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LaBadie, Florence, 1888 or 1893-1917
Also known as Florence Russ
Canadian-American actress

LaBadie was born Florence Russ in New York (sources differ about the date). She was adopted by a prominent Canadian(?) attorney and his European wife, and raised in Canada and the USA. She began acting in 1908 on the stage, but in 1909 she started in films, with In the Window Recess. She acted for Biograph and Edwin Thanhouser. Other films included Cinderella, Crossed Wires, Petticoat Camp, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Star of Bethlehem. During World War I she became an active campaigner for peace, traveling the country with a stereopticon slide show of photographs of the front taken by a young soldier. She was also an accomplished musician, artist, dancer, poet and athlete. She died of septicemia, following a car accident in which her pelvis was fractured. [Last updated: 15 May 1998]
References:
1. Macmillan International Film Encyclopedia. New edition, edited by Ephraim Katz. (London: Macmillan, 1994)
2. Bowers, Q. David. "La Badie, Florence." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.teleport.com/~tco/people/labadief.htm [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Laborteaux, Patrick, 1965-
Laborteaux, Matthew, 1966-
American actors

The Laborteaux brothers are both adopted (I have no confirmation, but I believe they are also birth brothers). They have appeared together, but also have extensive separate careers in television and films. Together they both acted in the Little House on the Prairie series: Patrick played Andy Garvey from 1977 to 1981 and Matthew played Albert Quinn Ingalls (an adopted character) from 1978 to 1982. Patrick's credits also include: The Last Frontier, JAG, A Father for Charlie, Spider-Man, National Lampoon's Last Resort, Ninjas, Ghoulies, Ski School, Heathers, Summer School, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Terminal Entry, The Comedy Company, Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy, Captains and the Kings, Mame, and Only with Married Men. Matthew's other credits include: The Last to Go, Deadly Friend, Shattered Spirits, Whiz Kids, The Aliens Are Coming, Killing Stone, King of the Gypsies, A Circle of Children, Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo, and A Woman under the Influence. [Last updated: 4 June 1999]
References:
1. Trenta, Alex, et al. "Trek to the Stars: Little House Nitpickers Guild: General Nitpicks." Available at: http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/5812/lh-nitgeneral.htm [Last visited: 7 June 1999]

La Marr, Barbara, 1896-1926
Also known as Reatha Watson, Barbara Lytell, Barbara Converse, Barbara Ainesworth, Barbara La Marr Deely and Barbara Dougherty
American actress and screenwriter

La Marr was born Reatha Watson in central Washington state, but her parents moved to California when she was very young. She left home at the age of 14 and never returned, making a living as a burlesque dancer until she was arrested for underage dancing. During her court appearance she was spotted by a journalist, Adela Rogers St. John, who took her under her wing and introduced her to other reporters and other, more respectable, aspects of show business. She wanted to be a screenwriter but her great beauty made others push her in front of the camera. She began acting in 1920 and made 30 films by 1925. Her frenetic lifestyle (five husbands and numerous lovers) led to a breakdown in health (including drug addiction, alcoholism and tuberculosis) and she died young. She left a young son by her last husband, who was adopted by her friends, actress ZaSu Pitts and Tom Gallery. [Last updated: 3 April 1998]
References:
1. Macmillan International Film Encyclopedia. New edition, edited by Ephraim Katz. (London: Macmillan, 1994)
2. MacIntyre, Diane. "Barbara La Marr." Available at: http://www.mdle.com/ClassicFilms/FeaturedStar/perfor78.htm [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
3. "Silent Ladies Photos of ..." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://silent-movies.com/Ladies/OSL5.html [Last visited: 21 June 1999]

Langston, John Mercer, 1829-97
African-American politician, diplomat and educator

Langston was born free, the son of a freed slave and a plantation owner, but he was orphaned by the age of five. He was then raised in both white and Black families and was well educated at private schools. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Oberlin College and became, after Frederick Douglass, the most prominent Black abolitionist and civil rights activist in the country. He became the first known African-American ever elected to public office, when he was elected township clerk of Brownhelm, Ohio in 1855. He recruited Black soldiers for the Union Army during the Civil War and campaigned for their equal treatment. He spent six years at Howard University, as law professor, dean, vice-president and acting president, but was fired by the trustees because of his progressive views - the entire law faculty then resigned in protest; and he was the first president of what is now Virginia State University. He was a diplomat in Haiti for eight years and then was elected to Congress from Virginia, but the election was contested and he resigned after three months. The village of Langston, Oklahoma and Langston University are named after him. [Last updated: 20 November 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. "John Mercer Langston." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://160.79.207.23/blackhistory/fnjmlangst.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
3. "John Mercer Langston (1829-1897)." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.oberlin.edu/~EOG/OYTT-images/JMLangston.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Lapotaire, Jane, 1944-
British actress

Lapotaire was born to an unmarried woman and an unknown father and was a long-term foster child with an English widow, who had been her own birth mother's foster mother, from babyhood to 1957, when she went to her mother and step-father in Libya. "I have a lot of compassion for my natural mother, but my foster mother was the one who was there when I needed her. There comes a time when you have to admit you are your own person, and nothing you are, or do, can be blamed on your parents" (Telegraph Magazine, 10 April 1993). Her credits include Shadowlands, Surviving Picasso, Eureka, The Asphyx, Murder by Moonlight, Seal Morning, Lady Jane, Spirit of the Dead, The Dark Angel, and Piaf. [Last updated: 5 September 1999]
References:
1. "Kindred Spirits," Telegraph Magazine [London], 10 April 1993, p. 10
2. Who's Who, 1997
3. Lapotaire, Jane. Grace and Favour. (London: Pan, Macmillan, 1990)
4. "Surviving Picasso: About the Cast." Available at: http://www.movies.warnerbros.com/picasso/cmp/cast.html#lapotaire [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Lau Ka-Fai, see: Liu, Gordon

Lauliwasikau, see: Tenskwatawa

Lear, Frances, 1923?-96
American feminist publisher

Lear was born to an unmarried teenager and relinquished for adoption. Her adoptive mother was cold and cruel and her father, whom she loved, died when she was 10. Her step-father sexually abused her and tried to murder her when she disclosed the abuse. She married Norman Lear, a television producer (All in the Family), but they divorced after 28 years. She used part of her divorce settlement to found and publish the influential feminist women's magazine, Lear's Magazine, from 1988 to 1993. [Last updated: 27 April 1998]
References:
1. Lear, Frances. The Second Seduction. (Chatto, 1992)
2. Koenig, Rhoda. "Queen Lear," Sunday Times [London], 28 June 1992, p.6/5
3. "Oliver, Myrna. "Frances Lear, Founder of Lear's Magazine, Dies at 73," Los Angeles Times, 30 September 1996. Also Available at: http://www.wcinet.com/th/News/1996/th1002/stories/28231.htm [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Lebensborn, see: Nazi Germany

Lee, George P., 1943-
Also known as Ashkii Hoyani
Navajo (Native American) religious leader

Lee was the first Native American to become a general authority of the Mormon (Latter-Day Saints) church. He was born to a traditional (non-Christian) Navajo family, one of 17 children. He became a nominal Mormon when he was sent to a US Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school, registered there as a Mormon simply because the white trader who "recruited" him was one. At age 12 he was fostered by a Mormon family in Utah, where he stayed for several years, seeing his birth family in the summers. He was an excellent student and a devout Mormon, graduated from Brigham Young University and got a Ph.D. from Utah State University. He became a teacher and later president of a college, and has held many honors and scholarships. In 1975 he was appointed to the First Quorum of the Seventy and a general authority (roughly equivalent to an archbishop in the Catholic church), but in 1989 he was removed from office and excommunicated for apostasy and unbecoming conduct, including alleged child sexual abuse - but possibly really for questioning the leadership's position on the rôle of Native Americans in the church. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Hirschfelder, Arlene, & Molin, Paulette. Encyclopedia of Native American Religions: An Introduction. (New York: Facts on File, 1992)
2. Lee, George P. Silent Courage: An Indian Story: The Autobiography of George P. Lee, a Navajo. (Salt Lake City: Deseret, 1987)
3. Tanner, Jerald, & Tanner, Sandra. "Mormonism's Problem with Child Sexual Abuse: The Fall of George P. Lee." Available at: http://www.xmission.com/~country/reason/nov96_2.htm [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Lee, John Doyle, 1812-77
American religious leader

Doyle was born in the Illinois Territory, His mother died when he was three, and his father was an alcoholic. At seven he went to live with an uncle's family, and stayed with them until he was sixteen. In 1837 he and his wife were converted to the new Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), and this soon became the driving force, in his life. They moved to a Mormon settlement in Missouri and he was drawn into the Danite Band, the Mormon self-defense militia, as well as being promoted within the church's religious system. From 1939 to 1944 he was a missionary, and then became a guard of the prophet Joseph Smith's home. Smith's martyrdom in 1844 strengthened Lee's commitment. He took another five wives following the 1843 promulgation of the doctrine of plural marriage, and was part of the flight to Winter Quarters and then to Utah. He played a major role in settling the Utah lands and in the process became a prosperous farmer and businessman, with church mining, milling and manufacturing enterprises under his direction. He was a local bishop and US Indian agent to the Paiute people. In 1857 the US government attempted to crush the growing economic and political power of the Mormons in Utah. Lee led a band of Mormon militia who ambushed and massacred 120 non-Mormon immigrants, suspecting them of anti-Mormon hostility - the Mountain Meadows Massacre, although Lee blamed the Paiute tribe. The next 20 years became increasingly difficult, as he lost the support of the church's leaders and his neighbors, and he was exiled and excommunicated by Brigham Young in 1870. Illness and bad weather also contributed to his decline, and in 1874 he was finally arrested for his part in the massacre. His first trial resulted in a hung jury, but he was convicted in the second, and he was executed at Mountain Meadows, still professing his innocence.
Lee was the second of 38 men sealed to Brigham Young in an early Mormon form of adult adoption. In turn, Lee had 18 or 19 such sealed sons, including George Laub (Lee), W.R. Owens (Lee), Miles Anderson (Lee), James Pace (Lee), Allen Weeks (Lee) and William Swap (Lee). [Last updated: 24 November 1998]
References:
1. Brooks, Juanita. John Doyle Lee: Zealot, Pioneer, Builder, Scapegoat. (Logan: Utah State University Press, 1992)
2. Lee, John D. Mormonism Unveiled; or, The Life and Confessions of the Late Mormon Biship John D. Lee .... (St. Louis: Bryan Brand, 1877)
3. Lee, John D. Journal of John D. Lee, 1846-47 and 1859, edited by Charles Kelly. (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1984)
4. Haymond, Jay M. "John D. Lee." Available at: http://www.media.utah.edu/ucme/UCMEFRAMES/l/LEE,JOHN.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Lehmann, Henry, ca. 1859-?
American captive

Leitch, David, 1937-
British journalist

Lennon, John Winston, 1940-80
British-American musician

Lennon's parents, Alfred and Julia Lennon, divorced when he was three. From the age of five, after a failed attempt by his father to restart the marriage, and unwanted in the new family of his mother and step-father, he was raised by his Aunt Mimi and Uncle George, who were childless. His sister was adopted by another family and she did not trace him until 1996. His Uncle George died suddenly when he was 12 and Lennon's behavior deteriorated. Lennon had a difficult time at school and was often in trouble with the headmaster; he and friends also stole from shops and threw stones at trains. He formed a skiffle band, The Quarrymen, in 1955. In 1956 he entered Liverpool Art College (he was expelled in 1960) and discovered rock 'n' roll music. He met Paul McCartney in 1957, who introduced him to George Harrison. The band evolved into The Beatles (via Johnny and the Moondogs and The Silver Beetles), Ringo Starr joined the group in 1962, and the rest is musical and cultural history. He was awarded an MBE but returned it in 1969 in protest at government policies over Nigeria and Vitenam. He was murdered by a deranged fan on a New York street, outside his apartment house. [Last updated: 20 November 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Coleman, Ray. Lennon: The Definitive Biography. (New York: HarperPerennial, 1992)
3. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
4. The Guardian [London], 25 August 1998
5. Daily Mail [London], 25 and 26 August 1998
6. "J O H N _ L E N N O N." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/6367/members.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Leonowens, Anna Harriette, 1834-1914
Also known as Anna Harriette Crawford
Welsh-Canadian educator and author

Lester, Katherine, see: Quinn, Katherine DeMille

Lewis, Monsignor David
Welsh-Italian Catholic priest

Canon Lewis is the priest in charge of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, one of the most important churches of the Roman Catholic church, and has raised over £4,000,000 for its restoration. He spent his entire childhood from the age of six months in a Protestant orphanage in Bridgend, Glamorganshire. He was the subject of a program on the Welsh-language television channel S4C. [Last updated: 24 November 1997]
References:
1. Keenan, Niall. "Roman Holiday." Available at: http://www.wykehamist.oaktree.co.uk/1995Jun/Rome.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Lewis, Nelly Parke Custis, see: Custis, George Washington Parke

Lhamo Dhondrub, see: Dalai Lamas

Li Lu, 1965-
Chinese dissident

Li Lu was one of the leaders of the Chinese student democracy movement which culminated in the Tienanmen Square Massacre. His parents were victims of the Cultural Revolution: when he was a baby they were sent to labor camps and he was fostered by a succession of families for a few years, until he wound up in a state orphanage. He was then adopted, but in 1976 his adoptive family was wiped out in an earthquake and he was homeless for a year. During the democracy demonstrations he was married in Tiananmen Square. After the massacre he escaped first to France and then to the USA where he was a student at Columbia University, receiving his bachelor's, master's and doctor's degrees all on the same day. A film, Moving the Mountain, based on his autobiography, has been made about his life. [Last updated: 25 November 1997]
References:
1. Lu Li. Moving the Mountain: My Life in China from the Cultural Revolution to Tiananmen Square. (London: Macmillan, 1990)
2. "Drama of Li Lu's Life Recounted in Documentary Film," Columbia University Record, 20(26) (28 April 1995). Also Available at: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/record2026.17.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Li Peng, 1928-
Prime minister of China

Li, an ethnic Hakka, was born the son of Li Shixun and Zhoa Juntao, friends of Zhou Enlai and his wife, Deng Yingchao. His father, who like Zhou and Deng was a Communist revolutionary, was killed by the Nationalists in 1931, and Li was adopted by Zhou and Deng. He joined the party in 1945. He studied hydroelectric engineering at the Moscow Power Institute for six years and was chairman of the Chinese student association in the USSR. From 1955 through 1966 he worked at state power companies in northeast China. During the Great Cultural Revolution starting in 1966, he was deputy director and then director of the Beijing Electric Power Administration. Named to the party's Central Committee in 1982, he became a deputy premier the following year. In 1985, he was elected a member of the Politburo and the party's Secretariat. He became China's fourth premier in 1988. But in 1990, he lost control of economic policy to Zhu Rongji. He is widely regarded as unpopular and is blamed for the crackdown on the Student Democracy Movement which resulted in the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. [Last updated: 16 February 1998]
References:
1. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
2. Chung Yoon-Ngan. "Li Peng, the Hakka Premier of China." Available at: http://www.asiawind.com/pub/forum/fhakka/mhonarc/msg00385.html [Last visited: 21 June 1999]
3. Inside China Today. "Biographies of Prominent Chinese Leaders." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.insidechina.com/china/bio/biolead.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Lifton, Betty Jean
American author and therapist

Lin Huoping, 1880-1950
Chinese Christian preacher and political activist

Lin was born to a poor family in Fuzhou, who, unable to feed her, sold her as a slave. She was later sold on, to a wealthier merchant, as an adoptive daughter. He recognized her intellectual promise and had her educated at the Chinese Western Girls School in Shanghai, where she came under the influence of Christians. She wished to become a doctor and study in the USA but her family forced her into an arranged marriage to a Christian instead. The marriage turned out happy and she had nine children, one of whom, Watchman Nee (Ni Shuzu), became a major figure in the evangelization of China and the growth of the unofficial and persecuted house church movement. While a wife and mother Lin became active in the Kuomintang movement as a political organizer and agitator, formed the Women's Patriotic Society, and was awarded the Order of the Second Class by the government. In 1919 she became a committed Christian and an active evangelist, simultaneously scaling down her political activity. Watchman converted very soon after, and mother and son often preached together in the surrounding villages. [Last updated: 5 June 1998]
References:
1. Kinnear, Angus I. Against the Tide: The Story of Watchman Nee
2. Roberts, Dana. Understanding Watchman Nee. (Plainfield: Haven Books, 1980)
3. McCallum, Dennis H. "Watchman Nee and the House Church Movement in China." Available at: http://halite.westal.com/webstuff/wnee.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Linkletter, Art, 1912-
Also known as Arthur Gordon Kelly
Canadian-American broadcaster

Linkletter was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. He was abandoned by his parents as a child and adopted by an elderly couple who were itinerant evangelists. After several years they settled in San Diego, California, where he was raised in a retirement home. He has hosted a number of popular radio and television programs, such as Art Linkletter's House Party, The Linkletter Show and Kids Say the Darndest Things, mostly in the 1940s-60s. In his 80s, he still skis, surfs and swims, and is on the board of trustees of the University of California at Los Angeles Center on Aging, and chairman of the board of the John Douglas French Foundation for Alzheimer's Disease. [Last updated: 23 January 1998]
References:
1. Linkletter, Art, and Bishop, George Victor. I Didn't Do It Alone: The Autobiography of Art Linkletter. (Ottawa: Caroline House, 1980)
2. DeLong, Tomas A. Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960. (Jefferson: McFarland, 1996)
3. Evans, Melissa. "Lifestyle Is Better Than Any Medicine," The Daily Aztec, 13 May 1997. Also Available at: http://www.sdsu.edu/daztec/archive/1997/05/13/file001.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Liotta, Ray, 1955-
American actor

Lipman, Steve, see: Wyatt, Steve

List, Liesbeth, 1941-
Also known as Elisabeth Driessen
Dutch singer

List was born Elisabeth Driessen in a prison camp in Japanese-occupied Indonesia. Her mother died in 1945 and she and her father returned to the Netherlands where he remarried, but his new wife and Elisabeth did not get along with each other and she was fostered by another family from the age of seven. She call this her "salvation" - her father and step-mother emigrated to South Africa and their children have all had difficult lives. She specializes in French chansons and the songs of Mikis Theodorakis and has been called the grande dame de chanson. [Last updated: 25 November 1997]
References:
1. "Liesbeth List." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.iaehv.nl/users/vdmark/listbio.htm [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Little, Malcolm, see: X, Malcolm

Little Assiniboine, see: Jumping Bull

Little Bear Woman, see: Slocum, Frances

Little House on the Prairie, 1974-83

The American television series Little House on the Prairie, first broadcast 1974-83, was a remarkable nexus tying together a number of people in this list of famous adoptees. The author of the books on which the series was based, Laura Ingalls Wilder, was a [probably unofficial] adoptive parent of two men: Roger Lea MacBride (who also edited and wrote later books in the series) and Rexh Meta. MacBride himself was also an adoptive parent. Of the actors in the series, at least four are definitely or possibly adoptees: Melissa Gilbert, her brother Jonathan, and the brothers Patrick and Matthew Laborteaux. This is in addition to at least two story lines in the series which involve adoption. [Last updated: 28 June 1999]
References:
1. Trenta, Alex, et al. "Trek to the Stars: Little House Nitpickers Guild: General Nitpicks." Available at: http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/5812/lh-nitgeneral.htm [Last visited: 7 June 1999]
2. "Little House on The Prairie." Available at: http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/9348/little_house.htm [Last visited: 7 July 1999]

Little Richard, 1932 or 35-
Also known as Richard Wayne Penniman
African-American musician and clergyman

Little Richard was born into a family of 12 children, the son of a bartender and Seventh-Day Adventist minister in Macon, Georgia. He left home at 13 because his family could not tolerate his homosexuality, and was adopted by Ann and Johnny Johnson, a white family who ran the Tick Tock club, where he had already been performing. In 1956 he recorded his first hit record, "Tutti Frutti," and went on to make many more hits. He appeared in several movies in 1956 and 1957 but then quit music to study for the ministry. He was ordained into the Seventh-Day Adventist ministry in 1961 but in 1964 he returned to music. His career has switched several more times between the church and music. His singing style has been highly influential on both Black and white singers, including Wilson Pickett, Brown, James, Paul McCartney and David Bowie. [Last updated: 26 February 1999]
References:
1. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
2. White, Charles. The Life and Times of Little Richard: The Quasar of Rock. Updated edition. (New York: Da Capo Press, 1994)
3. Guinness Book of Rock Stars, edited by Dafydd Rees and Luke Crampton. 2nd edition (Enfield: Guinness Publishing, 1991)
4. Reijola, Timo(?). "Little Richard News Home." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.kolumbus.fi/timrei/lrbio.htm [Last visited: 4 September 1999]

Little Sun, Roy
Native American(?) ufologist
Also known as Roy Steevensz

Little Sun is the adopted son of a Hopi religious elder, Grandfather Titus. His position in the community is ambiguous. He claims to be a religious leader, but this is rejected by traditionalist Hopi, who accuse him of bringing the Hopi into disrepute and of misusing their religious traditions for his own purposes. He is part of a pan-tribal group combining elements of Native American religion, New-Age philosophy and a belief in extra-terrestrial visitations. The group convened a meeting, the Star Knowledge Conference, on the Yankton Sioux reservation in South Dakota in June 1996 to announce the fulfilment of a number of prophecies from different traditional societies and to reveal hitherto undisclosed Native American teachings about previous and imminent visits from extra-terrestrials. Little Sun was one of the speakers at the conference, claiming to speak on behalf of Grandfather Titus.
But according to a press release from the Hopi Hotevilla Wiwimkyam Assembly of 2 April 1997, Little Sun is a non-Hopi, misrepresenting himself as having the elders' authority to speak and solicit funds on their behalf, and people are urged to boycott him and others like him. He has been expelled from the community by a tribal ordinance. (It should be remembered that the Hopi are among the few tribes which have fairly successfully resisted the influence of white America, and that traditional Hopi religion has always flourished, where almost all other Native American religions are struggling to survive.) [Last updated: 23 January 1998]
References:
1. Boylan, Richard. "Report on the Star Knowledge Conference, South Dakota, June 12-16, 1996." Available at: http://www2.eu.spiritweb.org/Spirit/star-knowledge-conf-06-1996.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999] and many other sites
2. "Issues - Press Releases from Hotevilla Priesthood Assembly." Available at: http://www.infomagic.com/~hoatvela/issues.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Little Tree, see: Carter, Forrest

