[WildcatDan]

I have my original last name, my birth mother's complete birthday, my birth grandfather's age and occupation, how many siblings my birth mother had and their ages and the hosptial I was born in.

My thought was to search the obituaries to find my birth grandfather. They usually list the surviving family by name.

Or can I use my birth mother's complete birthday somehow?

What other options do I have? If anyone has a direction for me to pursue, I would greatly appreciate it!!

[Mockingbird]

You can start with "googling" your date of birth--she may be looking for you and if so, that's probably all she has to go on. Try it in different formats (e.g., January 1, 1980; 01/01/1980; 01/01/80; 1-1-80, etc.) Since you have names, you may find something on Zabba. I would say your best bet is if you can get a trial membership to ancestry.com, you may be able to find something with the info you have. If for some reason you are unable to find anything on your own and can't get a trial membership on ancestry, I have a membership and could check it for you. Good luck in your search.

[bakerjw]

Contact the hospital where you were born and ask for a copy of your medical records from your birth. Use your birth name in the letter. I don't think that they are so thorough to lock your medical record because of an adoption. If they ask for ID, give them your current ID. If they ask why the name has changed, tell them that you and your wife flipped a coin and you lost. You then changed your name to your wife's last name when you got married. They should buy that.

With that information, you should get your birth moms first name. I assume that is a missing piece of the puzzle.

You can also check in the legal notice of the papers near where your adoption took place. There can be some good information there as well.

[anneadoptee]

I too had my original surname and what I did was to go to a library that housed old telephone books and looked up the books from the year I was born and looked for her surname in every town in all counties surrounding the town I was born in. This will give you all the possible towns she was from and then you can refine your search from there to local papers looking for other family members with the same surname. Most libraries have all of this on microfilm. Hopefully your original surname is not Smith or Jones.
Anne

[txrnr]

The obit is a great start, as are the other suggestions. I was able to find a city directory from the city I was born in (Indianapolis) and with the last name, birthdate etc.... able to ID everyone in minutes. (I did have a first name for her too, but all the other info confirmed, and made sure it was the right person.) From there, you can check marriage licenses etc... Many of those are online.

[WildcatDan]

I'm going to try sending a letter to the hospital. It's worth the $7 chance that they send me the original.

I'm having trouble with the obits. Is there a good website for that? Or it is better to go to a local library and research in person?