Could my dad be adopted via family

[ariela75]

Hi, I have been doing a lot of research into my family tree and I have a suspicion that my dad could have been adopted within his family.  Unfortunately my dad passed in 2019 and I can no longer ask, however when I did mention anything about his ancestor's he would get tetchy.  My mum has also passed so I can't even ask her if my dad mentioned anything.

My suspicions started when I noticed that out of all his siblings (there were 6) he was the only one to have a middle name he was the 5th born and also his 1st name wasn't a family name.  I know this because I have researched back 5 generations from me and not one single blood relation is called Angus.  His 2 older brothers were called after their father and maternal GF & his younger brother was named after their parental GF.  His 2 sisters both older than him were called after their 2 maternal GM's.

So my dad's 1st name was Angus and his middle name was Rennie, then his surname.  Now when I was doing my research I came across the marriage of my GM's Aunt who married a guy called Angus Rennie.  I can't seem to find any children of that marriage.  Now this is where I get confused because I can understand possibly my GM calling my dad Angus or even Rennie as a middle name, but to call her child Angus Rennie which is the full name of her uncle by marriage doesn't make sense. It was also unusual for working class families to have middle names.  The uncle was still alive and didn't die until the 1970's, so it's not as if they did it because he had passed away.

Now it gets a wee bit more interesting because my dad use to tell the story of his mum leaving him in hospital for 18 months after pulling down a pot of boiling water onto himself when he was around 2, he did have slight healed burn marks on one of his arms.  But even still would a mother leave her child for 18 months in hospital?  It just doesn't make sense. 

His birth Certificate does note my GM & GF as his parents but I am also aware that records weren't adverse to being modified.

I am probably looking too much into it, however I was wondering if there are more experienced researchers who could shed some light onto the regularity of adoptions within families and whether I am just looking for excitement in an otherwise very boring lot of ancestors 

Many thanks

Ariela

[Rena]

I'm researching ancestry from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.   I don't find it strange that a child should carry the name of a man who could not have children of his own.  My own grandfather carried the name of a childess father (Andrew Stephenson Dalglish).  Strangely coincidental is the fact that the original "Andrew Stephenson" didn't have a son named after him and his name was carried on by a friend with the surname "Dalglish".  The "Dalglish" friend never had a son and thus asked my gt.grandfather to name a boy in his favour, hence the long name A.S.D.Crum.

My OH has ancestors that had so many children that most of them were named after childhood friends.  I'm surprised you don't think working class people could name a child after a person who didn't share family genes.  Have you thought that many couples named a child after their family doctor who saved the life of a child, or the family vicar/priest/padre?

[Ayashi]

In the past it was fairly common to honour someone by using their surname as a middle name, or even full name as first/middle names, especially the maiden surname of the mother. My family was common as muck on all sides and they did this regularly. The fact that he has a middle name and his siblings don't doesn't matter so much when the whole given name is a mark of respect. That's not to say you are wrong in your suspicions, but it could simply be that for some reason they did name their biological son after this man. It could be because they liked him, it could be because they were hoping for some favours or inheritance from him (especially since, as you say, he had no children of his own).

As for the hospital anecdote... Who knows. Perhaps she left him 'in good hands' while she looked after the household, her husband and another five children. Perhaps she was given advice from the medical staff about how to behave (I've heard lots of stories of well intentioned people being less than sympathetic when it came to mothers and children). Perhaps she didn't have the maternal instinct one would expect (no offence to her).

Of course, should you decided to pursue an ancestral DNA test in the future, this should clear up easily especially given how closely related the question is. If you find matches to both your grandmother and grandfather's sides of the family, it would seem likely he was their biological child after all. If not... you might be able to work out who in the family you are or are not related to and draw whatever conclusions from that.

[Kiltpin]

Is it not possible that your grandmother and Angus Rennie had an affair? Calling the child after their lover was done often enough by unmarried mothers. 

Regards 

Chas

[ariela75]

Is it not possible that your grandmother and Angus Rennie had an affair? Calling the child after their lover was done often enough by unmarried mothers. 

Regards 

Chas

Hi my Grandmother was married and I do believe that my dad is either the biological son of my GM & GF or is the son of my GM Aunt & her husband who was adopted by my GM & GF.  The affair did cross my mind but I ruled that out once I found the marriage of my GM Aunt to Angus Rennie.

