoptees having DNA tests and looking for their biological families, but it happens the other way also.  We have all the major databases covered — Ancestry.com, Family Tree DNA, 23andMe, MyHeritage, and GEDCom — with Dottie's DNA and/or that of Raymond's siblings, half-siblings, and first cousins.  So far still no matches on any of the sites.

We have no idea what happened to Raymond after his adoption.  He might have died as a young child or anytime between 1945 and now.  He might have remained single his whole life.  Or he might have married and had children.

At this point DNA appears to be the best, if not only, chance of finding Raymond.  I realize that in reality only a very small percentage of people have been tested, so the lack of a match does not mean he or his hypothetical descendants are not out there.  After all, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.  I just have to keep hoping that he or one of those hypothetical descendants decides to take the plunge and see what all the fuss is about DNA.

And I hope it's in time for Dottie.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your Own Newspaper Article

Sometimes an idea just clicks.  When I read this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge from Randy Seaver, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

Your mission this week, should you decide to accept it, is:

(1) Go to the The Newspaper Clipping Generator (http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp) and create one or more articles using this tool.

(2) You can generate articles that didn't appear in the newspaper, articles you wish had appeared in the newspaper, or even your own obituary (in the future).

(3) Share your newspaper clipping(s) with us as an image or a screen capture on your own blog, as a comment to this blog post, or on a Facebook or Google+ post.

(4) Please give me a link to your clipping in a comment to this post.

I am harnessing the power of positive thinking.  If I dream it, it can happen.

The Family History Times, October 29, 2017

Of course, we all know that this is a fake newspaper article.  But if anyone recognizes the names of my aunt and/or her son and can share any information that will help us learn what happened to him, please write to me at janicemsj@gmail.com.

What Happened to Raymond Lawrence Sellers?

My aunt will be turning 90 at the end of this month.  A lot of people, when they get to around that age, try to wrap up loose ends in their lives.  One thing my aunt would like to do with whatever years are left to her is find the son she gave up for adoption 70 years ago.  She has asked for my help.

Raymond Lawrence Sellers was born on September 23, 1945 in Bridgeton, Cumberland, New Jersey.  His mother, Dorothy Mae "Dottie" Sellers, was not married to the father, Clarence Newcomb "Zeke" Lore.  I was told that Dottie's father, my grandfather, was less than pleased with the situation and convinced Dottie to give up the baby for adoption.

I have heard two different stories about Raymond's adoption.  Several years ago I was told that he was given to friends of the family in an informal adoption.  Their names have variously been reported as Eckert or Eckman.  The other story, told more recently, is that Raymond was given to an adoption agency and that the adoption was a formal one.

The adoption probably happened in either Cumberland or Burlington County, New Jersey.

Another story I was told years ago is that sometime in the 1960's or so, Raymond somehow managed to track down Dottie and came around to the house to meet her.  She wasn't home at the time, and the person there didn't know about Raymond so sent him away.  If that story is true, it would seem to lean toward the informal adoption being the accurate scenario, as it would have been extremely difficult for Raymond to learn his birth mother's name at that time if the adoption had gone through an agency.  I'm not ruling anything out, though.

New Jersey adoption records are sealed after 1940, so it's almost impossible to get access to them.  I've tried looking through Burlington County court indices to see if there are any deleted entries that might refer to this adoption, but I didn't find any likely candidates.  I've searched the Social Security Death Index but didn't find any likely possibilities there.  I'm running out of relatively low-cost search methods.

I'm hoping that by sending this out to the universe someone who knows something about Raymond will hear about my search and respond.

Keeping my fingers crossed . . . .