Liu Jiahui, see: Liu, Gordon

Liu, Gordon, ca. 1952-
Also known as Liu Jiahui and Lau Ka-Fai
Hong Kong actor

Liu is one of the most famous actors in Hong Kong kung fu movies, appearing in at least 47 films from 1974 to 1994, including Heroes from the East, My Young Auntie, Shaolin Challenges Ninja, Master Killers, Challenge of the Master, Legendary Weapons of Kung Fu, Master of Disaster, Return of Master Killer, Shaolin Martial Arts, The Last Hero in China, Instructors of Death, and 4 Assassins, and has also appeared in television soap operas. His character is usually a monk. He is the adoptive brother of actor-director Liu Jialiang. According to the Sheila Farmer website cited below, Gordon was a student at the kung fu gymnasium run by his future adoptive brother, when Liu Jialiang's mother decided to adopt him. [Last updated: 26 February 1999]
References:
1. Pattison, Barrie. "China Watching" Cinema Papers, (August 1996). Also Available at: http://egret0.stanford.edu/hk/articles/chinawatch.html [Last visited: 28 June 1999]
2. "Black Belt Theater: Gordon Liu." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Lot/6686/gordon_liu.html [Last visited: 28 June 1999]
3. Farmer, Sheila(?). "Mantis Fist G's Kung Fu Movies Website." Available at: http://freespace.virgin.net/sheila.farmer/kfmp.htm [Last visited: 28 June 1999]

Llewellen, Frederick, see: Bartholomew, Freddie

Lloyd, Ellis, 1879-1939
Welsh journalist, novelist, coroner and MP

Lloyd Jones, Michael, see: Mici Plwm

Loge, François de, see: Villon, François

Loki Mo Keen, see: Mo Keen, Loki

Chief Lone Wolf II was named Momaday when he was born. He grew up as the best friend of Tau ah kia, the son of the hereditary chief of the Kiowa, Lone Wolf I. In late 1873 Tau ah kia was killed by US Cavalry soldiers in a battle, and his body was retrieved and buried by Momaday, who announced the death to the chief. Early the next year there was a revenge party, at which he was adopted by Lone Wolf I to replace Tau ah kia and given the name Lone Wolf. In 1879 he succeeded to the chieftanship. In 1901 he tried unsuccessfully to prevent the exile of his people to the Oklahoma Territory, and when he died the lands of the Kiowa, once covering Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and part of Mexico, had been reduced to 160 acres per person. He was the adoptive father of Delos Knowles Lonewolf. [Last updated: 20 December 1997]
References:
1. Clark, Blue. Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock: Treaty Rights and Indian Law at the End of the Nineteenth Century. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994)
2. "Kiowa: Lone Wolf II." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/1263/itkiowa.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Lonewolf, Delos Knowles, 1870-1945
Kiowa (Native American) minister

When Lonewolf's father, Black Turtle, died, he was adopted by his uncle, Chief Lone Wolf II, also an adoptee. At a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school he became a famous football fullback and was an active Methodist. He interpreted for Lone Wolf II in Washington, DC, in treaty negotiations with the government. In 1923 he became one of the first Kiowas to be licensed as a preacher for the Methodist church. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Hirschfelder, Arlene, & Molin, Paulette. Encyclopedia of Native American Religions: An Introduction. (New York: Facts on File, 1992)

Long, Sylvester, see: Long Lance, Buffalo Child

Long Lance, Buffalo Child, 1890/1-1932
Also known as Sylvester Long
African-Native American-Canadian actor, journalist and imposter

Long Lance (born Sylvester Long) claimed to be a Blackfeet or Blackfeet-Cherokee chief. In fact he was almost certainly not a Blackfeet at all, but rather of mixed ancestry, including African-American, white, and possibly Catawba and Lumbee. The rest of his family identified themselves as African American, but young Sylvester always thought of himself as a Native American. When he was 12 he left home to join a wild west show. He attended the US Bureau of Indian Affairs school at Carlisle from the age of 18 (registering as a Cherokee), graduating top of his class in 1912, and then attended Dickinson College for a year. He served in the Canadian army during World War I, then settled in Calgary, where he worked as a journalist, writing many stories about the Native Canadians of the western provinces. He was adopted as a chief by the Blood tribe (a branch of the Blackfeet) in 1922. Also in 1922, after he set off a crude bomb - possibly only as a prank - in the mayor's office, he was fired, and moved to Vancouver and Winnipeg, before returning to the USA. He was also prominent as a photographer and film actor (The Silent Enemy, 1930). His claim to be a Blackfeet has parallels to those of Forrest Carter (Little Tree) and Archibald Furmage (Grey Owl). He committed suicide in 1932 as rumors about his real origins began to circulate. [Last updated: 23 May 1999]
References:
1. Long Lance, Buffalo Child. Long Lance. (1928, repr. Jackson: Banner Books, 1995)
2. Smith, Donald B. Long Lance: The True Story of an Impostor. (Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1982); the film Long Lance (1986) is based on this book
3. Glenbow Library. "This Week in Western Candian History: March 15-March 21." Available at: http://www.glenbow.org/libhtm/mar15.htm [Last visited: 4 June 1999]
4. Ruoff, A. LaVonne Brown. "Western American Indian Writers, 1854-1960." Available at: http://www.tcu.edu/depts/prs/amwest/html/wl1038.html [Last visited: 4 June 1999]

Lopez, Charlotte Anne, 1976-
Puerto Rican-American beauty queen

Louganis, Gregory E., 1960-
American diver and actor

Louganis is of Samoan-Swedish ancestry and was adopted when a few months old by a white couple who also adopted another child. He began competitive diving when he was 10. He had a troubled time as a teenager with drink and drugs and found diving an outlet which he could practice alone. He won a silver medal in the 1976 Olympics, the 1982 World Championship, Olympic gold medals in springboard and platform diving in 1984 and 1988, the 1987 Pan-American gold medal in both events, and retired in 1989 having won 47 national championships as well. He is acknowledged to be the best diver in history. Since retiring from diving he has begun an acting career. He is also dyslexic, gay and HIV+. Contrary to one source (Kehoe, below), he does not stutter. [Last updated: 6 August 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Who's Who in America, 1996
3. Louganis, Greg, & Marcus, Eric. Breaking the Surface. (New York: Plume, 1996). Also available as a VHS cassette (1997)
4. Milton, Joyce, & Marchesi, Stephen. Greg Louganis: Diving for Gold. (New York: Random House, 1989) (Step-Up Books)
5. "Louganis, Greg," Current Biography Yearbook, 1984
6. "Greg Louganis - the Home Page." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.louganis.com/ [Last visited: 5 August 1999]
7. Kehoe, Thomas David. "Famous People Who Stutter." [from Stuttering: Science, Therapy & Practice (1977)?]. Available at: http://casafuturatech.com/Book/Practice/famous.html [Last visited: 5 August 1999]
8. Reibstein, Larry. "Public Glory, Secret Agony," Newsweek, 6 March 1995. Also available at: http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/1635/gltxt12.html [Last visited: 6 August 1999]
9. Personal correspondence

Loxterkamp, David
American physician

Lu, Li, see: Li Lu

Lucullus Marcus Terentius Varro, see: Rome

Luksanniemi Devil, see: Foyster, Adelaide

Lytell, Barbara, see: La Marr, Barbara

Mabo, Edward Koiki (Eddie), 1936-92
Australian Torres Strait Islander activist

Mabo was born in the Murray Islands, north of Australia. His mother died in childbirth, and according to tribal custom he was adopted by his paternal uncle and aunt. As an adult he worked as a fisherman, canecutter, railway laborer, gardener-groundsman, vocational officer and community arts liaison officer. He established Australia's first Aboriginal-run community school. But he will be remembered primarily for the landmark legal challenge he initiated, Mabo and others v State of Queensland. It lasted from 1982 to 1992 (six months after his death) and resulted in the overthrow of the 205-year-old legal doctrine of terra nullius. This doctrine held that native Australians and Islanders had no legal land rights, and had been the basis for the wholesale expropriation of their land by white settlers. In 1993 he was named Australian of the Year by The Australian newspaper. [Last updated: 5 June 1998]
References:
1. Loos, Noel, & Mabo, Koiki. Edward Koiki Mabo: His Life and Struggle For Land Rights. (St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1996)
2. Guilliatt, Richard. "The Man Who Changed Australia," The Sydney Morning Herald, 23 August 1997
3. National Library of Australia. "MS 8822: Papers of Edward Koiki Mabo (1936-1992)." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.nla.gov.au/1/ms/find_aids/8822.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Mabon mab Modron
Welsh traditional figure

McArthur, James
American actor

MacBride, Roger Lea, 1929-95
American author, lawyer and politician

MacBride is described in several sources as the "adoptive" grandson or great-grandson of Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957), author of the Little House series of semi-autobiographical children's books. He was the son of Burt MacBride, an editor of the Reader's Digest during the time when Wilder's eldest daughter, Rose, wrote for the magazine, and his father introduced him to her when he was a teenager. The two became close friends in spite of the age difference (Rose Wilder was born in 1886), and he called her "grandma" and he referred to Rose in an interview as "my adopted grandmother." I can find no evidence of a formal adoption, but after MacBride graduated from Harvard Law School (1954) he became her lawyer and was appointed her literary heir. After Rose's death in 1968 MacBride took up the series of books started by Laura, editing family letters and manuscripts and contributing extensions of the family saga from Rose's point of view on his own. He was responsible for The First Four Years, West from Home, Little House on Rocky Ridge, Little Farm in the Ozarks, In the Land of the Big Red Apple, On the Banks of the Bayou, On the Other Side of the Hill, Little Town in the Ozarks, and New Dawn on Rocky Ridge. He was also a politician, elected to the Vermont state legislature in 1962 (Republican), and he also ran for president in 1976 on the Libertarian Party ticket, receiving about 175,000 votes. His presidential race was financed from Little House royalties. He wrote on government and politics as well. He and his wife, Susan, were also adoptive parents.
In addition to MacBride, Rose Wilder also informally adopted an Albanian boy, Rexh Meta, who had saved her life on a trip to that country, and financed his later education in the USA. [Last updated: 26 February 1999]
References:
1. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
2. Contemporary Authors
3. Irby, Rebecca LeeAnne, & Greetham, Phil. "Rose Wilder Lane." Available at: http://webpages.marshall.edu/~irby1/laura/rose.html [Last visited: 12 August 1999]
4. "Roger MacBride [Obituary]," Libertarian News (April 1995), also Available at: http://www.lp.org/lpn/9504-MacBride.html [Last visited: 12 August 1999]

McCarthy, Mary Therese, 1912-89
American author

McCartney, Heather, 1963-
Also known as Heather See
American-British potter and designer

McCartney was born to Linda and Melville See in Arizona. Her parents divorced after 18 months and after raising Heather on her own for several years her mother married Paul McCartney of the Beatles in 1969, when she was five, and she was then formally adopted by him. She is a prominent British potter and designer, with exhibitions in New York, Phoenix, Tokyo, Paris and Sydney, and she has been described by Wedgwood as "one of Britain's most exciting new talents." In her twenties she was hospitalized in a clinic for treatment of an emotional disorder. She shares her late photographer mother's interests in ecology, animal rights and native peoples. [Last updated: 16 April 1999]
References:
1. Taylor, Noreen. "The Next Famous McCartney." [interview]. Available at: http://www.jibboo.com/beatles/listclub/heathermac.txt [Last visited: 11 October 1999]
2. "Heather McCartney Interview!" Available at: http://www.jibboo.com/beatlekidsbb?_beatlekids/0000017d.htm [Last visited: 11 October 1999] (Originally published in The Daily Telegraph [London] and republished in the Daily Mirror [London])

McDaid, Desmond, 1944-
Australian businessman

McDaid was the son of a single mother in Ireland, who had to leave him in an orphanage when he was two. He stayed in Irish orphanages until he was nine, when he was shipped, without his mother's knowledge or consent, to Australia as one of the Child Migrants. He spent the rest of his childhood in institutions, often physically and emotionally abused. He was apprenticed to a tool-maker and eventually owned his own tool-sharpening company. With the help of the Child Migrants' Trust he was reunited with his mother in about 1992. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Humphreys, Margaret. Empty Cradles. New edition. (London: Corgi Books, 1995)

Mackenzie, Richard
British golf caddie

McKenzie, Richard B., 1942-
American economist

McKenzie's mother committed suicide and his alcoholic father was unable to care for him, so he was placed in the Barium Springs Home for Children in North Carolina at the age of 10. He remembers his time there as happy and stable, if lacking personal, parental love. But there was no personal, parental love in his prior life either, and he and his fellows were glad of the opportunity to make a fresh start in a supportive, nurturing environment. Most of the children went on to university and successful adult lives. McKenzie himself is Walter B. Gerken Professor of Enterprise and Society in the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Irvine, and married with children. His book, The Home, and other papers, make a cogent case for the reinstatement of good orphanages as an alternative for some children from dysfunctional homes. [Last updated: 24 November 1998]
References:
1. McKenzie, Richard B. The Home: A Memoir of Growing Up in an Orphanage. (New York: Basic Books, 1996)
2. "Richard B. McKenzie: Curriculum Vita." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.gsm.uci.edu/~mckenzie/vita.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

MacMahon, Rebecca Sara, see: Gilbert, Sara

McManus, Brian, see: Connolly, Brian

"McNab, Andy" (pseudonym)
British soldier

McNab was a foundling, left on the steps of Guy's Hospital in a carrier bag. He was fostered throughout his childhood and entered the army after leaving school early, a spell of short, dead-end jobs and some trouble with the police. He eventually joined the SAS, although he failed the entrance tests the first time, and was the leader of Bravo Two Zero patrol during the Gulf War. He wrote a best-selling account of that patrol and has also published his autobiography. His real (adoptive) name is still kept secret because of his SAS membership. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. McNab, Andy. Immediate Action. (several editions, including audio cassette)
2. McNab, Andy. Bravo Two Zero. (several editions, including audio cassette)

Maconaquah, see: Slocum, Frances

McPherson, Newton Leroy, see: Gingrich, Newton Leroy

McQueen, Steve, 1930-80
American actor

Steve McQueen's father abandoned the family in Indiana when he was less than a year old. His mother then gave him into the care of an uncle, a farmer in Missouri, where he lived until he was 12. He then lived with his mother in Los Angeles, where he began to get into trouble with the law. Eventually in 1944 his mother sent him to Boys Republic in Chino, a private residential treatment center for troubled boys (not a reform school or borstal, as is sometimes stated). He stayed at Boys Republic for 18 months and was always grateful for its help in turning him around. (He frequently visited it after he became famous, and left it $200,000 in his will.) He joined his mother in New York, but the reunion was not successful and he briefly worked in the merchant navy before jumping ship in Cuba. He held various odd jobs until he was 17, when he joined the US Marines. After the Marines he again held a succession of odd jobs until he started acting school, where he soon showed the talent which eventually made him one of the most famous and highly-paid actors in the world. [Last updated: 6 August 1999]
References:
1. Terrill, Marshall. Steve McQueen: Portrait of an American Rebel. (New York: D.I. Fine, 1994)
2. Toffel, Neile McQueen. My Husband, My Friend: A Memoir. (New York: Atheneum, 1986)
3. Spiegel, Penina. McQueen: The Untold Story of a Bad Boy in Hollywood. (Garden City: Doubleday, 1986)
4. Boys Republic. "Boys Republic: Testimonials." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.boysrepublic.org/testimon.html [Last visited: 6 August 1999]
5. Lambos, Chris. "The First Steve McQueen Site on the Internet." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://members.tripod.com/~stvmcqueen/ [Last visited: 6 August 1999]
6. "Steve McQueen." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.stevestate.com/steve/prof.html [Last visited: 6 August 1999]

McQueen, Terence Steven, see: McQueen, Steve

McRobbie, Narelle, 1965-
Yidinji (Australian Aboriginal)-New Caledonian writer

McRobbie was born to an Aboriginal-New Caledonian mother and Aboriginal father, and raised in the far north of Queensland. Her father died when she was a small child. When she was eight she was fostered by a white couple who encouraged her to maintain contact with her birth family. She began writing at an early age, and now writes children's books. [Last updated: 4 June 1998]
References:
1. "McRobbie, Narelle (1965-)." Available at: http://dargo.vicnet.net.au/ozlit/writers.cfm?id=748 [Last visited: 21 June 1999]

McShane, Mike, 1955-
Métis (Native American)-British comedian and actor

McWilliams, Sarah, see: Walker, C.J.

Magnani, Anna, 1908-73
Italian actress

Magnani was born in Rome (some sources state Alexandria, Egypt) to an unmarried woman, who gave her to her own mother to raise. She grew up in the slums, and was desperate to escape into film acting. She attended the drama academy there, but her career began in cabaret and nightclubs as a singer. In 1934 she made her first film, La Cieca de Sorrento, in a minor role, but did not become famous until 1945, in Open City. She made at least 20 films in all, and was one of the few European female stars of the 1950s and 60s to be famous as a straight actress, not primarily a sex symbol. Her last major film was The Secret of Santa Vittoria in 1969, although she also appeared in Fellini's Rome in 1972. She was married once, for a short time, to Goffredo Alessandrini, and had one child, by Massimo Serato, who contracted polio, and to whom she dedicated her life. She died of cancer. [Last updated: 10 August 1998]
References:
1. International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, vol. 3: Actors and Actresses, edited by Amy L. Unterburger. (Detroit: St. James Press, 1997)
2. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
3. Powers, Norman. "Biographical Information for Anna Magnani." Available at: http://us.imdb.com/M/person-biography?Anna+Magnani [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Magnus I (The Good) , see: Norwegian Ruling Families

Magnus, Belinda, see: Black, Pauline

Magnus of Orkney (Saint), see: Norwegian Ruling Families

Magnus the Blind, see: Norwegian Ruling Families

Manasseh, see: Ephraim and Manasseh

Mandela, Nelson Rolihlahla, 1918-
Also known as Dalibhunga
President of South Africa

Mandela was born into the Thembu sub-tribe nobility of the Xhosa people in Mveso, South Africa, initially raised by his parents there and in Qunu. He was early marked for great things, and was the first in his family to attend school. Soon after his father died, when young Nelson was nine, he was taken to the larger village of Mqhekewenzi, the Thembu capital, where he became the ward of the chief-regent, Jongintaba, for the next 10 years, although he continued to see his mother on visits. He attended university, became a lawyer and African National Congress activist, went into exile, but was eventually arrested and imprisoned for 27 years, mostly on Robben Island. He was released in 1990 and then elected to be the first president of the new South Africa, retiring in 1999. [Last updated: 14 August 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Mandela, Nelson. Long Walk to Freedom. (London: Little, Brown, 1994)
3. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
4. "A Biography of Nelson Mandela." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.places.co.za/html/m_bio1.html [Last visited: 14 August 1999]
5. Nobel Foundation. "Nelson R. Mandela." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.nobel.se/laureates/peace-1993-1-bio.html [Last visited: 14 August 1999]

Mantegna, Andrea, 1431?-1506
Italian artist

Mantegna was adopted as a child about 10 years old by the painter Francesco Squarcione. He was the most famous painter of his day in Padua and was one of the first Italians to use copper engraving. His first major fresco was begun when he was just 17 and took 10 years to complete: the Martyrdom of St. James and St. Christopher in the Church of the Eremitani in Padua. He originally set up his own studio because he complained that Squarcione was financially exploiting his talent for his own profit. Later he moved to Mantua and worked for the wealthy Gonzaga family. He married Nicolosia, the sister of Giovanni and Gentile Bellini, also major artists. He specialized in perspective effects, used to give more space to rooms, to apparently raise the height of ceilings, etc. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, edited by F.L. Cross. (London: Oxford University Press, 1957)
2. Harden, Mark, & Gerten-Jackson. "WebMuseum, Paris: Mantegna, Andrea." Available at: http://www.navigo.com/wm/paint/auth/mantegna/ [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Manus

March, Naomi (Nimmy), 1962-
African-British actress

Marcum, James, see: Niles, James

Marcum, Robert, see: Niles, James

Marcus Aurelius, see: Rome

Marcus Ulpius Trainus, see: Rome

Maretu II (Chief), ca. 1860-ca. 1906
Also known as Pa Maretu
High chief of Rarotonga

Mariner, William, 1791-1853
Also known as Toki 'Ukamea
English captive

Mariner was one of the crew of the Port au Prince, most of whom were massacred by the people of the Ha'apai islands, part of Tonga, under their chief Finau 'Ulukalala II, in 1806. Mariner survived and caught the eye of the chief, was adopted by him to replace a dead son, and given the name Toki 'Ukamea (Iron Axe). He remained in Tonga for four years before being rescued, being tutored by one of his adoptive father's wives. [Last updated: 20 December 1997]
References:
1. Mariner, William. An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. (Edinburgh: Constable & Co., 1827)
2. Sacks, Oliver. The Island of the Colour-Blind; and Cycad Island. (London: Macmillan, 1996), pp. 249-50
3. Martin, John. "Tonga Islands: William Mariner's Account." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.tongatapu.net.to/tonga/news/books/reviews/tongaislands.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Martín de Porres (Saint), 1579-1636
African-Peruvian monk

