Chat
|
Daily Search
|
My GenForum
|
Community Standards
|
Terms of Service
|
|
|
Hi Rebecca: because of the naming practices of Scandinavians, which carried over into America briefly, similar surnames do not necessarily mean close family relationships as they might in other European countries. Madsen just means "son of Mads" and Hansen just means "son of Hans" and there were many daughters of as well "Hansdatter" etc. It is known as patronymics and can be confusing if one is not used to it. On the first generation in America, the immigrant usually chose a surname to pass on to his children. It was usually a patronymic such as Hansen etc. but sometimes, it was a matronymic such as Olesdatter. Your ancestors have three patronymic names: Hansen, Madsen and Knudsen. I cannot tell you anything about David Lee Madsen factually, but culturally, the Danes and most Scandinavians did NOT adopt children outside their families. A girl in trouble sought a close relative to raise her child and would adopt the child to them. There is a better than good possiblity that this child, David Lee Madsen, and his biological mother and possibly his father as well, are related by blood to his adoptive parents. So, I would suggest studying the relatives connected to his parents. Scandinavians also married closely, often to 1st cousins, andthey kept extensive families with cousins out to the 2nd degree well known to them. So, the child could have been born to a cousin of the adoptive parents and given to them. The mother may not have stayed in America. Sometimes, the mother's came to America to visit relatives as a cover for the delivery, they would go to a girls home for the birth, and the adoptive parents would pick up the child, a few weeks later, the biological mother would return from her illness and visit a whiile with the baby and adoptive parents, and then return to Scandinavia. You will need inside information to discover his ancestry, so you need to find the descendants of his parents siblings and their cousins and start writing to these people to try and find out if anyone has an oral tradition about an adoptioin that might be your Madsen. Best, Kate
Notify Administrator about this message?
Followups:No followups yet |
| http://genforum.genealogy.com/madsen/messages/321.html | ||
 |
Link to GenForum Add Forum |
|