Michigan Ancestry Tracer About US

My name is Carol (Nowak) Bogan. I was born and raised in the City of Detroit, MI In 1987, at the tender age of 39 years and 50 weeks, I discovered I was adopted. Both my adoptive parents were deceased at the time! I "tripped" on the findings when I went to the State Vital Records Clerk in Lansing, Michigan to acquire a certified copy of my birth certificate. I wanted to know the exact time of birth as to when my 40th birthday became totally official.

My quest to find my birth parents was the spark that fired a passion for genealogy. I have been associated with genealogy research for over 15 years. Seven of these years were utilized in locating the birth parents successfully with NO NAMES. I had only clues regarding their age, ethnicity, and other factors known as non- identifying information. Meaning, I could ask general questions them, but nothing specific such as: their names, dates of birth, addresses etc.

Talk about a tough going. I felt like I was searching for a John Jones and Mary Smith, with no date or place of birth, parents names, etc. Driven by the obvious knowledge they definitely existed for me to arrive in this world; but hampered by the WHO and WHERE are they, are they still living, do I have other siblings dilemma? I decided to begin the most important challenge of my life with the knowledge of the odds totally against me.n

I had no idea of the unique journey my life would take from the moment the adoption. was confirmed by a cousin when confronted It took a total of 7 years of very hard work, dead-ends, and beaucracy to finally reach my goal for the truth. I located and met both of biological parents (living in different states). in addition to (3) half-bros, (2) half sisters. and the fact my biological father was adopted also. Life since has been unique and mystic in many ways. It's like "being born" all over again with a new identity. I can defintely say "Life does begin at 40"

The remaining 8 years of my genealogy experience, have been directed toward developing two family surname newsletters, and educating myself thru researching my own family and assisting others for the Michigan Counties l currently list. Experience has been my best teacher in locating public records and resources. It has been a necessary asset in order to gain the most data possible in attempting to reconstruct the "Puzzles of one Past".

Dealing with brick walls and uncooperative City/County Clerks are second nature to me. I do all that I can to keep myself informed of current and future issues relating to genealogy. Newsgroups, mailing lists, on-line subscriptions, On-Line database subscriptions or surfing the web for new and interesting sites. My goal is to gain the best possible results within the limits of record availability and reliabliity. Also, I hope to give insight as to the What, Where, When of their lives and maybe the WHY I just can't find them dilema. I try to treat "your ancestors as if they were my own".