Tag: Edie Madway

Adam Madway’s Family

While Adam and I are biologically the same person, I do not identify as myself as Adam, so going forward Adam will be referenced in the 3rd person whereas any first person references will be related to Michael.  Below are a couple of photos generously provided to me by Bill Madway, Adam’s uncle via Facebook.  In the first photo below from the 1960’s are, going from left to right, Adam’s grandparents Edith (died August 3, 2007) and Pete (October 29, 1926- July 7, 2000), Seth is in the front, Bill behind him and Wendy (1951-2010) to the right.  While I will have to see if my parents still have physical photos of me as a child (some of my grade school years is posted on Facebook), there is a very strong resemblance when looking at Wendy as well as Seth.  The photo was taken in Levittown, PA in front of their home.  The 2nd photo is from about twenty years ago (so late 90’s one would presume).  It shows from front to back and left to right Adam’s cousins Arial and Tori (sorry, unsure which is which), their mother Wendy (Seth’s wife, Adam’s aunt), Adam’s cousin David (Bill’s son), Seth (Adam’s uncle), Edith and Pete who are Adam’s grandparents (shoot that explains the receding hairline that I have), Bill, Adam’s other uncle, Wendy who is Adam’s mother and Megan (Bill’s wife and Adam’s aunt).  Below that, I may have found an even older photo of Adam’s grandfather.  Also included is a brief video of Adam’s aunt and uncle talking about their best Jewish moments. If all goes as planned, I will have a phone conversation this Saturday, so stay tuned for more on this ever unfolding story.


Call Me Adam?

Some of what I am about to explain is fact, while some of it is interpolation.

Wendy L. Wood (nee Madway), age 58, passed away on January 21, 2010.  She was an administrator for the New Jersey State Tax Department who resided in Levittown, Pennsylvania.  Sister of Bill (Megan) Madway of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Seth (Wendy) Madway of Rochester, New York.  Wendy was born in Pennsylvania.

Approximately 35 years earlier a 20-year-old Wendy Madway, who by then had attended two years of college, went to the Helene Fuld Hospital in Trenton, NJ.  At around 7:55 AM on a late winter’s morning, she gave birth to a healthy 5 lb. 15 oz. baby, whom she named Adam.  Dr. James A Gribbin assisted with the caesarian birth on that day after the Ides of March.

Being unmarried, Wendy gave up young Adam Madway for adoption.  Approximately three months later Adam, known as Baby M, was adopted by Kenneth and Carol Bernstein and renamed Michael P. Bernstein.

On March 7, 2017 Michael remembered that a law was passed unsealing the original birth certificates of adopted children, which can be used for informational purposes only.  Under this law, an almost 45-year-old man, filled out the form from the Office of Vital Statistics, provided two forms of identification, and a processing fee of $25.

March 29, 2017, Michael decides to check his mail early in the morning.  Included amongst the junk mail was a photo copy of his original, thought to never be seen, birth certificate.  While he now knows the name of his mother, the father, as listed on the certificate, is unknown.  That may be a mystery that is never solved.

Michael, once, even if briefly, known as Adam, did not find photos of the late Wendy L. Wood, but did find photos and even a video of what is presumed to be his biological uncles as well as, through marriage the other Wendy Madway.  Adam/Michael apparently does not have any siblings but has at least two female cousins through Seth and Wendy and at least one male cousin through Bill Madway.

It doesn’t change a thing (click the link) for Michael.  His parents who he loves, and loves him will always be Kenneth and Carol, but it does solve an enduring mystery about his early life.

I called my parents and essentially read them this post.  They were supportive and happy for me.  They always were in favor of me looking for my biological family and filling in some of that mystery.  It could not have gone any better.

[pdf-embedder url=”https://starthan.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Adam-Madway-Birth-Certificate.compressed.pdf” title=”Adam Madway Birth Certificate.compressed”]