Seeking records to determine if a grandmother is my biological grandmother

Dear Ms. Keathley,

Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

The Federal Government does not ordinarily create or maintain birth, adoption, death, marriage or divorce records. Such records are made and kept by State and local governments rather than the National Archives.  We suggest that you contact the Office of Vital Records for the state in which they resided or the appropriate State archives or historical society to request a search for the birth, adoption, marriage, or death records of your ancestor in order to determine their parentage.   We also suggest that you contact the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county the adoption took place for early adoption records, which may be contained in probate records and guardianship records.

To narrow your search for a location, we searched the National Archives Catalog and located the Population Schedules for the 1900 Census, and the Population Schedules for the 1910 Census, the Population Schedules for the 1920 Census, the Population Schedules for the 1930 Census, and  the Population Schedules for the 1940 Census in the Records of the Bureau of the Census (Record Group 29) that may contain information about the residence of your ancestor.  Some of these schedules have been digitized in part.  The 1940 Census  schedules are digitized and available using the Catalog. See NARA’s 1940 Census Records web page for more information. For access to the non-digitized schedules, please contact the National Archives at Washington, DC - Textual Reference (RDT1) via email at archives1reference@nara.gov. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and pursuant to guidance received from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), NARA has adjusted its normal operations to balance the need of completing its mission-critical work while also adhering to the recommended social distancing for the safety of NARA staff. As a result of this re-prioritization of activities, you may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgement as well as a substantive response to your reference request from RDT1. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience.

For information about the U.S. Census, see the Census Bureau technical documentation and questionnaires.

You may wish to search Ancestry.com or FamilySearch.org for the U.S. Census. There may be a fee for using Ancestry. Instead, check for access at your local library as many library systems subscribe to these sites, making them free for their patrons.

In addition, the FamilySearch Research wikis for United States Vital Records and United States Adoption Research may be useful.  

We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your family research!