Today my family received letters and old belongs of my Great-Grandmother, one of the letters is from the agency which handled her adoption in 1908. She tells about how the agency has no records of her birth family except the name of her mother, which in those days was no help to my great grandmother in trying to find her family. She grew up in a foster home, which eventually decided to adopt her into the family changing her name from Ethal Wessel to Ethal Langfried. As the long letter continues it speak about her adoptive mother:
“I did notice a letter among the files stating that Mrs. Langfried was not kind to you, but it seems that the inquiry could not establish the truth of the statement. However disappointing this letter may be to you, let me state, that after all is said and done, your life is your very own to make out of it what you plan and what you really intend it should be. Whatever training you have had in the past is entirely aside from the influences of your natural mother. The opportunities and your own determination have made you what you are, and the only suggestion that I can make is that you devote yourself to your home, your husband, and family as well as your intimate friends with a firm determination to make the very best of your own life.”
While only few people will ever read this letter or understand its meaning and how much of an impact it must have been on my Great-Grandmother, I have certainly learned from it.
