Who am I and why did I not exist

[suemillie]

I have returned to genealogy after many years of fruitless searching for an elusive birth record of my father.  He was placed into an orphanage between birth 1918 and 1923 however there are no Government records – that I have managed to locate – of him being placed or paid to be in there, yet according to the history of this orphanage – Willard in Palmerston North, only urgent cases of destitute or parentless babies/children were placed there.  He never knew the identity of his parents and there is no birth registration in his name.   

How can a baby/toddler be placed into care and then on a farm as a helper later in life, but not be in any official records?  I know things were covered up by certain people in those days, however I am sure he must be registered somewhere if he had no parents around him, and being in care for 14 years.

He may have been in another orphanage or home, possible in Palmerston North, between 1918 and 1923 however still no records that can be found.

Has anyone had the experience of finding that a child could be just ‘renamed’ after birth and put into an orphanage by a concerned person?  He has always assumed he was illegitimate however there must be records somewhere.   

Any suggestions please?

Sue

[RajahNZ]

Sue, 
The child may have been registered as 'unnamed male' and later registered under the name he is known by.
He would have attended a school and it should be possible to view, or obtain, information that was given when he was admitted to a school.  Many NZ libraries and branches of NZ Genealogy Society may be able to help with this.
Happy hunting
RajahNZ

[minniehaha]

Hello Sue and welcome to Rootschat........

With the wealth of experience that a number of Rootschatters have, I'm sure some help will be provided to sort out this conundrum.

In the meantime just to clarify the situation, I'm guessing your father is still alive?

Minniehaha.

[suemillie]

Hi,  Unfortunately dad died many years ago, I was unable to find his parents before he died. 
I have all the records from his school and just says care of orphanage.  Tried looking under "unnamed male" but nothing obvious. 

cheers

[minniehaha]

Hi Sue,

Would you have a problem providing your father's name on this forum? Quite understand if you would rather not but by doing so, it might provide the "leg up" needed to set the ball rolling.........


Minniehaha.

[Billyblue]

The name you know him by may not be the name he was registered with.

This especially happens in adoptions, and even sometimes with children placed in care.

Dawn M

[suemillie]

Hi Minniehaha

No problem - his name is John "Jack" Gray.  Supposedly born 10.06.1918.  Unfortunately such a common name doesn't help.  I am convinced he was registered however no idea as who.  Even in 1918 it would have been difficult to have not registered a birth.  He may have been put up for adoption and it fell through but he should still  be in some sort of legal documents if this was the case.

Sue

[minniehaha]

Hi Sue,

And could you provide his date and place of death too, please? Any "crumbs" of information like this could be helpful............

Minniehaha.

[minniehaha]

On the NZ BDM website index there is the death of:

Jack John GRAY died 1994, D.O.B. 10.6.1918. Your dad?

His birth will not appear on the index until 2018.

This will require a search of the birth indexes on fiche............


Minniehaha.