Martín de Porres was born in Lima. There are two versions of his early life. In one, he was the son of an unknown father and a free African-Peruvian mother, adopted when he was eight by a Spanish nobleman. According to another story, his father was a Spanish nobleman who abandoned his mother, Martín and his sister because of their color, but returned when Martín was 15 to help support them. Martín was trained as a barber-surgeon, and entered a Dominican monastery as a lay helper. Nine years later he joined the order officially. He was canonized in 1962 by Pope John XXIII because of his great purity and his love for all people, and is the patron saint of social action. [Last updated: 11 February 1999]
References:
1. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
2. Ready, Dolores. The Boy Who Made His Pennies Go a Long Way: A Story about Martin de Porres. (Minneapolis: Winston Books, 1977)
3. "Catholic Online Saints: Martin de Porres." Available at: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saints/martindeporres.html [Last visited: 12 August 1999]
4. Matz, Terry. "Martin de Porres." Available at: http://www.catholic.org/saints/porres.html [Last visited: 12 August 1999]
5. Windeatt, Mary Fabyan. Lad of Lima: The Story of the Blessed Martin de Porres. (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1942)
6. Jeffrey, Colin, & Dunn, Paul. Martin from Peru: The Story of Martin de Porres. (London: Catholic Truth Society, 1980)

Martinson, Harry Edmund, 1904-78
Swedish author

Martinson was born in Jämshög in southern Sweden. His father died when he was six, and his mother abandoned her seven children to emigrate to America. The rest of his childhood was spent in a succession of foster homes and/or children's homes (sources differ) and he was very unhappy. He ran away several times, and at 16 he went to sea as a merchant marine. He spent the next six years at sea and living and working at various unskilled jobs in India and South America, but returned to Sweden after contracting tuberculosis. His books included fiction, some of it autobiographical, and poetry. He was elected to the Swedish Academy in 1949 and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1974, jointly with fellow Swede Eyvind Johnson. [Last updated: 20 November 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
3. The Nobel Foundation. "Harry Martinson." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.nobel.se/laureates/literature-1974-2-bio.html [Last visited: 14 August 1999] 4. Kuusankosken Kaupunginkirjasto. "Harry Martinson (1904-1978)." Available at: http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/harrymar.htm [Last visited: 14 August 1999]

Mary the Virgin (Saint), ca. 20 BCE-ca. 40 CE
Mother of Jesus Christ

According to tradition and the aprocyphal Gospel of the Birth of Mary, she was placed in the Temple at Jerusalem by her parents at the age of three as an oblate and stayed there until her betrothal to St. Joseph the Carpenter when she was 12. As the mother of Jesus Christ she could be considered to be one of the most influential women in history. [Last updated: 18 November 1997]
References:
1. Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, edited by F.L. Cross. (London: Oxford University Press, 1957)
2. Encyclopedia of Religion. 16 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1987)
3. The Complete Who's Who in the Bible, edited by Paul Gardner. (London: Marshall Pickering, 1995)
4. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
5. Veritas. "Mary" [Links page]. Available at: http://www.utexas.edu/students/veritas/mary.html#biography [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Mason, Sophia Thomas, 1822-61
Cree (Native American) translator

Massow, Ivan, 1967?-
British businessman

Maugham, William Somerset, 1874-1965
English novelist and dramatist

Maui
Polynesian demigod and hero

Maui was miscarried by his mother, the goddess Taranga, and abandoned for dead. She cut off her hair, wrapped the baby in it (hence the epithet Tiki Tiki a Taranga: Taranga's Topknot), and cast him adrift on the ocean (see also Karna and Moses). The currents carried him up the coast and washed him ashore on a beach, where he was found and raised by his uncle, Tama Nui ke te Rangi, a sea-god, who knew nothing of his origins. When he grew up he went in search of his mother and wandered the island until he found her and his four brothers, later descending to the underworld, where he found his father. He is famous for his cleverness and the sometimes unkind tricks he played on others. He slowed the sun down when it went too quickly, he fished the North Island of New Zealand out of the ocean and he brought fire to mankind, before being killed by the goddess of death, Hine Nui te Po. [Last updated: 29 January 1998]
References:
1. Encyclopedia of Religion. 16 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1987)
2. Gill, William Wyatt. Myths and Songs from the South Pacific. (London: Henry S. King & Co., 1876)
3. Te Kanawa, Kiri. Land of the Long White Cloud: Maori Myths, Tales and Legends. (New York: Arcade Publishing, 1989)
4. Gossage, P.J. How Maui-tiki-tiki-a-Taranga Found His Mother. (Auckland: Weldon for Ashton Scholastic, 1992)
5. "Maui." Available at: http://www.mhpcc.edu/training/vitecbids/UnixIntro/samples/Editors/maui.txt [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Mbeki, Thabo Mvuyelwa, 1942-
President of South Africa and of the African National Congress

Mbeki was the son of Xhosa ANC activists and teachers: his father, Govan Mbeki spent 24 years imprisoned with Nelson Mandela on Robben Island. Knowing that they were likely to be arrested, his parents sent their son to be raised by uncles when he was nine. At 14 he joined the Youth League of the ANC and later became national secretary of the African Students Association. In 1962 he went into exile in Zimbabwe, Tanzania, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Nigeria, Zambia and Swaziland, during which time he continued to advance in the ANC hierarchy as well as completing his university studies. After Mandela was elected Mbeki became executive deputy president and in June 1999 he was elected to succeed Mandela as president of South Africa. In 1997 he was elected president of the ANC. [Last updated: 28 May 1999]
References:
1. Embassy of South Africa in Washington, DC. "Mr. Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki - Executive Deputy President." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.southafrica.net/government/system/mbeki.html [Last visited: 4 June 1999]
2. African National Congress. "The Mbeki Page." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/mbeki/ [Last visited: 4 June 1999]

Medwin, Michael Hugh, 1925-
British actor and producer

Medwin has received two Evening Standard Drama Desk Awards (1968 and 1978). His credits include There's a Girl in My Soup, A Day in the Life of Joe Egg, the Ronnie Corbett Show, Minder, Never Say Never Again, The Longest Dayand Privates on Parade. He was adopted. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Internet Movie Database Ltd. "Fact Sheet: Michael Medwin" [Filmography]. Available at: http://us.imdb.com/M/person-substring?MEDWIN,MICHAEL [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Melcher, Terry, 1942-
Also known as Terry Jordan
American songwriter and record producer

Melcher was born to actress Doris Day and her first husband, Al Jordan. She divorced Jordan in 1942 and Terry was later adopted by her third husband, Marty Melcher. He has worked with the Beach Boys, the Byrds, the Rip Chords, Gram Parsons, Paul Revere and the Raiders as well as his mother. On a less happy note, he rejected Charles Manson's attempts to become a musician, which was a contributory factor in the murderous cult's attack on Sharon Tate and her friends, who had recently bought Melcher's house on Cielo Drive. [Last updated: 27 June 1999]
References:
1. "Killer Cults." Available at: http://free.systemy.it/carlo/cults1.html [Last visited: 7 July 1999]
2. "Terry Melcher." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Delta/7969/TerryMelcher.html [Last visited: 7 July 1999]
3. Jackson, Denny. "Doris Day: America's Sweetheart of the 1950's and 1960's!" Available at: http://www.geocities.com/~dennyjackson/day.html [Last visited: 7 July 1999]

Melville, Herman, 1819-91
American sailor and novelist

Melzi, Francesco, 1490/3-1570
Italian artist

Melzi was an Italian aristocrat and was, with Gian Giacomo Caprotti, and possibly also Andrea Boltraffo and Cesare de Sesto, one of Leonardo da Vinci's adopted sons and students. Melzi joined Leonardo's studio in 1513 and was probably the closest to Leonardo, and he was his principal heir when he died in 1519. Their relationship was initially probably more akin to that of master and apprentice, and developed into a personal relationship, quite possibly with a sexual element, as well as, apparently, a legal one. A Spanish source (see below) states: "It is known that he sought to surround himself with young and handsome disciples ... [and] adopted them as his own offspring." [Last updated: 11 May 1999]
References:
1. Pall Mall Encyclopaedia of Art. (London: Pall Mall Press, 1971)
2. The Knitting Circle. "Leonardo da Vinci." Available at: http://www.sbu.ac.uk/~stafflag/leonardodavinci.html [Last visited: 4 September 1999]
3. "Gays en la Historia." Available at: http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Heights/5446/historia.htm [Last visited: 4 September 1999]

Memminger, Christopher Gustavus, 1803-88
German-American politician

Memminger was born in Germany. His father died soon after his birth and his mother and grandparents emigrated to the USA soon afterwards. He was orphaned by a yellow fever epidemic in South Carolina when he was four and placed in the Charleston [South Carolina] Orphan House. When he was nine he was adopted by Thomas Bennett, Jr., later governor of the state, who was also the father of Washington Jefferson Bennett, the adoptive father of Andrew Buist Murray. Memminger was a lawyer and became a member of the South Carolina state legislature, 1836-52 and 1854-60. In 1854 he reorganized the state's educational system. During the Civil War he served as a delegate to the Confederate Provisional Congress, 1861-62, was mainly responsible for writing the constitution of the Confederate States of America, and was Confederate secretary of the treasury, 1861-64. In 1867 he retired from politics and return to his law practice. He was also one of the founders of the public school system in Charleston, South Carolina. [Last updated: 24 March 1998]
References:
1. Cyclopedia of Eminent and Representative Men of the Carolinas of the Nineteenth Century ..., vol. 1. (Madison: Brant & Fuller, 1892)
2. Dictionary of American Biography
3. Charleston County Public Library. "Calhoun Street (47-203)." Available at: http://www.ccpl.org/ccl/calhoun_st_business.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
4. Kestenbaum, Lawrence. "The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Mellette to Merlyn." Available at: http://www.politicalgraveyard.com/bio/melle-merly.html [Last visited: 16 June 1999]

Mercy Trains, see: Orphan Trains of the USA

Meyer, Julius
American businessman and interpreter

Michabo
Algonquian (Native American) hero figure

Michabo is the Great Hare, the grandson of the Moon and son of the West Wind. His mother died in childbirth but he was not fostered, because he was born fully developed and with all knowledge (compare Quetzalcoatl). The Algonquians believe that they were made by Michabo, who also made the earth, invented fishing nets, water, fish and deer. He lives where the sun rises, and the souls of good Indians go to live with Michabo. According to the Algonquians, there was once a great flood which covered the earth: "Michabo told the Raven to bring him a lump of clay to remake the world, but the raven couldn't find any. Michabo then sent an Otter, which dived but brought nothing back. At last, Michabo sent a Musk-rat who returned with some soil which Michabo used to remake the earth and he married Musk-mouse by whom he had children to repeople the earth." [Last updated: 26 November 1997]
References:
1. "Baltimore City Community College: Humanities 207 Text: A Guide to Understanding Myths of Creation and Scientific Theory: Chapter III: Creation by an Emergent Being: North American Indians" [Most of the above entry is taken from this source.] Available at: http://www.erols.com/bcccsbs/c3emerge.htm [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Michael V Kalaphates (Emperor), 11th century
Emperor of Byzantium, 1041-42

Michael was the son of a caulker and the sister of Emperor Michael IV. About 1035 he was adopted by Zoe, Michael IV's wife, and renamed Caesar. When Michael IV died in 1041 Zoe proclaimed Michael V emperor. Once in power he turned against Zoe and had her banished to a convent, but his popularity with the people collapsed and he was driven from the palace, blinded and himself banished to a monastery in 1042. [Last updated: 8 April 1998]
References:
1. Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, edited by Alexander P. Kazhdan. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991)
2. Todt, Klaus-Peter. "Theodora III." Available at: http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/t/tbkl174.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Michelowski, Alexander, see: Nazi Germany

Michener, James A., 1907-97
American author

Michener was a foundling, raised in Bucks County, Pennsylvania by a widow who took in a number of such children. There was no father figure in the home and they lived in extreme poverty, although him mother loved and encouraged her many charges. Two local men acted as father figures and mentors to the young James. During his teens he spent several years wandering about the USA, traveling by boxcar, hitch-hiking and doing odd jobs. He graduated from Swarthmore College and then St. Andrews University, Scotland. After teaching school for a couple of years his first book, Tales of the South Pacific, was published, based on his experiences during World War II. It became the basis for the musical comedy South Pacific. Other titles include The Source, Centennial, Chesapeake, The Covenant, Poland, Texas, Legacy, Alaska and Journey. He received the Pulitzer Prize and the US Medal of Freedom. He was also an expert collector of Japanese art, publishing five volumes on that subject in addition to his many other books. [Last updated: 20 November 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Who's Who in America, 1996
3. Becker, George J. James A. Michener. (New York: F. Ungar, 1983)
4. Michener, James A. The World Is My Home: A Memoir. (New York: Random House, 1992)
5. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
6. "James A. Michener: Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novelist." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/mic0bio-1 [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Mici Plwm
Also known as Michael Lloyd Jones
Welsh actor

Middlemiss, Philip (Phil), 1963-
British actor

Mikita, Stan, 1940-
Also known as Stanislav Gvoth
Slovak-Canadian-American athlete

Mikita was born Stanislav Gvoth in Sokolce, Czechoslovakia (now in the Slovak Republic), but he was taken to Ontario, Canada to live by his childless aunt and uncle, who adopted him and a niece in 1948. This was a move reluctantly supported by his birth parents, who wanted their son to escape the new communist regime in Czechoslovakia. He soon became an ice hockey player and turned professional with the Chicago Blackhawks while still in his teens. He won the Art Ross Trophy (for top scorer in the National Hockey League) in 1964, 1965, 1967 and 1968; both the Hart Trophy (most valuable player) and the Lady Byng Trophy (sportsmanship) in 1967 and 1968, was voted onto the NHL All-Star Team six times and elected to the Ice Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983. He retired in 1980 and lives near Chicago. For a number of years he has been actively participating in a summer ice hockey school for hearing-impaired youngsters. He also part-owns a plastics business, with former team-mate Glen Skov. [Last updated: 20 November 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
3. "#21: Stan Mikita." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/2796/mikita.htm [Last visited: 12 August 1999]
4. Creed, Chris. "The Man Among Men." Available at: http://www.lycos.com/wguide/tools/pgview.html?wwbestof=Y&wwtitle=Stan%20Mikita&wwdoc=http%3a%2f%2fwww.nhl.com%2ffeatures%2fwherenow%2fmikita%2fmikita.htm&wwmid=86129&wwdocid=934572&wwprate=0.86&wwdoctype=2 [Last visited: 12 August 1999]

Miller, Melody Dawn, see: Smith, Robyn

Mills, Billy, 1938-
Oglala Sioux (Native American) athlete and civil rights activist

Mills was born on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota and was orphaned when he was 12. He was then sent to the US Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school in Lawrence, Kansas. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1962 and joined the US Marine Corps, where he continued the track and field athletics he had begun in college. He won the gold medal in the 10,000 meters at the 1964 Olympic Games, the first American to win the event. In 1965 he won and set a new record for the US national 6-mile race championships. After injuries he retired in 1968, and became active in Native American affairs. He was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1976 and the US Olympic Hall of Fame in 1984. He now travels promoting physical fitness and as a motivational speaker, is a consultant for the Native American Recreation and Sport Institute, a member of the National Support Committee of the Native American Rights Fund, as well as being a successful insurance executive. A film was made of his life in 1984, starring Robbie Benson: Running Brave. [Last updated: 4 March 1999]
References:
1. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
2. Gwinnet Council for the Arts. "Billy Mills Opens the Festival of Fires on June 3." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://gwinnett-arts.w1.com/fireold/people/mills.htm [Last visited: 4 September 1999]
3. "The Native American Rights Fund: Billy Mills." Available at: http://www.narf.org/profiles/nsc/mills.htm [Last visited: 4 September 1999]

Mills, Robert Scourfield (DSO), 1863?-1919
Also known as Arthur Owen Vaughan and Owen Rhoscomyl
Anglo-Welsh author

Mineko Iwasaki, see: Iwasaki, Mineko

Mo Keen, Loki, ca. 1830-1934
Mexican captive and religious leader

Mohammed, see: Muhammad

Moishe, see: Moses

Momaday, see: Lone Wolf II

Monaghan, Thomas, 1937-
American businessman

Monaghan's father died when he was four, and he and his younger brother were put into care by their mother so that she could attend nursing school. They remained in care, foster homes and orphanages, for the next seven years, but then returned to their mother. A few years later he was sent to live on a farm because of problems between him and his mother. He was not successful in school, and graduated bottom of his high school class, but he showed business flair from an early age, and he and his brother bought a failing pizza parlor in 1960 for $975, which became the foundation of his Domino's Pizza franchise empire. He owned the Detroit Tigers baseball team from 1984 to 1992. He is a major supporter of Catholic, conservative and anti-gay causes. [Last updated: 23 January 1998]
References:
1. Monaghan, Tom, and Anderson, Robert. Pizza Tiger. (New York: Random House, 1986)
2. "Monaghan, Thomas," Current Biography Yearbook, 1990
3. Engber, Andrea. "Raised without Daddy," Single Mother, 13 (July/August 1993). Also available at: http://www.parentsplace.com/family/singleparent/gen/0,3375,10010,00.html [Last visited: 10 June 1999]

Monroe, Bill, 1911-96
American musician

William Smith (Bill) Monroe was born on a farm at Jerusalem Ridge, Kentucky, the last of eight children in a poor, backwoods family. Both his parents were traditional Appalachian musicians (father step-dancer; mother instrumentalist and singer) and so were most of the children. His mother died when he was 10 and his father about 1922. His older brothers, Birch (1901-82) and Charlie (1903-75) moved north to work in the automobile and oil refining industries, but Bill lived first with his father's brother and then with his mother's brother, Pendleton Vanderver, who was also a considerable influence on his music. In 1929, when he was 18, Bill moved to join his brothers in East Chicago. The three brothers and their girlfriends joined a team of dancers and also played music on local radio stations. In 1934 or 35 they were sponsored by a laxative manufacturer to go on tour, but Birch dropped out of the group (temporarily). They made their first record in 1936, for Bluebird followed by about 60 more tracks for Bluebird and well over 200 for other studios. In 1938 the brothers went their separate ways, and Bill formed the Bluegrass Boys. His first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry was in 1939, and he was still performing there 50 years later, the Father of Bluegrass. In 1967 he established a bluegrass festival on his land at Bean Blossom, Indiana. His albums include Knee Deep in Blue Grass (1958), I'll Meet You in Church Sunday Morning (1964), Bill Monroe & The Blue Grass Boys Live at the Opry (1989) and Southern Flavor (1989). He won the first Grammy Award for bluegrass music (1989), the Smithsonian Institution's National Heritage Fellowship Award (1982), National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award (1993), and was elected to four halls of fame: Country Music Hall of Fame (1970), Nashville Songwriter's Hall of Fame (1971), International Bluegrass Association Hall of Honor (1991) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1997). In 1995 he received the US National Medal of Arts from President Clinton. [Last updated: 26 March 1999]
References:
1. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
2. Hardy, Phil, & Laing, Dave. The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music. (London: Faber and Faber, 1995)
3. Gayheart, Rebecca, et al. "Kentucky Konnections: Bill Monroe." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.bellenet.com/monroebill.html [Last visited: 4 September 1999]

Monroe, Marilyn, 1926-62
Also known as Norma Jean Baker
American actress

Born Norma Jean Baker to an unmarried woman, Monroe was fostered from babyhood until about the age of seven, because her mother was working and not well enough to care for her as well. During this time she had contact with her mother, but did not know who she was. Then she went to live with her mother, who soon became mentally ill and was hospitalized, whereupon Monroe was adopted by her best friend. In spite of the adoption she lived in a series of nine more foster homes and an orphanage until she married for the first time at 16 in order to get out of the care system which had so seriously failed her. In one of the foster homes she was sexually abused by a lodger when she was eight. She became one of the most famous actresses of all time and was also the mistress of President John Kennedy. Her death from an overdose of sleeping pills may have been an accident, but has also been attributed to suicide and murder. [Last updated: 20 November 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Dictionary of American Biography
3. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
4. American Movie Classics Company. "Marilyn Monroe." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.rwc.uc.edu/COOK/ICLASS96/anthony/monroe.htm [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
5. Wilkins, Peggy L. "Marilyn Monroe." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://glamournet.com/legends/Marilyn/ [Last visited: 21 June 1999]

Montcorbier, François de, see: Villon, François

Montezuma, Carlos, ca. 1865-1923
Also known as Wassaja
Yavapai (Native American) doctor

The Yavapai boy Wassaja was captured by the Pima people in an 1871 raid but very soon sold on to a white man, Carlos Gentilé, for $30.00. Gentilé named him Carlos Montezuma and adopted him, giving him a loving a happy home. When he was 14, however, he left his father, who was unable to afford to educate the brilliant boy, and he was then fostered by a better-off family. At 15 he entered the University of Illinois. He graduated from the Chicago Medical College in 1889 and became a reservation doctor in the Indian Service. As a strong advocate of Native American rights (he founded the Society of American Indians), he was sidelined by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In 1901 he returned to the Yavapai people, found the remnants of his own family, and in 1906 helped them in their legal fight to keep their lands, which were under threat of a government dam on the Verde River in the middle of the Fort McDowell reservation. Montezuma was the cousin of Hoo-moo-thy-ah. [Last updated: 14 August 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Iverson, Peter J. Carlos Montezuma and the Changing World of the American Indians. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1982)
3. ProntoCo. "AZjerome." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://azjerome.com/yavapai.htm [Last visited: 12 August 1999]
4. Schiavi, Brekah. "Let My People Go." Available at: http://www.sheps.com/ancestors/honorable_words/peoplego.html [Last visited: 14 August 1999]
5. Craig, Brookie. "We Will Never Forget." Available at: http://www.indians.org/welker/neverfor.htm [Last visited: 14 August 1999]
6. Machula, Paul R. "Hoo-moo-thy-ah; Carlos Montezuma." Available at: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8352/boy.htm [Last visited: 14 August 1999]

