Got into a long discussion with my mother last night about ancestory with adoptions stepping in the middle. The long and short of it is, my bio father left my mother before I was born, she remarried and her husband adopted me as his own. He, in turn, had his father leave his mother at the age of 2, and was adopted by his mothers second husband as a teenager. So, when doing ancestory research, we wind up with a nice mixture due to the adoptions, so wind up with "adopted trees" as well as "blood trees." So, last night we got to discussing my fathers bio maternal grandfather, James Otway, and his heritage. To me, it was facinating to hear, and read, of his ancestory (well documented, surprisingly) and knowing that while I was not of blood, I was family that was chosen to join. To me, his daughter, my grandmother Muriel, was Grandma, and nothing else. So despite having nearly no contact with my biological family, and no knowledge of their ancestory beyond my bio grandparents, I still find myself with a rich family tree.

So, I am curious what the rest of you think of adoption, does it mean as much as blood when doing ancestor research?