I have never met my biological parents. According to my birth certificate they were Leonard MacLean and Betty Irwin MacLean. I was born Feb. 3, 1953 in NYC. My father was from Mass. and appearently served in the armed forces during the Korean war. I was taken from my mother without her full concent and raised under another name. I am extremely curious about my family tree. Any help would be greatlyfully appreciated.

I am also searching for information on my aunt, Betty Irwin. She may have been about the right age to have a child at your birth. My father, Charles H. Irwin was Betty Irwin's oldest brother. The family broke up in the mid forties when Dora Vaughn Irwin died. Betty and the other 7 children were seperated and sent to foster homes. Please let me know if you have any other information about her family and I will try and match with what I have.
Thanks,
Charlotte Rangi

Hi Charlotte,

Since I never met my parents I have only very limited information. All I know is that Betty Irwin was married to Leonard MacLean of Mass. around 1950, that he was a piolt in the Air Force and that he died around the end of January 1953 just a couple of weeks before my birth. The last I checked Betty Irwin was still alive and living around 86th Street In Manhattan NYC, NY. She gave birth to me in Bellvue Hospital in NYC. There she was told by a nurse that I had died and I was illegally palced with another family. I'll go through my records again in case I missed something that may be important to you.

regards,
Doug

Thanks - I probably have the wrong Betty Irwin. My understanding from other family memebers is that the one I am looking for was living in the Pittsburgh area in the mid 70's and she wanted no contact with any of her family. Good luck in your search.

Hi Doug,

Please contact me direct, my cousin is searching for his birth mother and father, her name was Betty and the father was in the service of some kind, he was born Aug.24, 1952 and given to another family too. Conctact me at: Doe1419@aol.com

Hi Douglas. I know you asked your questions about 8 years ago. But, because we can now look up census information, I thought I would offer some for you as an FYI.

In 1920, there were well over 500 IRWIN's in NY State and about 300 of them were in NYC. Well over 100 in Manhattan and over 100 in Brooklyn.

And, there were over 160 MacLEAN's in MA in 1920. And, there was a Leonard MacLEAN living in Wakefield, MA, that year. But he and his wife were in their 40's and no children were mentioned.

Betty (near Lowell, MA)


P.S. I knew an IRWIN family in Winchester and Arlington, MA, in the 1940's and 1950's. They were part of a large IRWIN family which arrived in the US in the mid-1800's.

The 2 brothers living on adjoining farms in Winchester had many children. I don't know anything about there children - maybe 15 in total.