Montgomery, Lucy Maud, 1874-1942
Canadian author

Montgomery was born on Prince Edward Island and her mother died when she was two. Her father left her to be raised by very strict grandparents while he moved west and started a new family. She began to write when she was nine and had her first piece published when she was still a teenager. About 1890 she moved to join her father and step-mother, but it broke down, due to the step-mother's cruelty. Her early years and love of PEI shaped her literary life: her most famous character is Anne Shirley, heroine of Anne of Green Gables (published 1908) and its sequels. Montgomery is probably the most famous novelist in Canadian literature. She worked first as a teacher and then on the staff of the Halifax Daily Echo. In all she published 22 books, over 400 poems and 500 short stories. [Last updated: 26 November 1997]
References:
1. Andronik, Catherine M. Kindred Spirit: A Biography of L.M. Montgomery, Creator of Anne of Green Gables. (New York: Atheneum, 1993)
2. Montgomery, L.M. The Selected Journals of L M. Montgomery, edited by Mary Rubio, et al., 3 vols. (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1985-92)
3. Rubio, Mary, & Waterston, Elizabeth. Writing a Life: L.M. Montgomery. (Toronto: ECW Press, 1995) (Canadian Biography Series)
4. Bruce, Harry. Maud: The Life of L.M. Montgomery. (New York: Seal Bantam Books, 1992)
5. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
6. "Lucy Maud Montgomery, 1874-1942." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://strobe.lights.com/novel/generated/author/125.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Moore, Brian, 1962-
English rugby player

Morcom, (Luke) Sidney, 1951-
Australian Aboriginal poet and recreation officer

Morcom was born Sidney Morcom in Borrolool, Northern Territories, to an Aboriginal family. At one week of age he became one of the Stolen Generation, (see: Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children). He was forcibly taken from his parents and sent to the Garden Point Mission, Melville Island, where his name was changed to Luke (all children were assigned Biblical names), he was separated from his sister Flo, and spent the next 12 years there, until he was fostered by an English immigrant couple, Jack and Maimi Smith, near Adelaide. In 1972 he moved to Darwin, where he is now a recreation officer and poet. [Last updated: 20 December 1997]
References:
1. "Profile: Luke S. Morcom." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.qantmnt.au-net.com/cyberpoet/luke_info.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Morcom, Sidney, see: Morcom, (Luke) Sidney

Morgan, Susan, see: Saffian, Sarah Ruth

Morley, Eric Douglas, ca. 1919-
Entertainment entrepreneur

Morley was orphaned at the age of 11 and sent to a naval training ship. He has become an entertainment and media tycoon. He and his wife founded and still run the Miss World pageants; he was chairman of Mecca Ltd. (responsible for introducing Bingo to the UK) and director of the Grand Metropolitan Group. [Last updated: 26 November 1997]
References:
1. Who's Who, 1997
2. "The Morleys." Available at: http://www.qlcomm.com/missworld96/text_version/legacy/morleys.htm [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Mormons, see: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Morris, John, see: Banks, John

Morrissey, Neil, 1964?-
British actor

Morrow, Tracy, see: Ice-T

Mortara, Edgaro, 1851?-1940
Also known as Pio Mortara
Italian-Belgian priest

Mortara was the son of a Jewish family in Bologna, Italy. When he was five (or a baby, sources differ) he became very ill and his illiterate nurse, a Catholic, baptized him secretly. He recovered, but according to the Papal authorities, who learned of the baptism, he was now officially a Catholic and could not be allowed to be raised in a Jewish family. When he was six years old Papal gendarmes forcibly removed him from his birth family and he was then brought up by Christians. Such kidnappings of secretly baptized Jewish children had many precedents in Italy. The case aroused international outrage and controversy among Jews, liberal Christians and many Catholics, but their interventions had no effect. Edgardo's name was changed to Pio and he became a Catholic priest. After 1870 and the dissolution of the Papal States (and the Mortara Case was a contributing factor in this) he was given the chance to return to his origins but he refused. He became an ardent conversionist (specializing in the conversion of Jews) and was a fluent preacher in six languages. His work earned him the title of "apostolic missionary" from Pope Leo XIII and he became a professor of theology in Rome. He died in an abbey in Belgium shortly before the Nazis began to deport Belgian Jews to the concentration camps. The case has similarities to that of the Finaly brothers. Sarah Zvi is another example of a [possible] forcible conversion by Christians. [Last updated: 15 May 1998]
References:
1. Kertzer, David I. The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara. (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1997)
2. New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia, editor-in-chief Geoffrey Wigoder. 7th edition. (New York: Facts On File, 1992)
3. Encyclopaedia Judaica, edited by Cecil Roth. (Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, 1971)

Mortara, Pio, see: Mortara, Edgaro

Morton, Samantha, 1978-
British actress

Moses, 13th century BCE
Jewish prophet

According to the Bible (Exodus 1-2) Moses was fostered or adopted after his mother, Jochebed, placed him in a basket on the Nile (see also Maui and Karna) to escape an edict by Pharaoh that all newborn Hebrew boy children were to be killed. Rabbi Isidore Epstein, principal of Jews' College, London, writes that he "was the adopted son of an Egyptian princess, identified by some with Hatshepsut, the sister of Thotmes III [and] brought up in the royal court," but he turned back to his own people and led them to the Promised Land. It was Moses to whom God revealed the Ten Commandments. He is often stated to have had a speech impediment, and his brother Aaron was his spokesman. [Last updated: 19 September 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Epstein, Isidore. Judaism. (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1968)
3. Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, edited by F.L. Cross. (London: Oxford University Press, 1957)
4. Encyclopedia of Religion. 16 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1987)
5. The Complete Who's Who in the Bible, edited by Paul Gardner. (London: Marshall Pickering, 1995)
6. Encyclopaedia Judaica. (Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, 1971)
7. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
8. New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia, editor-in-chief Geoffrey Wigoder. 7th edition. (New York: Facts On File, 1992)

Mountain Wolf Woman, 1884-1960
Also known as Xechaciwinga
Winnebago (Native American) religious leader

Born to a traditionalist Winnebago family, Mountain Wolf Woman converted to Christianity and then to Peyotism. She was adopted by a Lakota family to replace a dead daughter (see also Shenandoah), but also retained her place in her birth family. She was an influential member of the Peyote religion, and foretold her own death in 1960. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Hirschfelder, Arlene, & Molin, Paulette. Encyclopedia of Native American Religions: An Introduction. (New York: Facts on File, 1992)
2. Mountain Wolf Woman. Mountain Wolf Woman, Sister of Crashing Thunder: The Autobiography of a Winnebago Indian, edited by Nancy Oestreich Lurie. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1961) (There are also a video and resource guide based on this autobiography)

Mourning, Alonzo ('Zo), 1970-
African-American basketball player

Mourning's parents divorced when he was 11 and soon after that he put himself into care. He had a number of foster homes but eventually found a permanent family, where he stayed until he went to university. The 6'10" (2.08m) tall center played first for the Charlotte Hornets and was a member of the US Dream Team for 1994. He now plays for the Miami Heat. He spends much of his free time helping at a home for neglected and abused children. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Who's Who in America, 1996
2. Gutman, Bill. Alonzo Mourning: Center of Attention. (Brookfield: Millbrook Press, 1997) (Millbrook Sports World)
3. "Career Profile 33: Alonzo Mourning." Available at: http://www.nba.com/playerfile/profile/alonzo_mourning_cp.html [URL unavailable: 17 June 1999]
4. "Alonzo Mourning." Available at: http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/players/845/ [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
5. Rosenthal, Bert. Alonzo Mourning. (Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1998) (Basketball Legends)

Muhammad, 569-632
Prophet and founder of Islam

Muhammad was born after his father died, and his mother died when he was six years old. He was then raised by his grandfather until he too died, when Muhammad was eight, after which he was raised by an uncle, a poor man but an influential leader of the Quraish tribe. He became a respected trader and merchant, but when he was 40 he received the first of the revelations from Allah which comprise the Qur'an and form the basis of one of the world's major religions, making Muhammad one of the most influential people of all time. He was also an adoptive father: he freed and adopted a slave given to him, named Zaid bin Haritha. [Last updated: 19 May 1998]
References:
1. Encyclopedia of Religion. 16 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1987)
2. Encyclopaedia of Islam, new edition. (Leiden: E.J. Brill, in progress)
3. Armstrong, Karen. Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet. (London: Victor Gollancz, 1991)
4. Glassé, Cyril. Concise Encyclopaedia of Islam. (London: Stacey International, 1989)
5. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
6. Rao, K.S. Ramakrishna. "Muhammad the Prophet," Islam and the Modern Age, 9(1) (1978), 67-85. Part of this is also available as "Mohammad the Prophet," at: http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~calmsa/biog_muh.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
7. Zahoor, D., & Haq, Z. "Biography of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)." Available at: http://www.erols.com/zenithco/muhammad.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Murphy, Edward Regan (Eddie), 1961-
African-American comedian and actor

Murphy's parents divorced when he was three and his father was murdered not long afterwards. He and his brother were then placed in foster care until their mother remarried, when he was nine, and they went to live with her on Long Island. He began stage performing when he was 15 and soon became popular on the television show Saturday Night Live (1981-84). His first film was 48 Hours (1982), and he has also starred in Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop, Beverly Hills Cop II and III, Coming to America, Boomerang, The Distinguished Gentleman, The Nutty Professor, The Golden Child, Vampire in Brooklyn and Metro. [Last updated: 9 September 1998]
References:
1. Smith, Ronald L. Who's Who in Comedy. (New York: Facts on File, 1992)
2. "Eddie Murphy." Available at: http://www.kcweb.com/superm/e_murphy.htm [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
3. Wilburn, Deborah A. Eddie Murphy. (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1993) (Black Americans of Achievement)

Murray, Andrew Buist, 1844-1928
American businessman and philanthropist

Murray was born to Scottish immigrants to South Carolina. His mother died about 1847 (1867 according to one source), and his father in 1857. Sources differ about the rest of his childhood: one implies that he went into the Charleston Orphan House when his mother died; the other that he was raised by his father and a housekeeper until his father's death, when he went to the orphanage. He was fostered in 1860 and adopted when he was 17 by Washington Jefferson Bennett, the son of Thomas Bennett, Jr., and the adoptive brother of Christopher Gustavus Memminger. He became a partner with Bennett's two born-two sons in the family's rice and lumber company, from which he made a large fortune. In 1876 he married Bennett's daughter, Mary. Principal beneficiaries of his philanthropy were The Citadel military academy, the Charleston Orphan House, the College of Charleston, Murray Vocational School and Murray Boulevard. [Last updated: 24 March 1998]
References:
1. Newspaper clippings collection, Charleston County, SC Public Library
2. Charleston County Public Library. "Calhoun Street (47-203)." Available at: http://www.ccpl.org/ccl/calhoun_st_business.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
3. The Citadel. Daniel Library. "Knob Knowledge - M." Available at: http://www.citadel.edu/library/knob_m.htm [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Mustache, James, 1904-
Also known as Running Elk and Opwagon
Ojibwa (Native American) religious leader

Myers, Billie, 1971-
African-British singer-songwriter

Napoléon, Eugène, see: Beauharnais, Eugène-Rose de

Native American Children

Children of Native Americans were frequently taken from their birth families by Indian Agents (agents of the US Bureau of Indian Affairs), often by subterfuge, and placed in government or mission boarding schools. The acknowledged reason for this was to eradicate Native American culture. The children were beaten for speaking their own languages and their cultures were routinely denigrated in an attempt to alienate them from their backgrounds. In many respects this was like the treatment meted out to Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children. This practice has been superseded by the transracial adoption of Native American children, which is condemned by many, but not all, NA leaders.
In a similar way, in Brazil, around 1900, the Catholic Capuchin Fathers operated a policy in the northern coastal area around Alto Alegre of forcibly removing children and babies from their Amerindian parents and raising them in convents, to save their souls. Another modern example of mass theft of children in an attempt to eradicate a culture is the Kinder der Landstraße scandal in Switzerland from 1926 to 1973, where the victims were the Roma people. [Last updated: 2 June 1999]
References:
1. Ellis, Clyde. To Change Them Forever: Indian Education at the Rainy Mountain Boarding School, 1893-1920. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996)
2. Huxley, Francis. Affable Savages. (London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1963), pp. 29-30
3. Clay, Rebecca A. "Bill Would Protect Rights of Native American Children: Congress Considers a Bill That Would Clarify Laws Regarding the [Adoptive] Placement of American Indian Children" [American Psychological Association. APA Monitor]. Available at: http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun97/nachild.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
4. American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. "Policy Statement [January 1995]: The Placement of American Indian Children: The Need for Change." Available at: http://www.aacap.org/publications/policy/ps04.htm [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
In addition, a number of biographies and autobiographies of Native Americans tell of their experiences in BIA boarding schools

Natsume Soseki, see: Soseki Natsume

Nazi Germany, 1933-45

Three special aspects of this terrible time are related to adoption. These are in addition to the orphans and separated families created when foresighted Jewish parents sent their children overseas before the war to escape persecution (see Kindertransport), by bombing by all sides, by individual and mass murders and other atrocities committed by all sides, and of course, by the obscenity called the Holocaust or Shoah, in which the Nazis attempted to exterminate not only the entire Jewish population of Europe, but also the Roma, homosexuals and the mentally and physically handicapped.
1. There was a network of mother and baby homes, part of an organization called Lebensborn e.V., designed to breed certified members of the Master Race. Young women of proven "Aryan" ancestry were encouraged to have babies fathered by equally qualified soldiers, resulting in about 11,000 children between 1935 and 1945. Some of these children were taken home by their mothers to be raised; some were adopted or fostered by German families; others remained in children's homes until after the war, when more were found families (often in foreign countries, with Allied soldiers), although others spent their entire childhoods in children's homes. Many do not know their origins even now - retreating Nazis destroyed most of the documentation. The motivation behind the homes was to increase the numbers of racially pure Germans and little attention was paid to the children's development. Consequently many of the children were slow in developing socially, psychologically, mentally and even physically.
2. Other Lebensborn homes were opened for women in occupied territories who were pregnant by German soldiers. This was especially true in Norway, where the physical appearance of the people closely matched the ideal, and to be eligible for these homes the mothers had to conform to Nazi stereotypes. Other homes were in Germany, where expectant mothers immigrated. The babies were often adopted by Nazi families, because public hostility to their collaborationist mothers made living in their home countries impossible. A few of these children who were adopted by eastern German families, suffered further abuse in adulthood: the East German spy organization, the Stasi, stole their identities and gave them to spies. East German spies would take on the names and what was known of the pre-adoption identities of the children. They would then emigrate to West Germany or Norway (Lebensborn children had the right to emigrate), reuniting with "their" birth families, and use these cover identities to spy. This was done without the knowledge of the real persons (whose identities were changed by the Nazis when they were adopted, although they might have discovered their birth identities and pre-adoption histories in adulthood). And if the adoptees then tried to trace their birth families, the government would frustrate them in order not to blow the spies' covers. At least three cases of stolen identity have been identified since the reunification of Germany, and the real owners of the identities have been reunited with their birth families.
3. During their sweeps through occupied countries, especially Poland, the Nazis would kidnap young "Aryan"-looking children (estimates of up to 200,000 have been made) and take them back to Germany. Some were voluntarily given up by their mothers after false promises about educating them were given by the authorities. Others were simply stolen off the streets or playgrounds (the same techniques used by the Australian government with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and by the US government with Native American Children). They were then shipped to processing centers and tested to be sure they were of good enough quality. Those who failed the tests were sent to slave labor camps or murdered immediately. Those who passed were sent to children's homes to be Germanized; many were then placed in Nazi families and raised as Germans. After the war some of these children were reunited with their birth families, but some were hidden from the authorities by their adoptive parents or themselves refused to be repatriated. Like the other Lebensborn children, many still do not know their origins or that they are not German by birth. Three examples: Aloizy Twardecki was kidnapped, his name changed to Alfred Hartmann, and he was adopted by a German family. He was repatriated after the war and is now a university lecturer in Warsaw. Fr. Alexander Michelowski was kidnapped aged 10 from his own house in 1942. His name was changed to Alexander Peters but he was never adopted. He became a Roman Catholic priest to the Polish community in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. "Helena" was adopted by a German policeman and his wife. After the war she was repatriated and became a judge in Poland. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. "Kinder für Führer und Stasi," Spiegel, no. 25, 1997, pp. 72-77, 80-82, 84-85
2. Clay, Catrine, & Leapman, Michael. Master Race: The Lebensborn Experiment in Nazi Germany. (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1995)
3. Leapman, Michael. Witnesses to War: Eight True-Life Stories of Nazi Persecution. (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1998)

Nebuchadnezzar II (King), ?-562 BCE
King of Babylon

Nebuchadnezzar was King of Babylon from 605 to 562 BCE, succeeding his father, Nabopolassar. It was he who destroyed Jerusalem in 586 and forced the Jews into captivity in Babylon. He was also a builder on a monumental scale, including the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. One legend of his childhood states that he was so ugly when he was born that his parents "had no choice but to expose him" (that is, leave him alone in the wild for the animals to eat), but he was saved by a dog who nursed him three times a day until he was rescued by people (compare Oedipus). [Last updated: 16 February 1998]
References:
1. Encyclopaedia Judaica. (Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, 1971)
2. David, Rosalie, & David, Antony E. A Biographical Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. (London: Seaby, 1992)
3. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
4. Omidsalar, Mahmoud, & Omidsalar, Teresa P. "The Dog." Available at: http://www.iranian.com/Sep96/Iranica/Dogs/Dogs.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
5. Jones, Tom B. "Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylonia {neb-uh-kuhd-nez'-ur}." Available at: http://www.wwco.com/religion/believe/nebuchadnezzar.html [Last visited 21 June 1999]

Nelson, Willie, 1933-
American singer

Nelson was abandoned by his mother when he was six months old. His father ran a pool hall in Austin, Texas, and he was raised by his grandparents in the village of Abbott, Texas. His grandfather taught him to play the guitar. He began performing in public when he was four years old. Since he came to prominence in the 1970s he has made numerous best-selling albums, won three Grammy awards, and was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993. [Last updated: 9 December 1997]
References:
1. Who's Who in America, 1996
2. Nelson, Susie. Heart Worn Memories: A Daughter's Personal Biography of Willie Nelson. (Eakins Publications, 1987)
3. Willie. (Austin: Eakin, 1987)
4. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
5. "The Official Willie Nelson Website." Available at: http://www.polygram.com/polygram/artists.html [Last visited: 21 June 1999]
6. Nelson, Willies, and Shrake, Bud. Willie: An Autobiography. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988)

Nero Claudius Caesar, see: Rome

Newman, Robert, 1964-
British comedian and author

Nicholson, Jack, 1937-
American actor

John Joseph Nicholson's mother was young and unmarried when he was born, his father abandoned them, and he was raised by his grandparents, believing that his mother was his sister. He did not learn the truth until he was 37, when a Time magazine researcher uncovered the story. His credits include The Shining, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, A Few Good Men, Hoffa, The Witches of Eastwick, Prizzi's Honor, Reds, Terms of Endearment, Batman and The Postman Always Rings Twice. In 1994 he won the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Who's Who, 1997
2. Who's Who in America, 1996
3. McGilligan, Patrick. Jack's Life: A Biography of Jack Nicholson. (New York: W.W. Norton, 1994)
4. Thompson, Peter. Jack Nicholson: The Life and Times of an Actor on the Edge. (Secaucus: Carol Pub. Group, 1997)
5. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
6. "Tobias Larsson Proudly Presents ... Jack Nicholson." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://home2.swipnet.se/~w-29085/ [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
7. "Celebrities Online: Jack Nicholson - Biography." Available at: http://www.celebz.com/actors/celmz/nichj/bio.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Nicholson, John Joseph, see: Nicholson, Jack

Nicholson, Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn, see: Vanessa-Mae

Niles, James, 1959?-
Also known as James Marcum
Staneart, Robert, 1962?-
Also known as Robert Marcum
American software executives

These two brothers were the youngest in a family of eight children of poor, alcoholic parents in Kentucky whose mother abandoned them in January 1963, when they were one and three years old. The eldest daughter, Judy, aged eight, stayed with the father; the others spent time in children's homes and were separated in different foster and adoptive families, (one spent all his childhood in a children's home) losing touch with each other. Bob was in at least seven foster homes before he and sister Myra were adopted by a minister and his wife in 1965. Jimmy was adopted by a Lexington, Kentucky family. Both were happy placements but the separated children had no knowledge of each other. At one time Bob and James were both employed in the same airport by different airlines and working two counters away from each other without knowing it. The family began to find each other in 1972 when sister Debbie's father, an insurance agent, sold a policy to sister Judy and recognized the name. In 1977 Debbie, Judy and Myra (who had left home several years previously) tracked down Bob, but he was not ready for a reunion and rejected them until 1990. In 1991 James read about the family in a local newspaper article, which mentioned that there were some siblings still untraced - including him, and he contacted Debbie. By December 1991 the entire family had been traced. One of the other children's adoptive parents both died within a year of him being placed with them, and others have had considerable problems. But Robert and James both developed an interest in computers and both founded software companies. When they were reunited they decided to join forces and founded The NaS Company in 1991, which changed its name to O'Brother Software in 1995. [Last updated: 11 May 1998]
References:
1. Beresford, Lynn. "All in the Family: Long-Lost Brothers Join Forces in Business," Entrepreneur Magazine (August 1977). Also Available at: http://www.obrother.com/entrep.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
2. Lohmann, Bill. "Oh, Brothers: Separated for 28 Years, They Are Together Again as Friends, Partners," Times-Dispatch [Richmond], 6 October 1996, Flair Section, p. 1. Also Available at: http://www.obrother.com/adoption.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
3. "O'Brother Software, Inc.: Company History." Available at: http://www.obrother.com/about.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Nitocris, see: God's Wife

Niyazov, Saparmurat Ataevich, 1940-
President of Turkmenistan

Niyazov was born in Ashgabat. His father was killed during World War II, and the rest of his near relatives were killed in an earthquake in 1948. He was then raised in an orphanage and later with distant relatives. He was educated in St. Petersburg and joined the Communist Party in 1962, rising through the political establishment to become president of the Turkmen SSR (part of the former USSR) in 1990. When Turkmenistan became independent in 1991 he retained his post, and was reelected in 1992 with 99.5% of the votes. Under the constitution he has extraordinary powers of censorship, to appoint the state prosecutor, appoint and remove all judges, and economic control. In a 1994 referendum his powers were confirmed and his term of office was extended to 2002. [Last updated: 11 February 1999]
References:
1. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
2. Who's Who in Russia and the New States, edited by Leonard Geron and Alex Pravda. (London: I.B. Tauris & Co., 1993)
3. ICCA. "The President of Turkmenistan." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.icctm.org/president.html [Last visited: 12 August 1999]

Nobusuke, Kishi, see: Kishi Nobusuke

Norwegian Ruling Families, 9th-12th centuries

• Ingjald the Evil-Adviser, 9th century? Ingjald was the son of the high king, Onund. He was fostered by the regional king Svipdag the Blind of Upsal. Ingjald succeeded as high king when his father died in a landslide. He was famous "as a most ferocious person, and of the worst disposition." On ascending the throne he built a large banqueting hall and invited all his tributary kings to a feast. All came as invited except King Granmar of Sodermanland. During the feast Ingjald left the building and had it set on fire, killing everyone inside (including his father-in-law), except his two foster brothers and their troops, whom he had warned to leave with him, and he then took sole possession of their lands in Norway and Sweden.


