Family history - this cant be solved can it?

[marriageoffigaro]

My aunt has asked me to help her with her my uncle’s family history .

He was adopted in 1940 ... I have a copy of his birth certificate, his mother’s name, father omitted, and the name of mother and baby home he was born in . That’s all . She wants me to help her find out who his mother was, if he had siblings etc . It’s not a common name here but I think where he was born, it would have been .

I’m right in assuming this isn’t solvable aren’t I? I can’t ask for his adoption records as he has children of his own so they’re NOK, there’s also a 100 year shut on most things ...

Is there anything I can try, or best just explaining to aunt it’s beyond what I can do?

Are you in the uk. The salvation army assist reunite siblings after adoption. It's not clear from your op if your uncle is still alive or not?

He’s not, no. He passed away just a couple of years ago sadly . I suspect any siblings are probably gone too but not sure . Depends how old his mother was I guess, I’ve no idea .

Is your uncle alive? If so, doing a genetic test and putting the results online can find relations who have also put their results online.

So your aunt is his wife? What is it that she want to know or is she just curious?

You could look for his mother on the 1939 register.

It could be possible, but it's a lot of work (and you may not feel it's sensible to try).

Is there any more you can work out? Anything you know about your uncle's adoptive family? What month was he adopted, where? Does the mother and baby home have an archive of any kind (they might have mementos left for babies who went on to be adopted)?

Try testing with ancestry.com and 23andme. You may get a close match.

There's a family history board on MN - maybe ask MNHQ to move your post there?

Try searching for the mothers name on freeBMD - she may have married and if you can find that, then freeBMD allows you to search for births with the husband's surname and the mother's maiden name. You might be able to find half-siblings that way.

Depends on many factors. You may be able to track the mother if her name is not too common, adoption records can be requested if they still exist and one of his children doing a dna test could help as well. It is possible but may take time.

Am I reading this right? It's your aunt's husband so not genetically related to you or anyone you know of?
So that rules out any DNA testing.
It's going to be tricky if all you have is a name. It's possible she wasn't local to the home either.

The NOK can include his wife too AFAIK. I have researched my grandfather's war records (Obvs not in the same league as adoption) on behalf of grandma and NOK included her as the wife as long as I provided a copy of the marriage certificate.
This might be a path you can explore?

Search mother's name in1939 census or 1929 census.

We have found new family members through the 23& me and ancestry route. Worth doing both of those

If your uncle is alive and can DNA test at AncestryDNA first it is solvable. It may take time & need professional expertise but both parents can be identified unless he’s a minority ethnicity.