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Late 19th and early 20th century adoptions in the US

My great-grandmother, Zula May, was adopted by the Goodrich family in Minnesota when she was a few years old. All of my family records indicate that she was born in New York City, but I don't know how much faith to place in that information.

Can anyone provide me with resources for researching adoptions from that era? I'd love to find any clues as to her actual heritage.

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Permalink Reply by Sheila Riedy on August 7, 2017 at 12:52pm

By now you may have found this info. She could have been one of the "orphan train" children. They were mostly born in NYC and were placed with children's asylums. They were then "placed out" to be adopted or indentured to families in different parts of the country. I believe Minnesota was one of the sates. To find out if she was, you could write:

New York Foundling Hospital

Record Information Department

ATTN: Yvonne Wintz

590 Avenue of the Americas

New York, New York 10011

I am doing the same thing as I try to find out the ethnic origins of my grandfather, Edward A. Terriss (Teraskiewski Edward Alphonsus Terasavage) and Edward A, Terriss. He was adopted in 1900 or 1901 in Shamoken, PA.

Late 19th and early 20th century adoptions in the US

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