• Olaf the Tree-Feller, 9th century? Olaf was the son of Ingjald the Evil-Adviser. Olaf was fostered by Bove in West Gotland. When Ingjald died Olaf succeeded him, but the Swedes, who had suffered under his unpopular father, drove him and his people out of Sweden. Later during his reign the crops failed. Some of the people held that the king was personally responsible for the fertility of the land by keeping up the sacrifices. Olaf was known to have been sparing in this duty, and people surrounded his house at Venner Lake and burned it down with him inside, "giving him to Odin as a sacrifice for good crops."


• Halfdan the Black, 9th century? Halfdan was the son of King Gudrod the Hunter and Åsa, daughter of King Harald of Agder. Gudrod died when Halfdan was a year old and his mother took him with her to Agder, where he was fostered by Olver Spake. He succeeded to Gudrod's throne when he became 18 and considerably expanded the kingdom. He was succeeded by his son, Harald Harfager, who is probably the first definitely historical king of Norway.


• Harald of Sogn, 9th century? Harald was the son of Halfdan the Black and his wife Ragnhild, the daughter of King Harald Goldbeard of Sogn. The young Harald was fostered by his maternal grandfather in Sogn, and appointed his heir. When Goldbeard died he succeeded him, aged about nine, but he himself died the following spring, and Sogn was taken over by Halfdan the Black.


• Gyda, 9th-10th centuries. Gyda was the daughter of King Eirik of Hordaland. She was fostered by a vassal in Valdres. When Harald I (Harfager) (ca. 850-933) called her to be his concubine, she refused, saying she would not be the concubine of a minor district king, when the kings of Denmark and Sweden held sway over large countries. This spurred Harald into conquering the whole of Norway, and he then married Gyda. Harald also married 12 other wives. "King Harald's children were all fostered and brought up by their relations on the mother's side."


• Eirik Blood-Axe, 9th-10th centuries. Eirik was the son of Harald I (Harfager) (ca. 850-933) by Ragnhild the Mighty, from Jutland. His mother died when he was a toddler ("three years after she came to Norway") and he was then sent to be fostered by Thorer Hroaldson in the Fjord district. He was his father's favorite, and when Harald divided his kingdom among his sons, Eirik received Halogaland, North More and Raumsdal. In 930 Harald abdicated in favor of Eirik as high king over his surviving brothers.


• Håkon I, The Good, 914?-61. Håkon was an illegitimate son of King Harald I (Harfager) (ca. 850-933). He was fostered by King Athelstan (895-939) of England, Harald's ally. Harald abdicated in 930 in favor of his eldest legitimate son, Eirik Bloodaxe, but Eirik was deposed by Håkon in 935 with Athelstan's help. Håkon tried unsuccessfully to convert Norway to Christianity, but this alienated many of his subjects.


• Magnus I, The Good, 1024-47. Magnus was the son of King Olaf II. He was fostered in Russia by Kalf Arnason, but became king of Norway (1035) on the death of Canute II, and later (1042) King of Denmark. He tried and failed to become king of England as well.


• Svein Ulfson, 11th century. Svein was the son of Earl Ulf and Astrid (sister of King Canute and daughter of King Svein Forkbeard and Queen Sigrid the Haughty). He was made Earl of Denmark, under King Magnus the Good, in 1042. Svein had been fostered by Einar Tambaskelfer, king of Sweden, after the assassination of his father on the orders of Canute the Great. In 1043 he assumed the title of King of Denmark and rebelled against Magnus but was defeated and fled to Sweden and the protection of the king.


• Håkon [of Trondhjem], 1070?-95. Håkon was a cousin of King Magnus III, Barefoot. When King Olaf III died in 1093 he was succeeded by Magnus Barefoot as king of all Norway, but Håkon was elected king by a secessionist part of the country in the north. The two men began a struggle for control, but this was cut short when Håkon died of natural causes two years later. Håkon had been the foster son first of Sveinke Steinarson of Viken, and then of Thorer of Steig, who supported his claim to the throne and continued the rebellion after his death, until he was captured and hanged by Magnus.


• Magnus of Orkney (Saint), 1075?-1117. Earl of Orkney. Magnus was the eldest son of Earl Erlend, the joint Norwegian ruler of Orkney together with his brother Earl Paul. In 1098 Magnus Barefoot invaded Orkney and drove Erlend and Paul back to Norway, leaving his own son Sigurd as overlord. He took the young Magnus and Håkon (Paul's son) as hostages, while he went south to raid the west coast of Scotland, Man and Anglesey. At least one source states that Barefoot adopted Magnus. Magnus escaped and hid in Scotland for several years, returning after Barefoot, Erlend and Paul died. Håkon was already in possession of the earldom, but agreed to share it with Magnus. The joint reign was successful for a time, but rivalries developed which culminated in Håkon having Magnus assassinated in 1117. The cathedral in Kirkwall is dedicated to him, and he is the patron saint of Norway and fishmongers.


• Magnus the Blind, 1117?-?. Magnus was a son of King Eystein (died 1123) and his concubine Borghild, daughter of a wealthy commoner; and a grandson of King Magnus Barefoot. Magnus was sent as a baby to be fostered by Vidkun Jonson at Bjarkey.

Oblates

Today the word is almost synonymous with "monk" or "priest:" there are religious orders called the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, etc. But in earlier times the term was applied to a child, often the first-born son, who was dedicated to God and placed in a monastery or convent to be brought up by the monks or nuns. The practice can be traced back at least to Old Testament times (the prophet Samuel and St. Mary the Virgin are two from the Bible) and there are several examples in this list: the Venerable Bede, Skanudharova, Heiric of Auxerre and St. Hildegard of Bingen. It has also been a practice in other religions: the Tibetan high lamas are raised in monasteries after they are identified; young Buddhist boys are often sent for a few years to live as monks; there are the Rat-Children of Shah Daula in Pakistan, and the ancient Egyptians had the institution of the God's Wife. It does not always mean being cut off from your birth family. [Last updated: 5 October 1998]
References:
1. Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, edited by F.L. Cross. (London: Oxford University Press, 1957)

O'Brien, Daniel Dion (Dan), 1966-
African-American athlete

O'Brien was born in Portland, Oregon and adopted transracially (his birth parents are African-American and Finnish) when he was aged two by a family with two born-to and six adopted children. He was a late bloomer athletically, not beginning discovered until he was at the University of Idaho. His adolescent and young adult years were difficult, including problems with alcohol and several days in jail for writing bad checks. He lost his athletic scholarship at college because of academic failure, but in 1987 he pulled himself together, enrolled in a junior college, and got his scholarship back. He has also had occasional problems with motivation, and has been disturbed by a spectacular failure in the pole vault at the 1992 Olympic trials. He won the World Championship in the decathlon in 1993 and 1995 and the Olympic gold medal in 1996, holds the world record in the event, and is usually considered to be the greatest athlete in history. He has attention deficit disorder (ADD). [Last updated: 12 June 1998]
References:
1. "Olympic Hopeful Sees Self as Model for Adoptees, Minority Children," Adopted Child, March 1992, pp. 1-4
2. "O'Brien, Dan," Current Biography Yearbook, 1996. Summary also Available at: http://www.hwwilson.com/track.html#obrien [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
3. "Dan O'Brien's Athletic Accomplishments." Available at:
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~obrien/dan.accomplisht.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
4. "Dan O'Brien: World's Greatest Athlete." Available at: http://www.frozenwave.com/danobrien/ [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
5. Gelman, Mitch, & Farrey, Tom. "Atlanta Gives O'Brien Chance to Forget Failure." Available at: http://espn.sportszone.com/editors/atlanta96/features/0730obrien.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
6. O'Brien, Dan, & Steinberg, Gail. "Dan O'Brien: The World's Best Athlete: A Transracially Adopted Hero." Available at: http://www.pactadopt.org/profiles/obrien.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

O'Connell, James F., 1808-?
Irish captive and Ponapan chief

Oedipus
Greek mythological king of Thebes

Oedipus was the son of King Laius of Thebes and Queen Jocasta. There was a prophecy that Laius would be killed by his own son, so the baby was abandoned on a mountainside to die. (This was a common practice in ancient times for unwanted children: Hansel and Gretel and Snow White are fairy-tale examples. Compare the entries for feral children, foundlings and Nebuchadnezzar II.) He was found by a shepherd and given to King Polybus of Corinth, who adopted him, pretending he was his own child. When he grew up he was told in a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother; to avoid such a terrible fate he left home and the people he thought were his parents to wander the world. On his travels he met and accidentally killed Laius. Later he arrived at Thebes, where he rid the city of the monster Sphinx. His reward was the hand of the widowed queen - Jocasta. They had children, but eventually it was revealed what their real relationship was and that the man he had killed was his own father. In horror Jocasta killed herself, while Oedipus blinded himself and went into exile. The story is the basis of one of the most famous play cycles of ancient Greece, by Sophocles. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Oxford Classical Dictionary, edited by M. Cary, et al. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1949)
2. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
3. "Oedipus the King" [The myth]. Available at: http://acf5.nyu.edu/~aqf1349/oedipus.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
4. Sophocles. "Oedipus the King" [The first play in the cycle]. Available at: http://www.shef.ac.uk/~psysc/library/classics/oedipus2.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
5. Brinich, Paul M. "Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Adoption and Ambivalence." Available at: http://www.unc.edu/~pmbrinic/adoption.txt [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Ohiyesa, see: Eastman, Charles Alexander

Okada Keishu, 1929-
Also known as Oshienushisama and Okada Seiju
Japanese religious leader

Okada is the adoptive daughter (some sources say daughter-in-law; both may be true) of Okama Kotama. Her adoptive father left a Shinto-based religion called Sekai Kyusei Kyo and founded a sect called Sekai Mahikari Bunmei Kyodan in 1959. After he died in 1974 there was an internal struggle for the leadership of the new religion which she lost to Sekiguchi Sakae. As a result, Okada Keishu founded Sukyo Mahikari in 1978, which is closely related to Sekai Mahikari Bunmei Kyodan in beliefs, but which teaches that she is God's representative on earth. The cult's official history states that it was the father himself who founded Sukyu Mahikari, but this is not followed by academic students of new Japanese religious movements. [Last updated: 2 April 1998]
References:
1. McVeigh, Brian J. Spirits, Selves, and Subjectivity in a Japanese New Religion: The Cultural Psychology of Belief in Shukyo Mahikari. (Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 1997) (Studies in Asian Thought and Religion; 21)
2. Tebecis, Andris K. Mahikari: Thank God for the Answers at Last. (Tokyo: L.H. Yoko Shuppan, 1982)
3. Inoue Nobutaka. "Recent Trends in the Study of Japanese New Religions: 1. The Concept of 'New Religions.'" Available at: http://www.kokugakuin.ac.jp/ijcc/wp/cpjr/newreligions/inoue.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
4. Betti, Leeroy, et al. Series of articles reprinted from The West Australian [Perth], 18, 23 and 25 October 1997. [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.ozemail.com.au/~skyaxe/wareports.htm [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Okada Seiju, see: Okada Keishu

Olaf the Tree-Feller, see: Norwegian Ruling Families

Oldfield, Bruce (OBE), 1950-
African-British fashion designer

O'Neil, Robert Vincent, Jr., see: Foyster, Adelaide

Oninga, see: Radisson, Pierre-Esprit

Open Door, see: Tenskwatawa

Opwagon, see: Mustache, James

Orlandino, see: Roland

Orphan Trains of the USA, 1854-1930
Also known as Baby Trains and Mercy Trains

Between 1854 and 1930 between 150,000 and 200,000 children were shipped from the eastern USA to western states and territories. The operation was in some respects similar to that involved in the Child Migrants movement, but seems to have been more humane. The children were not necessarily orphans: there were also children of single parents, street children, runaways, prostitutes, etc. Efforts were made to get parental consent where relevant, and the children were sent to individual foster and adoptive families, not to institutions. The motivation was three-fold: to help populate the West by strong white people, to provide a better future for the children, and to rid eastern city streets of beggars and urchins. In some cases children were sent in batches, collected in a local opera house or similar large venue, and prospective parents (usually informally vetted beforehand by town worthies) would come and pick the child they wanted, just as one would chose a dog at an animal shelter, or the way slaves were sold. The train would start out full, make a number of stops along its chosen route (advertised in the local newspapers in advance), gradually discharging its human cargo. This degrading treatment was avoided in other cases by attempting to match adopters' wishes with children selected by social welfare workers prior to shipment, so that each child was sent to a previously identified family. Children were sometimes sent as indentured servants, little better than slaves, but most were destined for fostering and adoption, with the intention that they be fully absorbed into their new families. At least two children who were sent West under the scheme became successful, influential adults. Coincidentally they were sent to the same town in Indiana and were boyhood friends: Andrew Burke, later governor of North Dakota, and John Brady, later territorial governor of Alaska. [Last updated: 17 June 1999]
References:
1. Warren, Andrea. Orphan Train Rider: One Boy's True Story. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1996)
2. Patrick, Michael; Sheets, Evelyn, & Trickel, Evelyn. We Are a Part of History. (Santa Fé: Lightning Tree Press, 1990)
3. Vogt, Martha Nelson, & Vogt, Christina. Searching for Home: Three Families from the Orphan Trains. (Grand Rapids: Triumph Press, 1986)
4. Orphan Train Riders: Their Own Stories, edited by Mary Ellen Johnson. (Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1992-96)
5. DiPasquale, Connie. "A History of the Orphan Trains." Available at: http://kuhttp.cc.ukans.edu/carrie/kancoll/articles/orphans/or_hist.htm [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
6. "The Orphan Trains: Transcript." Available at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/amex/orphan/orphants.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
7. There was also a film made in 1979 called Orphan Train, starring Jill Eikenberry, Kevin Dobson, John Femia and Linda Manz

Oshienushisama, see: Okada Keishu

Ottobah Cugoano, see: Cugoano, Ottobah

Owen Rhoscomyl, see: Mills, Robert Scourfield

Pa Maretu, see: Maretu II

Pahtahsega, see: Jacobs, Peter

Pakistan, see: Rat-Children of Shah Daula

Palmer, James Alvin (Jim), 1945-
American athlete and baseball commentator

Palmer was adopted when two days old by a wealthy New York manufacturer, who also adopted an older girl. His adoptive father died when he was nine. His mother and he then moved to California and she married actor Max Palmer and he had an otherwise happy and privileged childhood. He played baseball from 1965 to 1984, pitching 53 shutouts with a 2.83 ERA, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. After retiring from playing baseball he became a sports commentator and also models clothing, plays golf and gardens. He is also National Sports Chairman for the US Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. He has no interest in tracing his birth family. [Last updated: 20 November 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Who's Who in America, 1996
3. Palmer, Jim, & Dale, Jim. Together We Were Eleven Foot Nine. (Kansas City: Andrews & McMeel, 1996)
4. Roelle, Shannon Ahnji. "Biography: Jim Palmer." Available at: http://www.erols.com/roelle/shannon/JimPalmer.html [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
5. Tot@l Sports. "Jim Palmer." Available at: http://totalbaseball.com/player/p/palmj001/palmj001.html [Last visited: 21 June 1999]

Park Myong Ae, 1964?-
Chinese-North Korean businesswoman, interpreter and educator

Park is an ethnic Korean living and working in China, operating a small business in Yongil. She has a degree in philosophy from Lianing University and previously taught at Jangjun Geology School and worked in the Lianing University library. She met the North Korean politician Hwang Jang Yop about 1900, either on one of her visits to Pyongyang or on one of his visits to China, when she was his intepreter/translator. Hwang was one of North Korea's most respected politicians, and credited by many with inventing the famous juche (self reliance) philosophy which forms the basis of North Korea's political and economic systems. About 1992 he is reported to have adopted Park. In 1997 Hwang defected to South Korea and Park is one of the people suspected of assisting his defection, by smuggling out art treasures to pay for bribes, etc., and by helping arrange the political and diplomatic aspects through her contacts in China and Seoul. [Last updated: 4 June 1998]
References:
1. Hahn Ho-Suk. "The Real Hwang Jang Yop: Was he a North Korea's George Washington or a Senile Old Man?" Available at: http://www.kimsoft.com/korea/whang-r.htm [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
2. "Korean 'Businessmen' or Spies." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://kimsoft.com/1997/ansp-z.htm [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Parker, Quanah (Chief), ca. 1850-1911
Also known as Kwaina
Last Comanche (Native American) chief, judge and religious leader

Parker's mother was Cynthia Ann Parker, a white woman captured by the Comanches in 1836, when she was about 12, who had married a Comanche chief, Nocona. After 25 years, in 1860, she was recaptured by the whites, and died in 1864. Parker's father also died about that time, leaving him a teenage orphan. He grew to prominence in the tribe, becoming a paramount chief and a judge in the tribal Court of Indian Offenses. He encouraged the adoption of some white ways but also promoted traditionalist ways such as peyotism and polygamy. He was active in the fight to legalize the Peyote religion. The town of Quanah, Texas, is named after him. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Dictionary of American Biography
2. Hirschfelder, Arlene, & Molin, Paulette. Encyclopedia of Native American Religions: An Introduction. (New York: Facts on File, 1992)
3. Neeley, Bill. The Last Comanche Chief: The Life and Times of Quanah Parker. (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1995)
4. "Quanah Parker." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.lone-star.net/mall/texasinfo/quanah.htm [Last visited: 17 June 1999]
5. White, David. "Quanah Parker." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.pan-tex.net/usr/p/pampa-hist/pa04000.htm [Last visited: 17 June 1999]

Pascale, Lorraine, 1973-
African-British model

Pàscoli, Giovanni, 1855-1912
Italian poet and scholar

Pedrog, see: Williams, John Owen

Pelzer, David J., 1961?-
American writer and speaker

Pelzer was the third of five children of alcoholic parents. His father deserted the family, and David was horrifically physically abused from the age of four by his alcoholic birth mother (herself abused by her parents) and then he spent nine years, from age 12, in foster care in a number of placements. When he left care he joined the Air Force and served in the Gulf war. He was the only American to receive the Outstanding Young Person of the Year award given at the World Congress in 1995 in Japan and in 1993, he was chosen as one of Ten Outstanding Young Americans by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce. [Last updated: 26 March 1999]
References:
1. Pelzer, David J. The Lost Boy. (Deerfield Beach: Health Communications: 1997)
2. Pelzer, David J. A Child Called 'It': An Abused Child's Journey from Victim to Victor. (Deerfield Beach: Health Communications: 1995)
3. Keller Graduate School of Management. "David's Story." Available at: http://www.metroactive.com/sonoma/pelzer95.html [Last visited: 4 September 1999]

Peng, Li, see: Li Peng

Penniman, Richard Wayne, see: Little Richard

Penrith, Harry, see: Burnum, Burnum

Perry, Audrey Faith, see: Hill, Faith

Perry, Mae Walker, see: Walker, C.J.

