On occasion I work outside the normal parameters to explore researching individuals on a non-traditional route. In this case I was given a list of individuals who may have been candidates from a school where an adoptee’s adopted parents worked. It is based on information gathered by the birth mother. I won’t go into the location or the details of what school we are speaking about, but let’s just say these individuals are music teachers.
Surprisingly the school was willing to share information on these teachers. They have also promised to provide further details regarding their birth and possibly years they passed away. While these are all former faculty, it was still surprising that they were willing to provide this information at all.
When searching for individuals it is best to rule out the simple questions first. Does the individual have a name unique enough that we can search for and have a chance of finding a limited number of them? Do we know the state their school was located in and the years they were born and possibly passed away? If all these answers are yes, then there is an attempt to look for the individual in question within that state.
Surprisingly some of the information can we delved into deeply enough to find out if there was mention of their position as a musician and teacher in the specific school. Out of about two dozen names I have actually had enough information on two of these individuals to start an ancestry tree based on what little I had.
We know the exact birth date of the adoptee and strong clues suggesting he was adopted by a couple who had a strong background in music and likely worked at the school in question. We are still going to inquire about all the others that are too vague in respect to their, all too common names, and see if we can acquire more details. However, while one individual has been ruled out we do actually have another who has the potential to be a candidate for the couple who adopted the child.
The key is expanding the children beneath the parents. Unfortunately none of the parents of siblings of this one couple has revealed any of the children’s names. I know from Ancestry.com that there are a specific number and boys and girls in this family. I just need to identify them. I will give it a bit more searching on numerous sources I’ve used online and see if I can come up with anything I can substantiate.
For now, I will just hope it pans out. It really will come down to the birth date of one of the sons. If it matches the exact date and approximate location of our adoptee then we may have something to share soon with this birth mother. No promises yet, but this family is in the right region at the right time. We just need to identify these children and their birth years.