I guess I always knew I was
adopted. My adoptive mom told me when I was very little. When
I was six my adoptive father left us. After that it was just
the two of us. She was the greatest care giver, loving
mother I could have asked for. I couldn't wait to have
my own children to give to her, then we would be a real
family. An extension of myself. I married at 17 and had two
boys. I would also like to add that I was adopted into a very
good family. My aunt was the music writer for the Miami
Herald, my uncle a professor of art for UM. My great Uncle
owned the Miami Herald in the 1930's.
My mother died when I was
38yrs old. I was busy raising the boys with my second husband
and really didn't have too much time to think about my
adoption ( teenagers ) .
When I was about eight I
remember reading a letter from an attorney advising my parents
to come and get their little baby girl. The letter
stated I had been born to a large family. My mother was a
house wife and father was an orange grove foreman. They had
five children and could not afford another, so the adoption. I
believed that for many years. And as I got older It made sense
as Eustis ( the city I was born in) was close to the orange
grove capital of Florida ( Clermont ).
Fast forward to 1991, Kids are
grown and I am on husband number 3 ( husbands are a whole
different chapter ) Paul, my husband, was also adopted. We
decided to send for our non ID information. I was born in
Florida but he had was born in Massachusetts. He received
his information ( the original with names blacked out ) and
found that they had forgot to black out some names.. What
luck, within two hours he had found a brother. The
letter I got from HRS was very condescending. Very little
information, just a lot of BULL about how my mother was
very smart and pretty...I think that's when I got MAD. Imagine
someone who didn't even know her speaking for her, about her,
to me! I wrote back asking for better information and
scolding them for sending such a stupid letter to begin with.
I received a much more informative letter from a different
person within the Florida HRS. Still not much but I realized
the letter I had read so many years ago was bogus. This time
the non ID info advises me that my mother was single, that my
father was either a politician or merchant marine ( that's an opposite
extreme ).
In 1995 my youngest son passed
away leaving me with an emptiness I cannot describe. I have
rewritten this paragraph 4 times so far trying to put
into words how I felt and how it began to effect my search,
for my mother. mother.
I had very little to go on
until I discovered THE INTERNET. It took many searches for
this novice until I realized I was a BLACK MARKET BABY. Now
many registrations and web sites later, and with the help
of many helping hands I know my mothers name and age. I also
realize I am lucky, as so many don't even have that much
information... Still I long to know more, the questions linger
. Is my mother still alive, do I have brothers and sisters ?
All questions that could easily be answered if the State of
Florida would open their records and cooperate.
After all THE STATE OF FLORIDA played a very liable roll
in knowingly allowing records and documents to be
misrepresented . Florida allowed the perpetration of fraud
from the 1930"s through the 1970"s.
I have now once again come to a
dead end. My mothers maiden name ( LANGLEY ) is a very common
name, and 1945 was a very long time ago...But I do know I will
never stop trying to find my birth family.
I can only wonder does anyone
in my family have red hair, blue eyes, light freckles and
sensitive skin ? And a big toe bigger than big?
Nancy Baker Danahy
