This tutorial is about adoption. In this case, adoption refers to when a child is raised by someone other than their parents, whether or not their last name was changed or any official adoption process was carried out in the court system. (In many cases, especially going back to the 19th century and before, official court sanctioned adoptions were not nearly as common as simply taking in and raising a child with no legal process or contract.) The adoptive parents could be grandparents, aunt and uncle, other family members, or complete strangers. In some situations this would be referred to as guardianship or fostering rather than adoption.

The point here is to establish a timeline of the child’s life and indicate their relationships. Knowing whose household the child was living in and when they lived there can be a tremendous help in deciphering records regarding the child. Any information you find on relationships and family events should be recorded on your family tree.

Continue reading “Non-Traditional Family Trees: Adoption in Ancestry”