[brigidmac]

What were the ages of your great aunt and Angus RENNIE when your father was born how long had they been married ...were they richer than your grandparents ?

Were they godparents ?

Any of the above answers  would lend credence to being named after him because of admiration ..knowing they were childless or in hope of future inheritance .
Did Angus RENNIE Leave a will .

What reasons could an otherwise childless couple have for adopting their baby out to another family member  .

As mentioned DNA would prove his origins one way or another especially if you have cousins who test too

[ariela75]

In the past it was fairly common to honour someone by using their surname as a middle name, or even full name as first/middle names, especially the maiden surname of the mother. My family was common as muck on all sides and they did this regularly. The fact that he has a middle name and his siblings don't doesn't matter so much when the whole given name is a mark of respect. That's not to say you are wrong in your suspicions, but it could simply be that for some reason they did name their biological son after this man. It could be because they liked him, it could be because they were hoping for some favours or inheritance from him (especially since, as you say, he had no children of his own).

As for the hospital anecdote... Who knows. Perhaps she left him 'in good hands' while she looked after the household, her husband and another five children. Perhaps she was given advice from the medical staff about how to behave (I've heard lots of stories of well intentioned people being less than sympathetic when it came to mothers and children). Perhaps she didn't have the maternal instinct one would expect (no offence to her).

Of course, should you decided to pursue an ancestral DNA test in the future, this should clear up easily especially given how closely related the question is. If you find matches to both your grandmother and grandfather's sides of the family, it would seem likely he was their biological child after all. If not... you might be able to work out who in the family you are or are not related to and draw whatever conclusions from that.

Thank you for your reply and what you said could be true, however why choose my dad when they had another son 2 yrs prior to my dad, I am still not convinced that it is because they were childless  because he had a sister and my GM had sister's too.  I could understand if it was say one of my dad's uncles but it was his great uncle by marriage.  Rennie wasn't the maiden name of my GM it was Percival. 

I have already done an ancestral DNA test and this is one of the reasons why I think my dad may have been adopted within the family.  All my ancestors prior to my GM & GF were from Ireland on my dad's side and all of my mums prior ancestors bar one was from Scotland especially the Highlands, but when the DNA results came back it stated I was 70% English and 28% Irish & 1.1% Italian.  I really thought it would be the other way round as there was an ancestor from England on my mums side.  I have submitted my DNA to another Company who goes further back and I am waiting on the results back from them.  I am aware that if my brother gets a DNA ancestry test his results won't be the same as we take bits from each parent. Unfortunately all my Aunts & Uncles have passed.  All of my Cousins bar 3 have passed of which one was adopted and I don't have contact with the other 2, so I don't think I can go down that route of comparing ancestral DNA with my cousins.

It may just be something that I will just have to accept especially if my further research doesn't bring anything more to light.

[brigidmac]

Even if close relatives haven't tested you can see your matches to distant relatives .

Have you used the colour code system to group your matches yet . Find the surnames of Angus RENNIE s mother and grandmother's and do a name search for matches connected to them ...after you've name searched all your own ggparents surnames  from your tree .

[ariela75]

What were the ages of your great aunt and Angus RENNIE when your father was born how long had they been married ...were they richer than your grandparents ?

Were they godparents ?

Any of the above answers  would lend credence to being named after him because of admiration ..knowing they were childless or in hope of future inheritance .
Did Angus RENNIE Leave a will .

What reasons could an otherwise childless couple have for adopting their baby out to another family member  .

As mentioned DNA would prove his origins one way or another especially if you have cousins who test too

Hi I have checked and Angus Rennie didn't leave a Will, also on the 1911 census he was a Carter in the shipyard which I understand wasn't a high paid job.  At the time of my dad's birth Angus Rennie would have been 54 & my GM Aunt would have been 49 & they had been married for 29yrs. 

How would I find out if they were my dad's Godparent's?

A reason could be that my GM Aunt was an older mother and in 1941 died of cancer at the age of 54, it isn't unheard of women who haven't had children to become pregnant before the menopause.  Maybe she was diagnosed a couple of years after my dad was born hence why he was then adopted within the family rather than outwith the family.

I am probably looking more into it than I should.  I do wish I had delved into my family history while the majority of my dads family was alive, however I am the youngest cousin with my brother at 59 being the 2nd youngest, so all my cousins were a lot older than me.  I may try and contact my cousin who was adopted into the family as her dad, my uncle was the closest sibling to my dad so she might know something.