micheles wrote: How were adoptions recorded? The story we were told, is that his biological mother had an affair with the mayor of the town and he was put up for adoption. Whatever the story is, we have now also discovered that he never became a US citizen! Any suggestions would be welcome!
This situation you describe for your great-grandfather was very common. He was a
trovatello, a child born from unwed parents. In the days of your great-grandfather, there were some very specific laws for the recording of children born from the unwed mother. The purpose of the law was to ensure the health of the child (so mother would not harm child to hide the fact of her illicit affair), but also to protect the legal anonymity of the parents. So, on the birth act, many time the parent names are omitted and the child is given the fantasy surname, which is given by the town official. If the mother she wants to recognize the baby as her natural child, then yes her name is inscribed on the birth act.
There was no adoption as we have today, if the mother does not keep her baby, it is given to wet nurse and then given to a local family to raise, or maybe put in the orphanage if this is a big town. Many possibility. Even in situation when the child know the name of the natural mother or father, it cannot be recorded legally on the marriage act, because the parent must legally recognize the child. Social recognition was different than legal recognition, you understand?
I think is possible you cannot find your great-grandfather in the birth act because he was given the fantasy surname when his birth was recorded by the town official. So you must know the name of the town he was born, and the year he was born, then maybe you can study the birth acts from that year and maybe find a match of date with a baby boy born from unknown parents. Is much work, but you can do it. Maybe on the birth act you can discover the name of the mother, or some clue of the great-grandfather origin.
We have everything, as sister lived in Italy for years and went to Province of Avellino and got records of great-grandmothers family. I have found everything else on our great-grandmother and great-grandfathers adopted family through FHC records, but can not find birth record of great-grandfather.
