Birth Mother

This is probably only of interest to me, my children, and further descendants, if any.

I was adopted, and until recently, had no information about my birth parents. Many years ago, my mother gave me the address of the Iowa Children's Home Society, and told me I could write to them for information. If I wanted to know about my birth parents, I should do this soon, because Iowa was about to enact a privacy law which would prohibit the Society from giving out this information. My sister did write to them, and was able to get in touch with her birth parents. I declined to do so, and let the deadline pass. I always felt that my "real" parents were the ones who raised me. However, now that I have become interested in genealogy, I regret that decision. It would be nice to know who my biological parents and ancestors were. I don't even have a real birth certificate, since that would have the parents' names, or at least the mother. All I knew, until recently, was that I was born on 5 Apr 1956, probably somewhere in Iowa.

So I called the Society, and was put on a waiting list. I didn't think they would have much to tell me, even if they ever got back to me, which I doubted. However, several months later, I got a call. The woman on the phone could not give me any specific information, like names and addresses. Below, I will record what she told me.

My birth mother was 16 years old, and living in a foster home, in another state. She had come to Iowa to have the baby (me). The father was someone she only met once. All that is known about him is that he had brown hair, brown eyes, and was 5' 10'' tall.

The birth mother was 5' 3'' tall, with blonde hair, blue eyes and fair complexion. She was a B student, enjoyed English and Biology, and had an IQ of 114. She had no major health problems, except for an appendectomy at age 10, and some hearing problems and ear infections, due to a hole in one eardrum.

I was born at Booth Memorial Hospital (a.k.a. Home for Unwed Mothers), at 2:14 AM, 5 Apr 1956, and weighed 6 lb 11 oz, with height 19 and 1/4 inches. The mother had been pregnant 40 weeks, and had significant morning sickness.

My birth mother's parents had been divorced. I don't know why she was in a foster home. She had not seen her father since she was 2. She thought he might have been Polish, a truck driver. Her mother was Irish and German, with dark brown hair, medium complexion, blue eyes, 5' 2'' tall, stocky.

My birth mother was the youngest of several children. There was a brother who had died in infancy. One brother was a Corporal in the Army, and was a college graduate. Twin sisters had kids of their own: one had two girls, the other had two girls and a boy. Another sister was 5' 10'' and stocky. The next youngest sister was a practical pediatric nurse, and was 5' 2'' with olive complexion.

So it looks like I'm about 1/8 Irish, 1/8 German, 1/4 Polish maybe, and 1/2 unknown.

Going through my parents' belongings, I found the documents related to my adoption. My birth name is Gary Lee Gapinski. So my birth mother's name was probably Gapinski, and she was born around 1939-40, probably in a state adjoining Iowa.

Updated 19 Aug 2020 by William Haloupek. Contact haloupek at gmail dot com.