Persons, Truman Streckfus, see: Capote, Truman

Peter III (Czar), 1728-62
Also known as Peter Feodorovich
Czar of Russia, 1762

Peter was the son of Duke Charles Frederick of Holstein-Gottrop and Anna, the daughter of Czar Peter the Great and was born in Kiel, Germany. He was adopted by the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, his aunt, and succeeded her on her death. He became czar in 1761 during a war with Prussia, which he immediately stopped, thus sacrificing the gains made by Russia during the Seven Years' War. This antagonized the Russian nobility, and he was deposed, and then assassinated on 7 July 1762. In this the nobility had the backing of the czarina, who ascended the throne as Catherine the Great. One of his few reforms during his short reign was to stop the persecution of dissenting non-Orthodox Christians. [Last updated: 13 March 1999]
References:
1. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
2. Levykin, Alexei K. "Peter III (Peter Feodorovich)." Available at: http://www.sptimes.com/Treasures/TC.2.3.12.html [Last visited: 4 September 1999]

Peters, Alexander, see: Nazi Germany

Phair, Elizabeth Clark (Liz), 1967-
American musician

Phair was adopted as a baby by a well-to-do couple with another adopted child. She had a conventional, middle-class childhood, but began to rebel in high school. She graduated from Oberlin College in art, but it is in popular music, girly sound, that she has made her name. Her first album was Exile in Guywille (1993). She says: "it would limit me psychologically to find my natural parents." [Last updated: 18 September 1998]
References:
1. Joy, Camden. The Last Rock Star Book, Or: Liz Phair, a Rant. (Portland: Verse Chorus Press, 1998)
2. "Article Archives." [Articles, reviews and interviews from Details, Rolling Stone, the Chicago Tribune, Out, etc.] Formerly Available at: URL http://student-www.uchicago.edu/users/mpark/free/art_chive.htm [Last visited: 15 September 1998; URL unavailable: 21 June 1999]
3. "Liz Phair Bio." Available at: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Frontrow/5064/lizbio.htm [Last visited: 18 June 1999]
4. [Portraits]. Available at: http://www.imsa.edu/~rajman/pictures/hsliz.gif and at: http://www.hal.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~ootuka/other/liz.html [Last visited: 18 June 1999]

Pidgley, Tony
British businessman

Piri Poutapu, see: Poutapu, Piri

Pitt River Charley
Jackson, Henry
Achomawi (Native American) captives and religious leaders

Philip V (King), 238-179 BCE
General and king of Macedonia, 221-179 BCE

Plwm, Mici, see: Mici Plwm

Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-49
American author

Poe's actor parents died before he was three years old (his father had disappeared before he was born and his mother died in 1811) and he was fostered (never formally adopted) by a merchant named John Allan and his wife, Frances, who had been a friend of his mother. His older brother was raised by their grandfather and his younger sister was adopted by a different family, the Mackenzies, but he remained in contact with them. When he was six the family moved to England, but they returned to the USA in 1820. His later life was over-shadowed by financial and mental problems and periodic drunkenness, and he was temporarily disinherited by his foster father. He is famous for his short stories and poems, such as "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Gold Bug," "The Black Cat," "The Raven" and "Annabel Lee." [Last updated: 20 November 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Dictionary of American Biography
3. Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-Ending Rembrance. (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991)
4. Anderson, Madelyn Klein. Edgar Allan Poe: A Mystery. (New York: Franklin Watts, 1993) (An Impact Biography)
5. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
6. "Edgar Allen Poe: The Dark Genius of the Short Story." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.cais.com/webweave/poe/poebio.htm [Last visited: 18 June 1999]
7. SK Online Solutions. "The Biography of Edgar Allan Poe." Available at: http://www.schulhilfen.com/biographien/biop001.htm [Last visited: 21 June 1999]

Ponsonby, Sarah, 1755-1831
Irish-British personality

Ponsonby was the orphaned daughter of an upper class family of the Irish Protestant Ascendancy. Her mother died when she was three; her father remarried, but himself died when she was seven. Her stepmother then remarried but she herself died when Ponsonby was 13. Her stepfather took no interest in the now destitute child, and she was fostered by her father's cousin, Lady Betty Fownes, although she spent most of her time at boarding school in Kilkenny. The Fowneses were neighbors of the aristocratic Butler Family, and in spite of the age difference, Sarah fell in love with Lady Eleanor Butler (1745?-1829). The relationship was not approved of by their families, and in 1778 the two women eloped to Wales, eventually settling in Llangollen, at Pen y Maes Cottage, in 1780. Their relationship caused local curiosity but any initial hostility and gossip (they dressed in men's clothing) were soon overcome, and Butler's independent income enabled them to be local benefactors of the poor and to offer hospitality to a long succession of famous literati and others for many years, including Lord Byron, the Duke of Wellington, Sir Walter Scott, Thomas De Quincy, William Wordsworth and Robert Southey. They remained at the house, which they renamed Plas Newydd and considerably enlarged, until their deaths. The "Ladies of Llangollen" remain two of the most famous personalities in Welsh history. [Last updated: 19 May 1999]
References:
1. Mavor, Elizabeth. The Ladies of Llangollen: A Study in Romantic Friendship. (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973)
2. Life with the Ladies of Llangollen, compiled and edited by Elizabeth Mavor. (London: Viking, 1984)
3. Dictionary of National Biography
4. "Plas Newydd." Available at: http://www.llangollen.org.uk/pages/plas.htm [Last visited: 17 May 1999]
5. "A Journey to the Seven Wonders of Wales. 6: Llangollen Bridge." Available at: http://www.britannia.com/wales/7wonders/wonder6.html [Last visited: 15 May 1999]

Porrajmos, see: Shoah

Poutapu, Piri
Maori cultural leader

Powell, Peter John, 1928-
Also known as Ho Honaa Ve Ahta Nehe or Stone Forehead
American priest and historian and Cheyenne chief

Presley, Elvis, Jr., 1959?-
American musician

Presley, Priscilla Beaulieu, 1945-
Also known as Priscilla Ann Wagner and Priscilla Ann Beaulieu
American actress and businesswoman

Presley was born Priscilla Ann Wagner to Anne and Lt. James Wagner. Her father died when she was only about three months old, and when her mother remarried she was still a pre-schooler. Her step-father, Capt. Joseph Paul Beaulieu, formally adopted her when she was 2 1/2 years old, but her contact with her father's family was cut off and she did not learn who her birth father was until she was 13. Most of her early life was spent in Texas, where her step-father was stationed in the US Army, but he was posted to Germany when she was 14 and that was where she met Elvis Presley (1935-77). In 1962 she moved in with Presley and they married in 1967. They were divorced in 1973. In 1988 she began a career as an actress, appearing in Dallas on television, and in the movies Naked Gun, The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, Naked Gun 2 1/2 : The Smell of Fear, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. She also is closely involved in running Graceland, where Elvis lived, and in administering his estate. She has also been associated with several perfumes, including Moments, Indian Summer, and Roses and More. [Last updated: 29 October 1999]
References:
1. Finstad, Suzanne. Child Bride: The Untold Story of Priscilla Beaulieu Presley. (New York: Harmony Books, 1998)
2. Presley, Priscilla Beaulieu, and Harmon, Sandra. Elvis and Me. (London: Century, 1985)
3. "Priscilla Presley." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.lawstreet.com/celebrity/presley_priscilla/index.html [Last visited: 27 October 1999]
4. Al-fayez, Sumer. "Priscilla Biography." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Balcony/1679/biography.html [Last visited: 29 October 1999]
5. Who's Who in America 2000

Price, Peter, 1946-
British DJ and comedian

Price is a DJ on Radio City (Liverpool) and does pantomime and cabaret shows in Northern clubs. When he was 12 he realized he was gay and at 18 he underwent three days of aversion therapy to be cured. The treatment was very traumatic and has severely disturbed his life since; he was one of the subjects of a BBC television documentary in August 1996 on aversion therapy for gay men. He is an adoptee. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. D'Silva, Beverley. "When Gay Meant Mad," Independent on Sunday Magazine [London], 4 August 1996, pp. 8-9, 11
2. Laurence, Jeremy. "How Gay Men Were Cured," Times [London], 26 July 1996, p. 16. Also available as: "Newsclipping #321: How Gay Men Were 'Cured'" at: http://www.queer.org.au/QRD/news/world/1996/hunt-321.html [Last visited: 18 June 1999]

Pryderi
Also known as Gwri Wallt Eurin
Welsh folk hero

Pryse, Robert John, 1807-89
Also known as Gweirydd ap Rhys
Welsh writer and historian

Ptehe Woptuh'a, see: Chips, Horn

Pu Chi, see: Chinese Qing Dynasty

Pu Chun, see: Chinese Qing Dynasty

Pu Sin, see: Chinese Qing Dynasty

Pu Wei, see: Chinese Qing Dynasty

the Pu Yi Emperor, see: Chinese Qing Dynasty

Pulbrook, Lady Susan, 1906-
British florist

Pythias, see: Aristotle

Qing Dynasty, see: Chinese Qing Dynasty

Quetzalcoatl
Meso-American hero-god

Quetzalcoatl's mother died in childbirth, but he was born with speech, reason and wisdom (compare Michabo). Some sources say his father was murdered when he was a child, and he revenged the death when he was a teenager. He was one of the greatest of the gods, patron of the Toltec empire, joint creator of the sun and people, and bringer of agriculture, fire and the calendar. His return was expected by the Mexican Indians in prophecies that coincided with the circumstances of the arrival of Hernán Cortés in 1519, contributing to their conquest by the Spaniards. Some people believe that on 11 July 1991 Quetzalcoatl returned to earth during a solar eclipse over the pyramids of Teotihuacán near Mexico City, in a flying saucer, ushering in the New Age. [Last updated: 10 December 1997]
References:
1. Encyclopedia of Religion. 16 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1987)
2. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
3. "Quetzalcoatl." Available at: http://www.umich.edu/~proflame/texts/mirror/quetzal.html [Last visited: 18 June 1999]

Quinn, Katherine DeMille, 1911-95
Also known as Katherine Lester and Katherine DeMille
Canadian-American actress

Quinn was born Katherine Lester in 1911 in Vancouver, British Columbia. She was orphaned aged nine and adopted by the American film director, Cecil B. DeMille and his wife. She became an actress herself, appearing in 27 films from 1931 to 1956, including Man from Del Rio, Unconquered and Call of the Wild. From 1936 to 1963 she was married to the actor Anthony Quinn. [Last updated: 20 December 1997]
References:
1. "Katherine DeMille." Available at: http://italy.imdb.com/Bio?DeMille,+Katherine [Last visited: 18 June 1999]

Quinn, Phil
Native American child abuse expert

Quobna, see: Cugoano, Ottobah

Radisson, Pierre-Esprit, 1636?-1710
Also known as Oninga
French-Canadian-British trader and explorer

Radisson was born in France and emigrated to Canada in 1651 with his family. Within months, while out walking with friends he was captured by the Iroquois (one source says the Mohawks), who killed the other boys, and he was adopted by a family which had lost three sons in wars (the couple also had a surviving son and two daughters), who named him Oninga. As a captive he settled quickly and happily into his new life, learning the Iroquois language, and apparently did not take advantage of several opportunities to escape. But in 1653 he did escape and rejoin white society, becaming an explorer and fur trader. With his brother-in-law, Médard Chouart, Sieur des Groseilliers, he was the first European to explore Lake Superior, making good use of the survival skills he had learned from the Iroquois. They returned to European civilization with a very large cargo of furs, which were confiscated in Montréal by the government because they had been obtained without a license. This turned both men against the French government and they went to England, where they influenced the founding of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670, who employed them as guides and advisors. Radisson founded Port Nelson, the first permanent European settlement in Manitoba. After retiring he settled in England in 1687. [Last updated: 1 October 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Dictionary of American Biography
3. Dictionary of Canadian Biography
4. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
5. Nute, Grace Lee. Caesars of the Wilderness: Médard Chouart, Sieur des Groseilliers and Pierre Esprit Radisson, 1618-1710. (1943, repr. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1969)
6. Syme, Ronald. Bay of the North Sty Pierre Radisson. (New York: Morrow, 1950)
7. "Historic HBC: The Adventures of Radisson and des Groseilliers." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.hbc.com/hbchistory/historic_hbc/radisson.htm [Last visited: 2 October 1999]
8. Infoplease.com. "Radisson, Pierre Esprit." Available at: http://www.infoplease.com/ce5/CE43096.html [Last visited: 2 October 1999]

Raeburn, Sir Henry, 1756-1823
Scottish painter

Rangi, see: Tangiia Nui

Rat-Children of Shah Daula
Also known as Chuhas
Pakistani beggar-oblates

According to a centuries-old tradition, barren women who worship at the shrine of the Sufi saint Shah Daula, in Gujrat, Pakistan, will become fertile. But unless they donate their first-born child to the shrine as an oblate all their subsequent children will be born disabled. Claims are made that the tradition has been used as the foundation for a trade in the donated children, who are deliberately disfigured and sold to professional beggars by the shrine's guardians, although the shrine is now controlled by the government of Pakistan. It has been claimed that the disfigurements are caused by a genetic abnormality, but studies show that the children are unrelated to each other. There may be as many as 10,000 of these people, most in the province of Punjab and the city of Gujrat. [Last updated: 20 September 1998]
References:
1. Galpin, Richard. "The Rat-Children of Pakistan: Blessed by a Sufi Saint but Disfigured for Profit," The Guardian [London], 20 June 1998

Ratana, Tahupotiki Wiremu, 1873-1939
Maori religious and political leader

Ratana was born into a relatively prosperous rural Christian Maori family connected to the Ngati Apa and Ngati Rauru tribes. He was adopted by Ria Hamuera and brought up on family land at Te Kawau. In 1912 his senior kinswoman, Mere Rikiriki prophesied that he would become a religious leader; in 1918 he received a series of revelations and became a prophet and healer. His reputation spread rapidly throughout the Maori people and he became the center of a community of believers. Initially he told his followers to remain loyal to their religious affiliations, but by 1925 the movement had became a separate registered religion, the Ratana Church, with an associated political party, which won its first seat in the New Zealand Parliament in 1932. Unlike other native Maori religious movements based on post-contact charismatic leaders (for example, Rua Kenana Hepetipa), the Ratana Church has survived its founder's death and is still a very strong religious and political force. [Last updated: 20 December 1997]
References:
1. Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, vol. 3. Also available as: Ballara, Angela. "Ratana, Tahupotiki Wiremu, 1873-1939," at: http://inform.dia.govt.nz/internal_affairs/businesses/dnzb_pro/samples/VOL3RAT.html [Last visited: 18 June 1999]

The Raven, see: Houston, Samuel

Raven, Paul, see: Glitter, Gary

Reagan, Michael E., 1945-
American television personality and actor

Reagan is the adopted son of President Ronald Reagan and his first wife, the actress Jane Wyman (they were divorced in 1952). He is a politically conservative talk-show host and has also been an actor, speed-boat racer, arms dealer and game-show host. His adoption was not a happy one and he is now estranged from his family. He tells a story from his childhood which illustrates his relationship with his parents. In 1964 Ronald Reagan was the commencement speaker at an exclusive preparatory [public] school outside Scottsdale, Arizona. He was standing with several of the graduating seniors, who were invited to pose for pictures with him. He chatted to each of the graduates in turn, and to one of the boys said: "My name is Ronald Reagan. What's yours?" The boy said, "I'm your son, Mike." "Oh," said Reagan. "I didn't recognize you." [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Reagan, Michael, & Hyams, Joe. On the Outside Looking In. (New York: Zebra Books, 1988)
2. "Michael Reagan." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.ksfo560.com/ [Last visited: 18 June 1999]

Reagan, Nancy Davis, 1921- or 23
Also known as Anne Francis Robbins
Actress and wife of President Ronald Reagan

Reagan was adopted aged six by her step-father, Loyal Davis, after her parents' divorce and mother's remarriage. She was a successful Hollywood actress from 1949 to 1956, but she gave up her career after she married the actor and future governor of California and president of the US in 1952. Her influence on President Reagan was profound, especially in his later years. Her own interests as first lady included the Foster Grandparents Program and anti-drug campaigning. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Who's Who in America, 1996
2. Kelley, Kitty. Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992)
3. Reagan, Nancy, & Novak, William. My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan. (New York: Random House, 1989)
4. "Nancy Davis Reagan, 1923-." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www2.whitehouse.gov/WH/glimpse/firstladies/html/nr40.html [Last visited: 18 June 1999]

Remus, see: Romulus and Remus

Richard, Little, see: Little Richard

Riles, Wilson Camanza, 1917-
African-American educator

Riles was born poor and Black in Louisiana. He was orphaned at an early age, but was fostered by family friends. He worked his way through school and university. After some years of teaching and as a school principal he joined the California State Department of Education in 1958 as a consultant, its first ever African-American professional employee. In 1970 he was elected state superintendent of schools and was reelected in 1974 and 1978. He left office in 1983 to form an educational consulting firm, Wilson Riles and Associates, Inc. He was the first African-American ever elected to a state-wide office in California and the first elected African-American state superintendent of schools. [Last updated: 23 January 1998]
References:
1. Who's Who in America, 1996
2. Wilson Riles Archives and Institute for Education. "The Wilson C. Riles Collection." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.wredu.com/~wriles/archive/findinga.html [Last visited: 18 June 1999]

Roach, Archie, 1955-
Australian Aboriginal musician

Roach was one of the thousands of Aboriginal children stolen from their parents by the Australian government in an attempt to assimilate them into white society (see Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children). He was three or four years old when he and all but one of his siblings were stolen, split up and fostered and adopted. Roach had two failed placements after his indoctrination in an orphanage and then was placed aged nine with the Cox family (Scottish immigrants), where he learned music and grew up happy, although he was told untruths about his origins (his foster parents had been lied to by the authorities). When he was contacted by an older sister and learned the truth about his origins he went off the rails, and spent the next 14 years living rough on the streets and nearly killing himself with drink. During this time he traced some other members of his family, most of whom were dead or homeless. But he kept his music and was eventually "discovered" in 1988. His music is largely devoted to the problems of Aboriginal adoptees and he has worked with Joan Armitrading, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon. He has won several Australian record industry awards. His albums include Charcoal Lane and Jamu Dreaming. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Davies, Nick. "All the Beautiful Children," Guardian Weekend [London], 25 May 1996, pp. 32-34
2. Coolwell, Wayne. My Kind of People: Achievement, Identity and Aboriginality. (St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1993)
3. McCulloch, Ron, director & producer. Best Kept Secret: A Profile of Archie Roach. VHS color video, 30 mins. (Sydney: Aboriginal Broadcasting Unit, 1991)
4. Jackson, Leon. "Archie Roach." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.tunes.com/tunes-cgi2/tunes/person_frame/8241/0/0/76 [Last visited: 18 June 1999]

Robbins, Anne Francis, see: Reagan, Nancy Davis

Roberts, Ernie, see: Deacon, Joseph John

Roberts, George, see: Grant, Julia

Robinson, Bill, 1878-1949
Also known as Bojangles
African-American entertainer

Roland
Traditional French hero-figure

The hero of the medieval epic, the Song of Roland is described in a fourteenth-century Italian version, the Geste Francor, as the adoptive son of Charlemagne: "Charles loved him so much, that he kept him as his adoptive son ["figiuolo adottivo"], and Charles called him son most of the time; and thus it was said that Orlandino [Roland] was Charles' son; but he was a son out of love, not originated in sin." [Last updated: 7 April 1998]
References:
1. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
2. Morgan, Leslie Z. "Italian Literature: Geste Francor, Franco-Italian Epic: The Geste Francor (anonymous)." Available at: http://orb.rhodes.edu/encyclop/culture/lit/Italian/morganintro.html [Last visited: 18 June 1999]

Rollason, Helen (MBE), 1956?-99
English broadcaster

Roma, see: Kinder der Landstraße and Shoah

Romanov-Dolgorouki, Prince Alexis d'Anjou, see: Brimeyer, Alex

Rome

• Antoninus Pius, 86-161 (Emperor, 138-61)
  Antoninus Pius (also known as Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Antoninus) was the son of Aurelius Fulvius and Arria Fadilla, from a second-ranking official family at Lanuvium. He became a senator, quaestor and consul (in 120). He was proconsul of Asia from 133 to 136 and gained the attention of the emperor Hadrian, who adopted him and appointed him as his successor in 138. He became effective ruler of the empire during Hadrian's last illness and succeeded him in 138, only a few months after his adoption. He ruled well and was greatly respected by the people. Also in 138 he himself adopted his wife's nephew, Marcus Aurelius, who succeeded him as emperor, and Lucius Verus (Lucius Ceionius Commodus II), 130-169, who became a consul under Marcus Aurelius.
• Augustus Caesar Octavius, 63 BCE-14 CE (Emperor, 31 BCE-14 CE)
  The Caesar Augustus of the Bible, also known as Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, whose decree taxing the world brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem where Christ was born, was born into the imperial family. His mother, Atia, was Julius Caesar's niece, and his father was Caesar Octavius. But his father died in 59, leaving him to be brought up by his mother. When Caesar (his great-uncle) was assassinated in 31, his will revealed that he had secretly adopted Octavius and appointed him his successor. He ruled long and successfully, and was succeeded by his adopted son, Tiberius in 14. Augustus is remembered as one of the great emperors of Rome, for his rôle in fulfilling Old Testament prophecy, for his opposition to Antony and Cleopatra, and as the man for whom the month of August was named. After his death, he was deified by the Senate.
• Constantius I, 250?-306 (Emperor, 305-06)
  Also known as Flavius Valerius Constantius Chlorus came from a humble family, but rose high in the army and civil service. He was adopted by the emperor Maximian, who appointed him governor of Gaul, and gave him his daughter, Theodora, to marry. In 293 he was sent to put down a rebellion in Britain. When Diocletian and Maximian abdicated in 305, Constantius became emperor of the western empire. He returned to Britain to subdue the Picts, and died at York. He was succeeded by his son, Constantine the Great.
• Gaius Caligula, 12-41 (Emperor, 37-41)
  Caligula, also known as Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus, was born the son of Emperor Germanicus and Agrippina. His nickname Caligula, given to him by the imperial army, came from the miniature boots he wore as a little boy while on the Rhine with his parents. His father died in 19 and he was then brought up by his mother in Rome, until she was arrested in 29. He was eventually adopted by his great uncle, Emperor Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus, along with his grandson, Tiberius Gemellus. The Senate and the Praetorian Guard declared the emperor's will invalid, and Caligula assumed sole authority in 37. He at first himself adopted Gemellus, but then had him murdered. He became seriously ill in 37, which probably left him insane. In any case, after six months of good rule. He became a cruel despot, whose name is a byword for viciousness, and he was eventually assassinated by his own guards.
• Gaius Marius the Younger, ca. 110-80 BCE
  Marius was the adopted son of the consul Gaius Marius (157-86 BCE). He supported his father's republican-democratic party, and when his father died in 86 he assumed control. His father's great enemy, Sulla, eventually defeated him, and he committed suicide in his besieged fortress of Praeneste.
• Germanicus Julius Caesar, 15 BCE-19 CE
  Born Nero Claudius Germanicus, to general Nero Claudius Drusus and Agrippina, Germanicus was adopted by the Emperor Tiberius, his mother's brother, in 4 CE. He became a popular general, especially in the German territories. Tiberius appointed him governor of the whole eastern empire in 17, but he offended Tiberius by traveling unauthorized to Egypt in 19. He died in mysterious circumstances, possibly poisoned on the orders of Tiberius, who was jealous of his popularity. His children included the later Emperor Gaius Caligula and the mother of the Emperor Nero.
• Hadrian, 76-138 (Emperor, 117-38)
  Also known as Publius Aelius Hadrianus, the Emperor Hadrian was born to Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afre and Domitia Paulina of Gades, in Spain or Rome. His father died in 85 and he became a ward of Marcus Ulpius Trainus (Trajan), an uncle and later emperor. He advanced rapidly in the army and government when Trajan became emperor in 98. A day or so(?) before his death in 117, Trajan adopted Hadrian and appointed him his successor, but prior to this he had not shown any great sign, which led some at the time to claim the adoption was fictitious, but Hadrian was accepted by the army and the Senate. As emperor, he stopped Rome's territorial expansion and even retreated in some areas. He was popular with the common people, if less so with the elite, and made a point of traveling widely around the empire to see conditions for himself. The building of a pagan shrine on the site of the Temple at Jerusalem precipitated a revolt among the Jews, which he put down at the cost of half a million lives. Hadrian was also a patron of the arts, literature and architecture (the Pantheon, Castel Sant'Angelo), and wrote excellent Latin and Greek prose and poetry. In 136 he adopted Lucius Aelius (Lucius Ceionius Commodus I) as his successor, but Aelius died two years later. Just before he died he adopted Antoninus Pius (see above), who succeeded him as emperor.
• Lucullus Marcus Terentius Varro, ca. 116-ca. 56 BCE
  Lucullus was born to a noble plebian family and was adopted by Marcus Terentius Varro. Like his birth brother, Lucullus Licinius, he was a supporter of Sulla during the Civil War, and later became consul and governor of Macedonia, and helped put down the Spartacus Revolt.
• Marcus Aurelius, 121-180 (Emperor, 161-80)
  Marcus Aurelius (also known as Marcus Annius Verus) was the son of a Spanish Roman official, but early in life he gained the attention of the Emperor Hadrian, who had him educated. In 138 he was adopted by Antoninus Pius, whom he succeeded in 161, and whose daughter he married. He was an effective and relatively humane emperor, but without vision. His Meditations are a famous compilation of his philosophical reflections.
• Marcus Ulpius Trainus, 53?-117 (Emperor, 98-117)
  M. Ulpius Trainus, better known as Trajan, was born in Spain, probably to a Roman family. Although not from a major family, he advanced through the ranks of the army due to his outstanding ability, and was elected a consul in 91. In 97 he was adopted by the Emperor Nerva. When Nerva died the following year Nero succeeded him, although he did not return to Rome from the German frontier for several years. His reign was marked by great military successes, good government and some major public works projects. He is commemorated by the famous Trajan's Column in Rome, depicting his victories. He was succeeded by his nephew Hadrian, whom he had adopted a day or so before his death.
• Nero Claudius Caesar, 37-68 (Emperor, 54-68)
  Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus was the son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarus and Agrippina, who was Caligula's sister. His father died when he was a child, and his mother married the Emperor Claudius, who was her uncle, and who adopted Nero, changing his name to Nero Claudius Caesar. Agrippina assassinated Claudius in 54, and Nero succeeded him as emperor. He is remembered as the emperor who fiddled while Rome burned (a myth: the violin hadn't been invented yet), for persecuting Christians on a grand scale, his remarkable personal extravagance, great ruthlessness in maintaining power (he had his own mother assassinated), and as a patron of the arts. He is definitely not a rôle model, but he is included because of his great historical importance.
• Pliny the Younger, 62-113
  Pliny (his birth name was Publius Caecilius Secundus; his adoptive name was Gaius Plinius Caecilius) was born in Novum Comum and studied in Rome under Quintilian, where he was a brilliant student. He was adopted by his uncle, Pliny the Elder, in 79. He rose through the ranks of the army and the government, becoming a consul in 100, and about 111 he was appointed governor of Bithynia. He is famous today mostly for his correspondence, published in nine books during his life and a further volume after he died.
• Scipio Africanus Minor, 185-29 BCE
  Scipio was born Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Numantinus, the son of Lucius Aemilianus Pallus, but was adopted by a relative, Scipio Africanus Major, when he was 16. He was a great general during the Spanish and Punic wars and became a military tribune in 148. His troops destroyed Carthage in 146 and Numantia in 133. He was also a famous patron of the arts. In 147 and again in 134 he was elected consul.
• Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus, 42 BCE-37 CE (Emperor, 14-37)
  Tiberias was born the son of Tiberias Claudius Nero and Livia and was adopted by Augustus Caesar Octavius, his father-in-law, when he was 46. He was a great general and succeeded Augustus in 14. His reign was not very successful, however, and was marked by rebellions and family strife. He adopted Germanicus Julius Caesar, his nephew, whom he had intended to succeeded him, but, Germanicus died first in 19, and Tiberias then adopted his son, Caligula, who succeeded him in 37.

