Quote:
Originally posted by Taualumna
OK, but what about this. Say your family has had a long history of DAR membership. You marry, but you find out that you and your husband can't have kids, so you adopt. You don't know the little girl's family history, so she can't be a member. End of linage in your family (or at least your branch), unless she marries a guy who can trace his family back.
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Re: DAR/lineage societies. Very good question, and one I am working with right now because adoption is an option my husband and I are considering at this moment.
To be totally honest, I do not have an answer--at least for myself. When I have one, I'll post it. As you can imagine, adoption is a very personal process, so the answers you get from different people will all vary and I won't try to speak for anyone else.
Re: family histories in general. I just PMed a part of this to someone else so I'll repost the bulk of it.
Family history is not *only* about direct lineage. Family history is also about your racial/ethnic heritage. Most importantly (IMHO) it is about how you find your place in the world via your parents, siblings, or other relatives, including adoptive ones. The story of how and why a person is adopted can be a more inspirational story than some family lineages. It can also be a powerful footprint in history itself. Since the advent of international and interracial adoptions, a family history of an adopted child can be a living representation of socio-political changes in their lifetime, and they can be a personal witness to it. That's every bit as powerful as a person's claim of descent from......(inset historical figure here.) In lineage societies, we remember history through ancestors. But adoptive families MAKE that history, here and now.
My matron-of-honor (straight German descent) just adopted two boys (ages 3 and 5) of Brazillian descent. No big deal for her - she has two Korean brothers and sisters. I learned the above from their continuing example.
So, that's my short story made long and MHO on the topic.
Adrienne
