Born In New Orleans

It’s pretty exciting to log into Ancestry and to find a new 2nd cousin! Yay! I sent a message… and waited… and waited… I got a message back.  The message was not from the DNA tester herself, but someone who is helping her out.  I found out this new cousin was adopted as well.  I immediately got a little down but at the same time I accepted the challenge.  This adopted cousin was born in Texas and the laws over there are a bit different than Louisiana.

After comparing our Ancestry matches and finding that my mom and her both have multiple cousins with Kunz ancestors – that got me a little excited but a little disappointed.  Have I  mentioned how complicated the Kunz family is?   I have a family tree of over 4000 people and it seems like almost everyone I look at is somehow related to a Kunz.

Texas Live Birth Index

On Ancestry, I searched the Texas Birth Index hoping to find something that stuck out but I found this adoptee’s adopted name.  I remembered seeing someone mention a live birth index for Texas on the search squad Facebook page.

I go over there and asked about the live birth index and one search angel comes back and says,  “Yes! I have that registry” With just telling her the adoptee’s adopted name, she came back with 3 possible birth mothers. Location+Date+unnamed baby = possible adoption.  Not only did she provide the birth mother’s name, she also gave the corresponding birth certificate # which should match the amended birth certificate#.

Adopted Cousin Found a Match

The adopted cousin found that one of the three birth certificate numbers matched hers! She now has a name for her birth mother.  I wish my mom’s case were this easy..

Plus, she has a 3rd cousin that has ancestors with the same last name as her mother’s last name.  Wow.

I hope you understand, I keep posts like this very vague to protect the privacy of my mom’s cousins. This blog is about my mom’s search and her bio family but I was just so excited.. I had to post this. <3

We have yet to actually find her birth mother but I’m not pushing it The adopted cousin has some good info to go on but I can imagine how it would be a little nerve racking to move to the next step.  Just by talking with other adoptees and talking to my mom, many adoptees struggle with their curiosity of who their bio parents are.  Many are VERY happy with their adopted families and sometimes feel guilty about wanting to know more about their bio parents. There is a lot of emotion to to work through.  At this stage – having a name and a 3rd cousin – this is so very doable. But like I said, so many emotions.  You have to be ready for anything.

Expect the worst and hope for the best.