Romulus and Remus
Legendary founders of Rome

These were twin sons of Mars and Rhea Silvia. Their grandfather, Numitor, was the king of Alba Longa and was deposed by his younger brother, Amulius, who ordered the twins to be thrown into the river Tiber. But they drifted ashore and were found and fostered by a wolf (see Feral Children) until they were discovered by the royal herdsman, Faustulus, who adopted them. They grew up and eventually discovered their identity, killed Amulius and restored Numitor to the throne. Romulus later killed Remus and went on to found Rome in 753 BCE. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Oxford Classical Dictionary, edited by M. Cary, et al. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1949)
2. Encyclopedia of Religion. 16 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1987)
3. "Roma: Romulus and Remus." Available at: http://cyberfair.gsn.org/citrag/roma/doc/history/est_112.htm [Last visited: 18 June 1999]

Roosevelt, Anna Eleanor, see: Roosevelt, Eleanor

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
American author, activist, diplomat and first lady

Eleanor Roosevelt was born, the eldest of three children into a wealthy and prominent New York family (her uncle was President Theodore Roosevelt), but her mother and one brother died when she was eight and her father, an alcoholic, when she was 10. She and her other brother were raised by their emotionally distant grandmother after her mother died until she was sent to Allenswood boarding school in England at 15, where she began to blossom. In 1905 she married a cousin, Franklin Roosevelt, who later became the longest-serving president in US history (1932-45), but she had a career as a social worker before marriage, and after marriage was deeply involved in the League of Women Voters, women's trade unionism, Democratic party politics, Depression relief and job creation, racial equality (she famously resigned from the Daughters of the American Revolution when the African-American contralto Marion Anderson was refused permission to sing in a DAR-run concert hall), the establishment of Israel, and Americans for Democratic Action (for which she was accused of being a Communist sympathizer). She was a US delegate to the United Nations from 1945 to 1953 and chaired the commission which drafted the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She also wrote a widely-read newspaper column and a number of books. She is believed by some to have been bisexual. [Last updated: 14 August 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
3. Cook, Blanche Wiesen. Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1933. (Penguin, 1993 reprint)
4. Cook, Blanche Wiesen. Eleanor Roosevelt, 1933-1938. (Penguin, 1999 reprint)
5. Roosevelt, Eleanor. The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt. (DaCapo Press, 1992 reprint)
6. "Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/glimpse/firstladies/html/ar32.html [Last visited: 11 August 1999]

Rosnes, Renee, 1962-
Native Canadian-American musician

Rosnes is a Native Canadian, born in Regina, Saskatchewan, and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. She began piano lessons when she was three and was soon recognized as a very gifted performer and composer. She continued her studies at the University of Toronto, and now lives in New York. Initially she was trained as a classical musician but has made jazz her career. She records for Blue Note and Capitol, beginning in 1990, and her albums include Renee Rosnes, Free Trade, For the Moment, Without Words, As We Are Now and Ancestors. She has won the Juno Award three times (1992, 1994 and 1996) and the Jazz Report Award in 1995. In 1994 she met her birth mother, Mohindar, after a long search, and three months later her adoptive mother died. [Last updated: 23 April 1998]
References:
1. Ferri, Rom. "A Portrait of Renee Rosnes," Piano Stylist and Jazz Workshop (October-November 1991). Also Available at: http://www.eclipse.net/~fitzgera/rosnes/portrait.htm [Last visited: 18 June 1999]
2. "Renee Rosnes." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.jazzcorner.com/rosnes/rosneshome.html [Last visited: 26 June 1999]
3. Coolman, Todd. [Liner Notes]. Available at: http://www.eclipse.net/~fitzgera/rosnes/ancnotes.htm [Last visited: 18 June 1999]

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 1712-78
Swiss-French philosopher

Rousseau's mother died a few days after he was born (in Switzerland) and he was then raised by an aunt and uncle. Another version of his life says his father raised him until he was 10, and then gave him to the custody of his aunt and uncle, who sent him to boarding school. Another version states that he and a cousin lived with an unrelated family from 1722 and only briefly, later, lived with his aunt and uncle. He ran away from his apprenticeship to an engraver after three years and became secretary and companion to a wealthy and sympathetic woman. In 1742 he went to Paris and became a music teacher, copyist and secretary, and a friend of Diderot, who commissioned him to write the music articles for the famous Encyclopédie. He first became known as a philosopher in the 1750s, and his influence on modern political and educational philosophy has been profound. His views antagonized the authorities in both France and Switzerland and in 1762 he went into exile in Prussia and then England, returning to France under an assumed name in 1768. His most influential works are probably the philosophical novel Émile (1762) and his autobiographical Confessions (1782). [Last updated: 14 August 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
3. Kolak, Daniel. "Rousseau Biography." (Extract from his Lovers of Wisdom. [Belmont: Wadsworth, 1997]). Available at: http://www.msu.edu/user/mayhopee/bio46.htm [Last visited: 14 August 1999]
4. "Jean-Jacques Rousseau." Available at: http://www.epistemelinks.com/Pers/RousPers.htm [Last visited: 14 August 1999]
5. The History Guide. "Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.pagesz.net/~stevek/europe/rousseau.html [Last visited: 14 August 1999]

Rowland, John, see: Stanley, Henry Morton

Rua Kenana Hepetipa, 1869-1937
Maori prophet

Running Elk, see: Mustache, James

Runs On Top, see: Coolidge, Sherman

Russ, Florence, see: LaBadie, Florence

Ruth, Dr., see: Westheimer, Ruth Siegel

Saffian, Sarah Ruth, 1969-
Also known as Susan Morgan
American journalist

Saffian was born Susan Morgan adopted as a baby of two months by an affluent family. She knew from the age of seven that she was adopted. Her adoptive mother died when she was six. Her father remarried and he and her step-mother had two biological children, but the family was very close and happy. She graduated from Brown University and became a journalist on the New York Daily News, Village Voice, Harper's Bazaar, etc. When she was 23 she was traced by her birth parents, who had married and had three more children. Her book, Ithaka, traces the three years it took for her to be able to assimilate and welcome her birth family into her life. [Last updated: 7 March 2000]
References:
1. Saffian, Sarah. Ithaka: A Daughter's Memoir of Being Found. (New York: Basic Books, 1998)
2. "Saffian." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.saffian.com [Last visited: 7 March 2000]

Saigo Siro, 1867-1922
Japanese martial arts master

Saigo Siro was the extramarital birth son of Saigo Tanomo (1830-1905), lord of the Aizu samurai clan of Japan and master of the Daito-Ryu aikijujutsu martial art, hereditary in the clan. In 1885 Saigo senior was erroneously reported to his family to have been killed (sources differ: either in battle or executed for rebellion by the Meiji government), and according to custom, the entire family - wife, children and others, at least 14 people in all - committed ritual suicide in shame. This left Saigo senior with no legitimate eldest son to pass the secrets and mastery of Daito-Ryo to on his death, so he legitimized Siro by formal adoption in 1887 and taught him everything. Unfortunately Siro fell in love with the daughter of Jigoro Kano, master of Kodokam judo and defected to that system. Saigo senior then chose Masayoshi Sokaku Minamoto Takeda (the nephew of his predecessor, Soemon) as his successor, while Siro eventually left Kodokam judo as well. [Last updated: 5 March 1998]
References:
1. Cunningham, Steven R. "A Brief Look at the 'Root Arts' of Judo." Formerly available at: http://www.bethwood.com/cunningham/ju01002.htm [Last visited: 6 May 1998; URL unavailable: 26 June 1999]
2. "Interview with Takeda Tokimune: Part 4," in: Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu: Conversations with Daito-ryu Masters, edited by Sanley A. Pranin. (Aiki News, 1995). Also Available at: http://www.daito-ryu.org/tota4.html [Last visited: 18 June 1999]
3. "Daito-Ryu." Available at: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/1235/history.html [Last visited: 18 June 1999]
4. Yamaguchi, Shihan. "Break-Away Students." Available at: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/1235/articles.html [Last visited: 18 June 1999]

St. Gertrude the Great, see: Gertrude the Great

St. Hildegard of Bingen, see: Hildegard of Bingen

St. Hugh of Cluny, see: Hugh of Cluny

St. Isidore of Seville, see: Isidore of Seville

St. Joseph the Carpenter, see: Joseph the Carpenter

St. Juliana of Liège, see: Juliana of Liège

St. Martin de Porres, see: Martin de Porres

St. Mary the Virgin, see: Mary the Virgin

Sainte-Marie, Buffy, 1941-
Native Canadian-American musician and actress

Sainte-Marie is part Cree and was born on the Piapot Reserve in Canada. She was adopted by a white family from Maine, USA, and raised in Maine and Massachusetts. Her family encouraged her interest in her origins and also her musical talents. She has degrees in teaching and oriental philosophy and a Ph.D. in Fine Arts from the University of Massachusetts. She was a major figure in the folk-song renaissance of the 1960s and '70s as a singer and composer. Her own albums include It's My Way, Many a Mile, Sweet America and Coincidence (and Likely Stories), and she composed the scores for the films Harold of Orange and Great Spirit in the Hole. Individual songs of hers such as "Universal Soldier," "Up Where We Belong," "Until it's Time for You to Go," "The Piney Wood Hills," "He's an Indian Cowboy in the Rodeo" and "Now that the Buffalo's Gone" were also recorded by other singers and she earned a blacklisting by the Johnson administration for her anti-war activities. She spent five years as a regular on Sesame Street and since the the folk revolution was taken over by commercial interests she has concentrated more on her art, touring outside the USA, writing and experimental music. [Last updated: 27 April 1998]
References:
1. Sandall, Robert. "Women Right on Song," The Times [London], 26 January 1992, p. 6/7
2. Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music. 2nd edition, edited by Colin Larkin. (New York: Stockton Press, 1995)
3. ["Well Known People Who Happen to Be Canadian:] Buffy Sainte-Marie." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://alvin.lbl.gov/bios/SainteMarie.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Salaì, see: Caprotti, Gian Giacomo

Salaino, Andrea, see: Caprotti, Gian Giacomo

Sale, Cornelius Calvin, Jr., see: Byrd, Robert C.

Salter, Shane
African-American child advocate

Salter's unmarried mother was 15 when he was born in New York. She became a drug addict, and when he was four he and his younger brother were placed in care after being found wandering the streets. During the rest of his childhood he had a total of 11 placements, some with his brother and some where they were separated; some in foster families, once in an adoptive placement which he terminated, two in group homes and one period when he lived with his birth father, who was a drug dealer. Some of the disruptions were because of administrative convenience, others were because of his progressively worse behavior. But when he was about 16 several encounters with concerned adults turned him from an angry, hurt, defeated and failing child into a young man determined to succeed. He graduated valedictorian of his high-school class and graduated from college. He is now deputy director of For Love of Children, a Washington, DC child advocacy charity, and is president of the board of Adoptive Families of America. He has five children, two of them adopted. [Last updated: 15 June 1998]
References:
1. "For Love of Children's Staff." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.flocdc.org/floc/flocbe.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]
2. Salter, Shane, & Agur, Roxanne. "Surviving Foster Care: A Day with Shane Salter." Available at: http://www.pactadopt.org/profiles/shane.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Sammu-ramat, see: Semiramis

Samuel, 9th century BCE
Also known as Shmuel
Jewish prophet

According to the Bible (I Samuel 1-2) Samuel was the son of Elkanah and Hannah and was sent to live with the priest Eli in the Temple in Jerusalem when he was a toddler as an oblate. He only saw his parents once a year, remaining in the Temple for about 12 years. He grew up to be one of the greatest prophet-judges of the Jews. It was Samuel who, against his better judgment, anointed Saul as king of Israel, and later David, to take Saul's place. [Last updated: 10 December 1997]
References:
1. Encyclopedia of Religion. 16 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1987)
2. The Complete Who's Who in the Bible, edited by Paul Gardner. (London: Marshall Pickering, 1995)
3. Encyclopaedia Judaica. (Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, 1971)
4. New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia, editor-in-chief Geoffrey Wigoder. 7th edition. (New York: Facts On File, 1992)

Sancho, Ignatius, 1729-80
African-British shopkeeper and personality

Sancho was born on a slave ship bound for Colombia. His mother died soon after arriving and his father killed himself soon afterwards rather than live as a slave. When he was two he was brought to England by his owner and given to his three maiden sisters in Greenwich. He taught himself to read and write, entered the service of the Dukes of Montague and became a trusted servant and favorite "pet" of English high society. He also sat for his portrait by Gainsborough. He was left a legacy in the 1750s, but wasted it on women and gambling and later opened a grocery shop, married and had six children. He was a friend of the author Laurence Sterne. His Letters, published after his death, were very popular. In 1997 the National Portrait Gallery in London held an exhibition on his life. [Last updated: 22 April 1998]
References:
1. Fryer, Peter. Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain. (London: Pluto Press, 1984)
2. Dictionary of National Biography
3. Bygott, David. Black and British. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992)
4. Tredre, Roger. "Slave Boy Who Wowed Literary London," Guardian Weekly, 2 February 1997 [Originally published in the London Observer]
5. King, Rayahn, et al. Ignatius Sancho: An African Man of Letters. (London: National Portrait Gallery, 1997)
6. Obiechina, Emmanuel. "1994 Ahiajoku Lecture. Nchetaka: The Story, Memory and Continuity of Igbo Culture" Available at: http://www.lioness.cm.utexas.edu/*../I-files/Igbo.dir/Ahiajoku_Lectures/ahiajoku_Lec94.htm [Last visited: 15 June 1999]

Sanderson, Teresa Ione (Tessa) (MBE), 1956-
Jamaican-British athlete and television presenter

Sanraku, Kano, see: Kano Sanraku

Sansetsu, Kano, see: Kano Sansetsu

Sargon I (King), 3rd millennium BCE
Akkadian king, ca. 1335-2279 BCE

Sargon united the kingdoms of Sumer and Akkad, including parts of modern Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey. His early life is largely a mystery. One ancient Sumerian legend states that he was the son of a high priestess and was floated in a basket on the Euphrates before being rescued and raised by a water-drawer named Aqqi who adopted him. (compare: Maui and Moses). He worked in Aqqi's orchards and became a favorite of the goddess Ishtar. It is not known how a man of such unprepossessing beginnings was able to attain his position, but the great king rising from obscurity is a common theme in ancient mythology, serving to emphasize his natural and god-given authority (especially when coupled with a divine parent), and kings would cultivate such tales to enhance their prestige, in the same was as modern politicians encourage stories of their rise from humble origins. [Last updated: 13 March 1999]
References:
1. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
2. "Birth Legend of Sargon of Akkad," translated by B.R. Foster. In: The Context of Scripture: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World, vol. 1, edited by W.W. Hallo (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1997). Also Available at: http://puffin.creighton.edu/theo/simkins/tx/BirthSargon.html [Last visited: 13 March 1999l; URL unavailable: 4 September 1999]

Schad, Brenda, 1971-
Choctaw-Cherokee (Native American) model

Schneider, Peter Bernhard, see: Hyde, Joseph Peter

Schuon, Frithjof, see: Honorific Adoption

Scipio Africanus Minor, see: Rome

Scott, George, 1966-
Liberian-Swedish-American boxer

Scott won the Olympic boxing silver medal in his weight class in 1988, and was the WBU world lightweight boxing champion from 1995 to 1997. He now lives in the USA, but was born in Liberia and adopted transracially by a Swedish family. He lost his title by fighting in an unauthorized contest in August 1997 against Mark Ramsey. [Last updated: 20 December 1997]
References:
1. "George Scott, Boxing World Champion." Available at: http://www.liber.se/aw/netnews/nr2_95/sports.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

See, Heather, see: McCartney, Heather

Seed, Father Michael, 1957?-
British Catholic priest

Seed was born in Manchester and adopted as a baby. His adoptive mother committed suicide when he was seven and his adoptive grandfather also died before he was 10. He was then raised by his grandmother in the Salvation Army. He was dyslexic and was sent to a special boarding school for maladjusted children, but still didn't learn to read until he was 12. He became a Roman Catholic and a Franciscan Friar of the Atonement. He is on the staff of Westminster Cathedral in London, where he specializes in helping others convert, is Catholic chaplain to Parliament and Cardinal Hume's adviser on ecumenical affairs. Famous people he has instructed in the faith include Ann Widdicombe, John Selwyn Gummer and the Duchess of Kent. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Moreton, Cole. "From Tragic Childhood to the Politician's Priest," Independent on Sunday [London], 28 May 1995, p. 3
2. Gaisford, Sue. "The Great Converter," The Tablet, 28 June 1997. Also Available at: http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/shownews?Day=28&Month=6&Year=1997#656 [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Seiju, Okada, see: Okada Keishu

Seki Takakazu Kowa, 1642-1708
Japanese mathematician

Seki was born into a samurai warrior family, the second son of Nagaakira Utiyama, but was adopted as a young boy by another noble family, the Seki Gorozayemon. He was a self-educated child prodigy in mathematics from the age of nine. He studied determinants and Bernoulli numbers, and was the first in Japan to write on magic squares. He also studied Diophantine equations and the calculus. In some areas his work predates that of Europeans now credited with priority (e.g., Bernoulli numbers). He was also a renowned teacher and the examiner of accounts to the Lord of Koshu. [Last updated: 13 February 1998]
References:
1. Dictionary of Scientific Biography
2. Mikami, Yoshio. The Development of Mathematics in China and Japan. (New York, Chelsea Pub. Co., 1961)
3. Yosida, K. "A Brief Biography of Takakazu Seki (1642?-1708)," The Mathematical Intelligencer, 3 (1981), pp. 121-22
4. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
5. "Takakazu Seki Kowa." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.math.bme.hu/mathhist/Mathematicians/Seki.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Semiramis (Queen), 9th century BCE
Also known as Sammu-ramat
Queen of Assyria

Semiramis was believed to be the daughter of the goddess Derceto. She was exposed at birth (see also Oedipus, Maui and Feral Children; Snow White and Hansel and Gretel are examples from fairy tales of older children being exposed because of family rivalry or poverty), but she was attended by doves until found by shepherds and raised as their child. When she grew up she married first Onnes and then Ninus, King of Assyria. When he died she ruled in her own right. She was also a famous general and is credited with building Babylon. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Oxford Classical Dictionary, edited by M. Cary, et al. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1949)

