I started this research after both my Mom & Dad passed away. Mom and Dad relayed some of this information, but most was determined by questioning of long lost relatives and/or research. Dad was raised under a different name, Paul Pettigrew, than he was given at birth. He was named William Oliver Hatcher by his parents William Madison Hatcher & Lydia Caroline McAndrews. She died one month after he was born. He was taken to live with his maternal grandmother Alice Jane, who had married a Tommy Pettigrew. He was never legally adopted but was raised as if he was their birth child. When he was sixteen, his brother Homer Hatcher told him who his birth parents were. He apparently was very angry that no one had ever told him and he left the Pettigrew home at that time.
Later in life after raising 4 birth children, my husband & I adopted 2 children, ages 8 and 6. Dealing with the problems and issues facing adoptive children, I started thinking about the feelings of loss that come with not knowing your blood roots, and decided to try to find out about Dad's birth family. We were named Pettigrew, but I would always think that there was no blood link to that name, so who and what was our blood lineage history. It has been so amazing finding information and pictures of people that actually resembled our family. It has become a whole new world, and now when I think about Dad, I can picture his past as a real person in my mind. I still have no pictures of Dad as a child, his dad, or his mother in my collection, but hopefully, someone will share with me.
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