Birth Certificates of Adoptees in Pennsylvania

In November of 2017, Pennsylvania began providing adopted persons information from their original, sealed birth certificate.

The disappointment was that the document was a limited transcription and not a copy of the original record, in contrast to the title.

In response to criticism about the limitations of this document, Pennsylvania re-issued the birth records on nicer paper.

The problem here is that the law (2016 Act 127) authorizes release of a "summary" of the original birth certificate and not the original birth certificate. Pennsylvania Department of Health labels the document "Noncertified Copy of Original Birth Record," and not something more accurate such as "Selective Extraction of a Birth Record."

The information available is the date and county (not town) of birth, original name of baby, and names and ages of parents. This information could lead adoptees to find their biological families. But the missing information might be needed if the named parent or parents is not enough. More information increases the chances of success.

The person who kindly supplied me with her "original birth certificate" identified her biological mother shortly before receiving the document. That will be explained in an upcoming post. The biological father has not been identified (yet) through DNA testing and unfortunately was not named in this birth record.

In January of 2017 neighboring New Jersey unsealed birth certificates to adoptees. In contrast to Pennsylvania, New Jersey's document for adoptees is a copy of the actual birth certificate and not an extraction.

For the person who kindly supplied this unsealed New Jersey birth certificate, the biological mother was previously identified in the adoption records of the court, which were not sealed because the adoption was before 1940. The father was identified through DNA testing before the release of this certificate. The names of the parents on this certificate, however, do not match the court records and the interpretations of DNA testing.

Working Girl

Anna S Andes (1870-1949) was married to James G Romig (1866-1905).  This couple appeared in the family tree of a DNA match whose recent ancestry I was reviewing, looking for the elusive common ancestors.

Anna is easy to locate once she was married.  Here is Anna and James in the 1900 census in Kansas with two of their children, James and Carrie.

The graves of Anna and James are posted on FindAGrave.  No parents are linked to Anna.  You can only link a child to a parent if you maintain the memorial.  The absence (or presence) of this connection is a guide, not proof.

Several online family trees have Anna as the daughter of Levi Andes (1844-1910) and Susanna Stark (1846-1914).  California's death index is online at Ancestry.com.  Anna died in California in 1949 and her parents are listed as Andes and Stark in this index.  This is tertiary proof of Anna's parentage, even less reliable, because this is an index and not the original record.  Death records can be very informative, but the Names of Parents section can be wildly inaccurate.

The potential parents, Levi Andes and Susanna Stark, are easy to locate in the census.  But they aren't enumerated with a daughter named Anna.  Between 1880-1885, the family moved from Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to Newton, Harvey County, Kansas.

If Anna S Andes was born on July 1, 1870, she missed enumeration in the 1870 census by one month.
Although recorded on July 11, 1870, the census had a cut-off date of June 1st.

1880 Federal Census
No Anna

1885 Kansas State Census
No Anna

When a child is "missing" in a family's records, one explanation is that the childhood name and the adult name were different.  "Anna S," wife and mother, may have been called "Susie" growing up.  To test this possibility, I looked for Susie Andes as an adult- and I found her.  Susan was born in 1871.  She married Robert Bascum Stayton (1858-1934) and died in 1922.  So Susie is not the missing Anna.

The next records to turn to locate a missing child or sibling would be wills and obituaries.  I don't usually deal with records in Kansas or Pennsylvania.  [I've started Pennsylvania research for my Dunlop line, but that will be a different post.]  When I looked to Google for information on this family, I found a lovely and informative blog post written by the Harvey County [Kansas] Historical Museum and Archives.

The article, complete with photographs, explored the lives of three Andes sisters who worked as maids in Newton, Kansas after relocating from Ephrata, Pennsylvania.  Their names:  Annie S, Susie, and Winnie.  Their father was Levi Andes, a tailor and a minister.  This was the link I needed!

The article included a picture of the original, color marriage license for Annie S Andes to J. G. Romig, dated March 30, 1893.  Annie's father, Levi, performed the ceremony at his residence in Newton.  Additional information included that James Romig died in February of 1905 from injuries suffered in a train accident, leaving Anna to care for their two children, James and Carrie.  Anna later moved to California to be with her daughters, Carrie and Alice.  Yes- Anna was pregnant when her husband was killed.  The third child was born seven months after her father's death.

After reading that Anna worked as a maid in Newton, I returned to the 1880 census in Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where Levi Andes and Susan resided with their children, minus Anna.  There was an entry for a ten-year old Annie Andes in nearby West Cocalico.  This Annie was a servant to the Wolf family.  I was hoping that was a mistake- how could a ten year old work as a servant?  There were many child servants in this community in the 1880 census, so such a situation must have been acceptable.

Because young Annie worked as a servant in other people's houses during her childhood, she is not found with her parents in the census.  That must not have been an easy life.

Combing through Details

While looking for the ancestors of Ezra A. Dunn (1821-1898), I found a few people who worked at his pottery business.  Of special note was a little biographical sketch about William A. Dunlop (1833-1910).  William became an owner of the pottery business.  He was also the brother of Ezra's wife, Hermoine.

