[jepayton]

After years of hunting I have finally received minimal information on my birth. I was born in Illinois at Salvation Army's Chicago Booth Maternity Home & Hospital on 7/9/68 at 2:33am. I was released six days later to Illinois Children's Home & Aid Society when I was then adopted. My name given at birth was Randall Ray McMeen. If anyone has any information Illinois please let me know.

Thank you!

[SoniaRose]

You're lucky that your bfamily name is not extremely common, so you can check all the people search sites. You can also get a free trial subscription to ancestry.com or possibly access it at your public library. If you know the approximate age of your bmom, you can look at high school yearbooks. Or could McMeen be your bfather's surname?

Best of wishes to you -- good luck!

[jepayton]

Thanks SoniaRose for support! I have checked a few and not much came up. I think it is the birthmom's name, but I don't know. My adoptive parents don't know much either. I'll give a shot at the yearbooks - didn't think of that!

Thanks again!

[SoniaRose]

High schools often keep old copies of their yearbooks in their libraries. Sometimes public libraries have old local yearbooks available for viewing as well. But your search gets harder if your bmom came from a large city with several high schools. Or she could have attended a private school.

It looks like you don't live in the area where you were born. Yearbooks can also be purchased on ebay or other places, but you'd have to be sure of the school, or you'll waste a lot of money.

I've heard that some people email registered members on the classmates site to inquire if a person with a certain name attended their school, but I don't know firsthand.

Maybe now that you have a surname, you can find a search angel to help you. Good luck.

[jepayton]

Yes - you're right...I'm not in the same state any longer. I think that makes it a little harder. But I still have family/friends so maybe they can be my search angels!

Thank you again for all your insight. I was hoping now that I have a surname something may turn up! This was my first spot to throw it out there just in case. Now it is off to another route of searching!

Again thank you!