Elinor Jean Dempster

[Kathy2001]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for help in tracing the Birthmother of Elinor Jean Dempster, Elinor was born 1st September 1917, Glasgow.  The problem I have is that she was adopted  shortly after her birth....I am not sure if Dempster was her adopted name or her Birthmother's name ?

Elinor Died on the 12 April 1998, 26 Orchard street, Grangemouth, Sterling.

Can anyone tell me who I should contact regarding adoptions?

Kind regards, Kathy

[hume]

Hi Kathy,

I have tried ScotlandsPeople but I don't see Elinor's birth or death record there. Do you know if she married?

hume

[Kathy2001]

Hi Hume,

I would imagine she married at some point in time!  All I do know is that she was born in 1917 and adopted by Moses Miller Dempster and his wife Jean Clark Dempster (nee Scobbie ).  I'm not even sure if Elinor Jean Dempster was her Birth name or her adopted name?

Elinor had a Daughter called Ann Dempster, Glasgow.....unfortunately she was also adopted, so I can only assume she was unmarried at that time,   Ann's Adopted parent's emigrated to Canada shortly after everthing was legalised!  Hope this helps

I would appreciate it if you could help me

Moderator's Comment: details of possibly living people removed.

[hume]

Hi Kathy,

A rather late marriage for Elinor ... she married Jeremiah McIntosh Campbell in 1973 at Larbert (very near to Grangemouth). He was born 1923 in Alloa (again, not far from either place) and died 1980 in Falkirk.

It seems at that point she was still using her adopted parents' names. There is no birth certificate using that name though and I don't think official adoption did not come into place in Scotland until the mid-20s or so. Before then, it was mostly carried out through different groups or even just between family/friends.

Elinor's death entry is just as Eleanor Campbell, died 1998 aged 80 in Grangemouth. There is no maiden name on the index which suggests her parents are not mentioned at all on the certificate. It may be worth ordering this certificate (and the marriage) for more information.

http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

hume

[eilthireach]

Up until 1930 adoptions in Scotland were arranged privately. There was no formal legal procedure to go through in order to arrange an adoption, and as you will see from the website of the National Archives of Scotland (http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/adoptions.asp) access to the records is forbidden (not even the staff of the National Archives of Scotland may consult the records) except for the individual concerned or a person or adoption organization or social worker authorized by the individual concerned .... however, all of this is beside the point, as your individual was adopted privately and there would be no legal record of the event ...
The Birthlink service (http://www.birthlink.org.uk) helps people who have been adopted who have a Scottish connection to reconnect. They may be able to help you, or advise you, but, I suspect, only if you had a provable direct connection to the individual. They have what looks like a useful list of books and resources listed on their website at (http://www.birthlink.org.uk/documents.htm) and other useful resources (organisations and other websites) http://www.birthlink.org.uk/links.htm).
See also the General Register Office for Scotland's page on the subject (http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/regscot/adoption.html)

You say Elinor was adopted by Moses and Jean Dempster. She bore their surname and it could well be that they gave her her first and middle names, so you have no way of knowing what (if any) name she was given by her birth mother, and perhaps even the date of birth is not her real date of birth ... it probably is, but don't rely on that! I checked on ScotlandsPeople to see whether she was born to her mother before her mother married (i.e., checked for the birth of an Elinor Scobbie/Scobie) but nothing came up. The "adoption" could have been that the mother had a child before marriage and the father agreed to adopt the child and bring it up as his own.

[LAandJA]

 Hello All,
  It is interesting that I have not had any notice of this conversation, as I had started it about Anne KERR and Elinor DEMPSTER. I am not sure how this works, perhaps you just have to keep coming back and checking. I have clicked on Notify me of replies.
  The only thing that we do know, was that you have the correct person and death for Elinor DEMPSTER, and on her father's death notice in 1940,  of Moses DEMPSTER she was the informant, named Elinor DEMPSTER, daughter, but was not adopted legally till 1945. We do know that she had an illegitmate child in 1946, and so may be perhaps the reasoning for the late adoption, or perhaps it had something to do with Moses DEMPSTER's will or her mother's wishes. Not sure as we have no details about this. 
  I would love to send a private message with a lot more details on this DEMPSTER and KERR families, in the hopes that others might be able to help.
 Thanks so much for the interest,
Judy Anderson (helping Janna Erickson and Donald Ashley KERR) about Ann DEMPSTER later named KERR.

South Surrey, B.C. Canada

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