New York Information
It must be kept in mind that the indexes available through LDS (Latter Day Saints Church) only go up to 1965. But if one can get to the NYPL on 42nd street there are more recent indexes available.
Get a copy of your birthcertificate. This will undoubtedly be your "amended" certificate with your adoptive name. Request the LONG certificate as it gives a bit more information.When requesting your birthcertificate from New York, always request the long form, not the short one, The short form will not give you all the information you are looking for. The long form will give you Hospital, sometimes Weight, Hour of Birth, and possibly more information on Birthparents. Also, if you have your Birthparents' names, send for the long form using your Birthname, their Names, City and State. Someone may miss that it is an adoptee's birthcertificate and send the original. It's worth a try!
If you were born in NYC or any of its 5 boros, and located in NYC, you can do the following.
HOW TO FIND YOUR BIRTH NAME AT THE N.Y. PUBLIC LIBRARY or LDS Family History Center
l. On your amended bc, find the number in the upper right hand corner. It should look something like this: 146-67-105231
2. Take the third group of numbers, in the sample number, 105231. Remove the first number from this group. The number you now have is 05231. This is the number that corresponds with your original birth record in the birth index for the city of N. Y You see, when you were born, the N. Y. City Dept. of Health issued a bc, as > the law requires. When you were adopted the health dept. created a new, > so-called "amended" birth certificate and sealed the old one in a vault in Albany. The number on your amended birth certificate has these five digits in common with the original bc. These five numbers are the indelible fingerprint of your original bc.
3. Go to the N. Y. Public Library main branch (the one with the lions, at 42nd St. and Fifth Ave., head up to the 3rd floor and ask for the genealogy room. Register at the desk and request the birth index for the City of N. Y. for the year you were born. They will ask whether you want both volumes. The answer is yes. Most have 2. The first is like A through L., the 2nd is M-Z. They will not ask you what you are looking for and don't mention adoption. If they suggest you look at microfilm tell them no. It's harder to scan and may be missing pages. Stick with the books. The birth index lists every child born in N. Y. City for that year, in alphabetical order by the child's last name. The child's name is listed last name first, then first name. The info shown in the books varies by year, but you'll usually find the child's birth date, sex, borough birth took place in, and of course, the NUMBER! (the books for 1968 and '69 even show the names of birthmother and birthfather). Matching the number is the real proof that you have the right name. It takes a long time to scan the books and it's incredibly tedious. Having a person to help is a real plus! You'll figure out your own method, but scanning by birth date is the one I usually go by, switching occasionally to the number. If you do have a person helping you, and you have non-identifying info about your birthparents that leads you to believe that they were, for instance, Irish, you could have your friend scan the birth index for names typically from that ethnic group.
That should help you get your birth surname. I have done this several times. It is a tedious job, but if you are lucky your surname might start with the first few letters of the alphabet and not a w,x,y,z. (This doesn't work 100% of the time - much depends on how soon after birth you were adopted. But for the lack of any other means of finding your surname it is worth the effort -)NOTE: THE 5 BOROS USE THE SAME NUMBERS SO BE SURE YOU HAVE THE CORRECT COUNTY OPPOSITE YOUR BC NUMBER LISTED.
Since I don't know where you are located...
If you can not get to the birth index records at the NY Public Library, try finding the nearest LDS Family History Center FamilySearch - Family History Centers http://www.familysearch.org/Search/searchfhc2.asp
They can get the birth index on microfiche for any year up to 1965. (anything later than that is available at the library only) Go in person and order the birth index for $3.50 and when it arrives they will call you. You have several weeks then to go thru the index at their center.