You can find a lot of these biographical books online now, as they are usually over 100 years old.  Use them to point you in the direction of actual records.  They were written about men in a designated geographical location with the intent to make them look good.

Short biography about William A Dunlop, his ancestors, and his children

I had already uncovered Joseph Dunlop and Margaret Little as parents of William and Hermoine and their siblings.  This is the second mention that Joseph Dunlop was born in Pennsylvania; the other mention is his enumeration in the 1850 census in Raritan Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey.

My focus shifted to Margaret, "daughter of James Combs, and widow of Robert Little."  This is important.  I have the record of Margaret Little's marriage to Joseph Dunlop in 1824.  Her last name is given as "Little."  There is no mention that she is a widow, but there is also no mention that she is young and unmarried, which is sometimes specified in the marriage record.  This record provides only the names of the parties; no ages, marital status, or parents.

I thought of Joseph Dunlop's grave, which I visited last month.  He is buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Matawan, Monmouth County, New Jersey.  Close to his stone are three other stones:

Robert Little (1784-1821) of Billis, County Cavan, Ireland.
Frances Little (1809-1830), daughter of Robert Little and Margaret
William Johnston Dunlop (1829-1832), son of Joseph W Dunlop and Margaret

I theorized that Joseph Dunlop and Robert Little were connected through Joseph's wife, Margaret, though I was not sure of the relation of Robert to Margaret.  I was excited to finally find an Irish ancestor in my father's tree, complete with the hometown in Ireland and year of immigration to the United States.  With a new last name for Margaret, it looks like I have to relinquish the Littles as Irish ancestors.

Robert Little's will, signed October 20, 1821, is viewable at FamilySearch.  He died nine days after signing the will.  Some good information is given.

Monmouth County, New Jersey Wills
Volume B, page 271

Monmouth County, New Jersey Wills
Volume B, page 272

Robert Little named his beloved wife as Margeret Little.  I usually see that a wife's share is contingent upon her not remarrying, but that language is not in this will.  ("So long as she remains my widow.")

Robert Little named two daughters, Sarah Jane and Fanny.  Sarah Jane was described as the eldest and would turn 21 years old in 1837.  That gives us a birthdate around 1816 for Sarah Jane, while providing that Fanny was born between 1817-1821.  Robert also mentioned that Joseph Combs was occupying his farm.  Robert appointed his brother, William Little, and his friend, Henry Arrowsmith, as guardians of his daughters.  (At this time in history, a child's mother was often not named as the guardian because of financial interests and the tendency for a young widow to remarry.)

Robert mentioned his brothers, Thomas Little and William Little, and his sister, Margeret Little.  Friends were Asbury Fountain and Henry Arrowsmith.  Witnesses were Eli T Cooley, John Frost, and Asbury Fountain.

Daughter Fanny Little is likely the Frances Little buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery.  She died April 30, 1839 at the age of 20 years and 6 months.  That would be about 1818, which is within the range of possible birth years, based on the wording in her father's will.

We can develop a timeline for Margaret Combs.
1790s- born
About 1815- married Robert Little of Ireland
1816- gave birth to daughter Sarah Jane Little
1818- gave birth to daughter Frances/Fanny
1821- death of Robert Little, first husband
1824- married Joseph W Dunlop
1827- gave birth to daughter Hermoine Dunlop
1829- gave birth to son William Johnston Dunlop
1830- gave birth to son Alfred Dunlop
1832- son William Johnston Dunlop died
1833- gave birth to son William A Dunlop
1836- gave birth to son John Dunlop
1839- daughter Frances Little died
1852- death of Joseph Dunlop, second husband

Margaret died after the 1850 census.

Shifting from Margaret Little to Margaret Combs, daughter of James Combs, provides us with some more avenues to research.

Transcribed Record
Old Tennent Scotch Presbyterian Church
Monmouth County, New Jersey

This transcribed record (available for free from FamilySearch) looks like our Margaret Combs.  Her birthdate is 1795; her father is James Combs; and the location, Tennent (Manalapan) in Monmouth County is where we need this family to be.  The church records survived, so I should be able to track them down.  The Old Tennent Presbyterian Church still exists!  Its cemetery has over 15,000 burials at FindAGrave- 93 of them are Combs!

Personalized Maps

Inspired by a genealogical blog post, I crafted some ancestor maps of my own.  Using the ancestors of my father, I created two maps:  1- Place of Birth and 2- Place of Death.

2 parents
4 grandparents
8 great grandparents
16 great great grandparents
Total:  30 ancestors

The outlier in the birthplaces is my grandfather, Clifford Lutter.  He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1915.  All of his other events are in New Jersey.  A family story explains that Clifford was born in Philadelphia because his father was performing there at the time.

These maps show where to find the bulk of my recent family records.  The three unknown places of death are likely New Jersey and Germany.