Sennacherib (King), 8th-7th centuries BCE
Also known as Sin-ahe-erba
King of Assyria, 705-681 BCE

According to some traditions Sennacherib was the adopted son of King Sargon II, but other sources do not mention this. He was Sargon's successor. During his reign the old enmity between Assyria and Egypt flared up again, and as Judah was an ally of Egypt, Sennacharib besieged Jerusalem, although he was unsuccessful (see: II Kings 19), after Hezekiah paid a heavy tribute. Sennacherib was succeeded by his son, Esarhaddon after being assassinated by two of his other sons, Adrammelich and Sharezer, in Nineveh. [Last updated: 19 September 1998]
References:
1. Egyptian Tourism Ministry. "Twenty-Fifth Dynasty." Available at: http://www.interoz.com/egypt/hdyn25.htm [Last visited: 16 June 1999]

Setana, see: CuChulain

Seymour, Alan, 1927-
Australian dramatist

Shabazz, Malik, see: X, Malcolm

Shabbona (Chief), 1775?-1859
Also known as Shaubena or Shabonee
Ottawa-Pottawatomie (Native American) chief

Shabbona was born an Ottawa but was adopted into the Pottawatomie tribe. He became a chief and, against most of the other Pottawatomie chiefs, a friend of the white settlers in Illinois and Indiana. He succeeded in keeping the Pottawatomie out of the Winnebago War (1827) and the Black Hawk War (1832) and survived two assassination attempts by the Sac and Fox tribes. In return for his services the government confiscated his land at Shaubena Grove, Illinois, but local settlers bought him land near Seneca and built him a house, where he spent the rest of his life. There are several places in Illinois and Michigan named after him. [Last updated: 19 February 1998]
References:
1. Matson, Nehemiah. Memories of Shaubena, with Incidents Relating to the Early Settlement of the West. (Chicago: D.B. Cooke, 1878)
2. Handbook of North American Indians: Vol. 15: Northeast, edited by Bruce G. Trigger. (Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1978)
3. Dictionary of American Biography ("Shabonee")
4. "Backtracking: The Lost Shaubena Silver Mine." Formerly available at: http://www.misslink.net/zephyr/baktrak/shaubena.htm [Last visited: 6 May 1998; URL unavailable: 26 June 1999]

Shabonee, see: Shabbona

Shakers, 1747-

The Shakers (formal name: The United Society of Belivers in Christ's Second Coming) are a communal religious sect founded by Mother Ann Lee in 1747 in England but primarily flourishing in the USA. From a high of about 5,000 members at the time of the US Civil War there are now only a very few left. Because they are celibate and discourage marriage they are dependent on converts and fostering for new members. They fostered large numbers of orphans, many of whom stayed on in the communities after adulthood because of the excellent care and love they received. The Shakers are especially famous for their wooden furniture and boxes, architecture and for the hymn "'Tis a Gift to be Simple." [Last updated: 27 October 1999]
References:
1. Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, edited by F.L. Cross. (London: Oxford University Press, 1957)
2. Encyclopedia of Religion. 16 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1987)
3. Melcher, Marguerite Fellows. The Shaker Adventure. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1941)
4. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
5. "'I don't want to be remembered as a chair!:' Reminiscences about the Shakers." Available at: http://www.shakerworkshops.com/reminis.htm [Last visited: 19 June 1999]
6. Mihok, Marsha. "Shaker Apocalypticism." Available at: http://www.uts.columbia.edu/~usqr/MIHOK.HTM [Last visited: 19 June 1999]
7. Andrews, Edward Deming. The People Called Shakers: A Search for the Perfect Society. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1953)

Shannon, William F. (Bill), ca. 1955-
American newspaper executive

Shannon was the third of seven children of a poor Chicago family. His parents divorced when he was nine. His mother was unable to cope with seven children and sent them back to live with their alcoholic father. Eventually the children were taken in care by a Catholic social services agency. Five of the children were fostered, but Bill and his older brother were sent to Boys Town, Nebraska, where he stayed until 1973. During his time he also sang with the famous Boys Town Choir. He is now a newspaper executive in Centralia, Washington. [Last updated: 24 September 1998]
References:
1. Shannon, William F. "Music Delivered a Young Boy from Despair, but it Died at Boys Town with Father Schmitt," Progressive Populist, 2(7) (July 1996). Also Available at: http://www.eden.com/~reporter/7.96.Observations.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Shaubena, see: Shabbona

Shawnee Prophet, The, see: Tenskwatawa

Shelton, Fincourt
American lawyer
Shelton, Kenneth
American religious leader

Shenandoah (Chief), ?-1816
Susquehannock-Oneida (Native American) captive and chief

Shenandoah was born a Susquehannock Indian but he was captured during a war and adopted into the Oneida tribe. He rose to become one of their two paramount chiefs during the American Revolution, when he supported the colonists against the British. Adoptions of this kind were common among the Oneida and several other tribes. The adoptee was usually intended to take the place of a specific dead person, often a war casualty, and in some societies had to become completely acculturated or be killed. Such adoptees were often adults when captured, but could be small children (see Captives). [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Handbook of North American Indians: Vol. 15: Northeast, edited by Bruce G. Trigger. (Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1978)

Shepenwepe II, see: God's Wife

Sherman, William Tecumseh, 1820-91
American general

Sherman was born in Ohio. His father died when he was nine and his mother, unable to care for her eight children alone, sent his brother Thomas to be raised by an aunt and William to be fostered or adopted by his father's prosperous friend, Thomas Ewing, who named him after Chief Tecumseh. Sherman was never really happy in the house, although he married his foster sister, and he always suffered from feelings of rejection, depression and alienation, which led to him being accused by some of insanity. He was educated at West Point, the US Military Academy, and graduated in 1840. After service in the Army he became a banker and unsuccessful businessman in San Francisco, then superintendent of the seminary and military academy which eventually became Louisiana State University. In 1861 he became a colonel in the Union Army of the Civil War; in 1864 supreme commander of the forces in the West. At the end of that year his army marched from Atlanta to Savannah, destroying everything in its path on their "March to the Sea." After the Civil War he stayed in the Army until he retired in 1883. He was also the birth brother of US senator John Sherman. [Last updated: 23 February 1998]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Fellman, Michael. Citizen Sherman: A Life of William Tecumseh Sherman. (New York: Random House, 1995)
3. Dictionary of American Biography
4. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
5. Kestenbaum, Lawrence. "The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Sherman." Available at: http://www.politicalgraveyard.com/bio/sherman.html [Last visited: 16 June 1999]
6. Bengston, Wayne C. "William Tecumseh Sherman: A North Georgia Notable." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://ngeorgia.com/people/shermanwt.shtml [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Sherrin, Scott, 1972-96
African-British entertainer

Shigeru, Yoshida, see: Yoshida Shigeru

Shmuel, see: Samuel

Shoah, 1939-45
Also known as the Holocaust and the Porrajmos

The Shoah, also known as the Holocaust, is the name given to the attempt by Nazi Germany to exterminate not only the Jews of Europe, their primary target, but also the mentally and physically handicapped, the Roma (whose term for the Shoah is the Porrajmos), homosexuals, and other groups they believed were dangerous or inferior to the white "Aryan" people, as they called themselves. A byproduct of this attempt was the splitting up of families and the creation of many orphan children. Some children found safety outside the territory occupied by the Nazis by means of the Kinderstransport or were sent privately to family and friends, or happened by good fortune to be out of danger at boarding school, etc. Other orphans were created when parents managed to send their children to hide with sympathetic families or in convents and monasteries inside Nazi-occupied countries before they themselves were sent to concentration camps and murdered. Other orphans were inmates of the death camps whose parents were murdered but who themselves somehow survived until liberation. These orphan survivors were inevitably permanently scarred mentally by their experiences, but in spite of this some have gone on to live not only relatively normal, but even highly successful lives. Like the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children, Child Migrants, child Slaves, the Native American Children, Janissaries, the Kinder der Landstraße and other groups of children and individuals effectively orphaned by war, the short-sightenedness, stupidity or evil of their fellows, the child orphans of the Shoah are monuments to human resilience, ingenuity and strength. From the many possible examples a few have been included in this directory:
Balint, Lea | Berglas, David | Finaly, Robert and Gérald | Forman, Miloš | Westheimer, Ruth Siegel | Wiesel, Eliezer | Wilkomirski, Binjamin (a fraudulent case) | Zweig, Stefan Jerzy
[Last updated: 31 May 1999]
References:
1. Gilbert, Martin. The Boys: The Untold Story of 732 Young Concentration Camp Survivors. (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1997)
2. Lappin, Elena. "The Man with Two Heads," Granta, 66 (Summer 1999), pp. 7-65
3. Encyclopaedia Judaica, ed. by Cecil Roth. (Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, 1971)
4. Pyrish, Elzbieta. "Jewish Convent Children Thanking their Christian Saviors," Warsaw Voice, 21 September 1997. Available at: http://www.jcrelations.com/res/convsurv.htm [Last visited: 4 June 1999]
5. Arnold, Michael S. "In Search of an Identity," The Jerusalem Post, Internet Edition, 7 May 1997. Available at: http://www.jpost.com/com/Archive/07.May.1997/Features/Article-21.html [Last visited : 4 June 1999]
6. University of South Florida. College of Education. Florida Center for Instructional Technology. "A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust: An Overview of the People and Events of the Holocaust through Text, Documents, Photographs, Art and Literature." Available at: http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/default.htm [Last visited: 4 June 1999]
7. Hancock, Ian. "Roma: Genocide of, in the Holocaust." Available at: http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5121/genocide.htm [Last visited: 4 June 1999]

Shooting Star, see: Tecumseh

Short, William, 1759-1848
American diplomat

Simon, Ella, 1902-81
Australian Aboriginal justice of the peace and civil rights activist

Simon was born on a mission at Taree, New South Wales, to a part Aboriginal mother and a white father, but was brought up by her grandparents. She became the first Aboriginal woman justice of the peace and campaigned against discriminatory laws, including those which confined the Aboriginal people to the mission grounds. [Last updated: 4 June 1998]
References:
1. Simon, Ella. Through My Eyes. (Adelaide: Rigby, 1978)
2. "Simon, Ella (1902-1981)." Available at: http://avoca.vicnet.net.au/~ozlit/ [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Sin-ahe-erba, see: Sennacherib

Singh, Duleep (Maharajah), 1838?-93
Punjabi ruler

Maharajah Duleep Singh was the son of Ranjit Singh, the Maharajah of Punjab. When he was five his father died, leaving him ruler of the Sikh kingdom of Punjab and fabulously wealthy. But in 1848 the invading British defeated the Punjabis, forcibly converted Duleep to Christianity and separated him from his mother, whom he did not see again until 1860. He was sent to England as a ward of Queen Victoria. Dr. John Login, a Scott, was appointed governor of the province and he took Duleep to Scotland, where he embraced British culture and became known as the Black Prince of Perthshire. Although the British confiscated most of the wealth of his kingdom, including the Koh-i-noor diamond, they left him enough money to maintain a lavish lifestyle for most of his life and he became highly poplar in British society. In 1860 he returned briefly to Punjab to be reunited with his mother, but the years of enforced separation had taken their toll and the reunification was not happy, although she did follow him back to Scotland where they lived apart. [Last updated: 20 December 1997]
References:
1. "The 'Black Prince' of Perthshire," Highlander Web Magazine. Available at: http://www.catalyst-highlands.co.uk/blckprnc.htm [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Siro Saigo, see: Saigo Siro

Skanudharova, 1642-57
Also known as Sister Tous-les-Saints
Huron (Native American) nun

Skavronskaya, Marta, see: Catherine I

Slaves

Slocum, Frances, 1773-1847
Also known as Weletawash, Maconaquah and Little Bear Woman
American captive

Slocum was a white child captured by Delaware Indians in Pennsylvania in 1778. A Delaware couple adopted her to replace a dead daughter (see also Shenandoah) and renamed her Weletawash, later Maconaquah (Little Bear Woman). She lived with the Delaware and Miami people for the rest of her life. She first married a Delaware man and then a Miami chief named Shepancavah. When he became deaf, he resigned the chieftanship and they established a trading post called Deaf Man's Village. Her birth family always believed she was still alive, and in 1835[!] she was discovered living happily in Indiana. She remembered enough of her background to be positively identified but she had forgotten how to speak English. Two years later she was visited by her surviving siblings, but she had grown to distrust white people, was happy in her life, and refused to leave her adopted tribe and family. [Last updated: 6 November 1997]
References:
1. Dictionary of American Biography
2. Meginness, John Franklin. Biography of Frances Slocum, the Lost Sister of Wyoming. (Jersey Shore: Zebrowski Historical Services, 1991)
3. "Frances Slocum." Formerly Available at: http://doe.state.in.us/LearningResources/msl.htm [Last visited: 7 May 1998; URL unavailable: 26 June 1999]

Smith, Caroline, see: Smith, Robyn

Smith, John Walter, 1845-1925
American politician

Smith was the adoptive son of Ephraim King Wilson. He was a member of the Maryland state Senate from 1890 to 1898, US Congress Representative from Maryland, 1899-1900, governor of Maryland, 1900-04, and US Senator from Maryland, 1908-21. His adoptive father was also a politician, including Senator from Maryland in the US Congress and a circuit court judge, and member of a Maryland political dynasty which stretches back to the late 18th century. [Last updated: 24 February 1998]
References:
1. Kestenbaum, Lawrence. "The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Smith." Available at: http://www.politicalgraveyard.com/bio/smith.html [Last visited: 16 June 1999]

Smith, Joseph Fielding, 1838-1918
American religious leader

Smith was born the son of Hyrum and Mary Smith in Missouri. His uncle was Joseph Smith, the prophet and founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). His father and uncle had been arrested only days before he was born, his mother became very ill soon afterwards, and he was nearly suffocated when a mob ransacked the family house. His father and uncle escaped from jail and rejoined the family, who had fled to Illinois, but when young Joseph was only five, they were murdered. The family again fled, eventually reaching the LDS settlement at Salt Lake City, but in 1852 his mother died. At 15 Smith became a missionary in Hawai'i, returning to Utah in 1858, when he became a member of the Nauvoo Legion, the LDS militia. The next year he married his first wife, and eventually he had six wives and more than 40 children (this was during the period when the LDS church permitted polygamy). At 27 he was ordained an apostle, and other high offices in the church followed. He spent much of 1883-87 in hiding, due to government persecution of the Mormons over the doctrine of plural marriage. In 1901 he was chosen to succeed Wilford Woodruff as president of the church. His tenure as president was marked by improved relations between the Mormons and the US government and non-Mormon people, careful financial management, purchasing and developing LDS historical sites and the expansion of the church's missionary and educational activities. He was an authority on church doctrine. [Last updated: 13 July 1998]
References:
1. Gibbons, Francis M. Joseph F. Smith: Patriarch and Preacher, Prophet of God. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1984)
2. Encyclopedia of Mormonism. (1992). [Includes portraits]. Also Available at: http://www.mormons.org/daily/history/people/smith_joseph_f_eom.htm [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Smith, Robyn, 1944-
Also known as Melody Dawn Miller, Caroline Smith and Robyn Smith Astaire
American sportswoman

Smith was born Melody Dawn Miller. Her father deserted her and her mother (who was 17 when she was born), and her mother was declared mentally unstable by the courts, who placed Melody in a foster home. She was then adopted by a family who named her Caroline Smith. After a further court case she was returned to her birth mother but later went back to her adoptive family. She may also have later spent time in a children's home or "women's residence." She bacame a jockey in 1969 and in 1973 became the first woman to win a major race in the USA (riding North Sea in the Paumonok Handicap at Aqueduct), in spite of her size and weight (5'7" is tall for a jockey). She retired and in 1980 married the actor Fred Astaire (1899-1987), who was 55 years older than she. [Last updated: 26 February 2000]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, and Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Stuber, Irene. Women of Achievement and Herstory, 14-15 August 1995, Episode 381 & 382. Available at: http://www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/Topic/WomensStudies/ReadingRoom/History/WOAH/95-08/08-14+15-95 [Last visited: 26 February 2000]

Smith, Venture, ca. 1729-1805
Also known as Broteer
African-American slave, autobiographer and businessman

Smith was born in Guinea, West Africa, but captured and sent to Rhode Island as a slave when he was about eight. He bought his own freedom when he was 37 and spent most of the rest of his life earning the money to buy the freedom of his wife, three children and three other slaves. He became a landowner, with three houses, 100 acres and 20 boats, and was famous for his great physical strength. He had no education at all and had to dictate his autobiography to a schoolmaster. This landmark volume contains a wealth of detail remembered about his early life in Africa, his life as a slave and his quest for human dignity in the face of social and legal racism. [Last updated: 28 June 1998]
References:
1. Smith, Venture. A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, A Native of Africa .... (Middletown: S.J. Stewart, 1897). Extracts also available as part of "Excerpts from Slave Narratives," edited by Steven Mintz. Available at: http://www.saltdal.vgs.no/prosjekt/slavrute/4.htm [Last visited: 19 June 1999]
2. Oxford Companion to African American Literature, edited by William L. Andrews, Frances Smith and Trudier Harris. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997)
3. Daley, Bill. "Venture Smith, 1720-1805." Formerly Available at: http://interact.courant.com/interact/special/bhistory/vsmith.htm [Last visited: 20 July 1998; URL unavailable: 26 June 1999]
4. Zagoren, Ruby. Venture for Freedom: The True Story of an African Yankee. (Cleveland: World Pub. Co., 1969)

Soseki Natsume, 1867-1916
Japanese writer and journalist

Born to a large family in modern-day Tokyo, Soseki was fostered for the first nine years of his life, before returning to his birth family. At college he studied first Chinese and then English, and after graduating became a teacher in a country school. He spent two unhappy years in the UK studying English and then returned to teach at Tokyo University. In 1907 he turned to journalism, working on the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. He published many important books, including Botchan (1906), Wagahai wa Neko de Aru (1906), Sanshiro (1908), Sorekara (1909), Mon (1910) and Kokoro (1914). In addition to prose, he was famous as an essayist and poet. He was a considerable influence on later writers, especially Akutagawa Ryunosuke. His portrait appears on the Japanese ¥ 1,000 note. [Last updated: 4 Sepember 1999]
References:
1. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
2. Gessel, Van C. Three Modern Novelists: Soseki, Tanizaki, Kawabata. (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1993) (Kodansha Biographies)
3. "Natsume Soseki: 'Kokoro Picture Gallery.'" [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.at-m.or.jp/~ishii/doc/soseki/soseki.htm [Last visited: 4 Sepember 1999]
4. Soseki Museum in London. "Soseki Museum Homepage." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.dircon.co.uk/soseki-museum/info.html [Last visited: 4 Sepember 1999]

Spalding, Henry Harmon, 1803-74
American missionary

Spalding was sent away as a baby of 14 months to be fostered. When he grew up he was ordained a Presbyterian minister. He translated St. Matthew's gospel into Nez Perce and worked with the Nez Perce until his death. He was an associate of Marcus Whitman but was not a victim of the Whitman Massacre. He was also responsible for introducing the potato into cultivation in Idaho, in the 1830s at Lapwai. [Last updated: 10 December 1997]
References:
1. Hirschfelder, Arlene, & Molin, Paulette. Encyclopedia of Native American Religions: An Introduction. (New York: Facts on File, 1992)
2. "The Mission at Waiilatpu." Available at: http://www.halcyon.com/rdpayne/wmnhs-mission.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Spratt, Glenyse, see: Ward, Glenyse

Stands In Timber, John, 1884-1967
Northern Cheyenne (Native American) historian

Stands In Timber was born the son of Stands Different and Buffalo Cow, but his father died in 1887 and his mother in 1892, and he was then raised by his grandparents. First he and his younger brother lived with their maternal grandmother and step-grandfather, but they were mistreated by him, and their paternal grandmother and step-grandfather took them away to live with them. Soon afterwards his little brother was sent to live with an uncle and aunt, but they always remained in close contact. From an early age he was interested in the history and traditions of his tribe, and when he returned from government boarding school (see Native American Children) he began to systematically collect the oral history of the Cheyenne. In a few years he was recognized as a major expert on tribal history and traditions, and was used as an informant by a number of white anthropologists and historians, including Peter John Powell. His published recollections are in Cheyenne Memories. In 1965 he was awarded the Honored Indian Historian prize. [Last updated: 23 January 1998]
References:
1. Stands In Timber, John, & Liberty, Margot. Cheyenne Memories. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1972)

Staneart, Robert, see: Niles, James

Stanhope, Albert, 1943?-
Australian estate agent

Stanhope was a Child Migrant to Australia. Born to an unmarried woman in England, he was placed in an orphanage because she was unable to work and care for him, having no family back-up. During the following four years she gradually saw less and less of him, but married a well-to-do man who wanted Albert to be part of their family. In the meantime, however, the orphanage had shipped him to Australia, without her knowledge or consent and contrary to her specific written instructions when she placed him in care. He was then seven years old and spent the rest of his childhood being emotionally and physically abused in institutions. He was reunited with his mother in 1993 with the help of the Child Migrants' Trust. In spite of his childhood he has managed to marry, have a family and become a wealthy estate agent. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Humphreys, Margaret. Empty Cradles. New edition. (London: Corgi Books, 1995)

Stanhope, Philip, see: Chesterfield. Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield

Stanley, Sir Henry Morton, 1840?-1904
Also known as John Rowland
Welsh-American journalist and explorer

Stanley was born John Rowland in Denbigh, North Wales. His family was extremely poor. His father died when he was very young and his mother left him with her father while she went to find work in London. His grandfather died when John was four and he was then sent to some uncles, before being boarded out to an elderly couple. When he was six his family stopped paying his board and he was taken to the local poorhouse. He stayed there until he was 15, when he ran away after finally retaliating against the brutality of the master. His family rejected him and he eventually went to sea and wound up in New Orleans, where was adopted (as an adult) by a wealthy man named Stanley. He joined first the Confederate and then the Union armies during the Civil War, and afterwards became a journalist. He was sent to Africa (1869-71) to find Dr. Livingstone and continued to travel, explore and write for many years. Twice as an adult Stanley returned to Wales and his mother, but was rejected both times. [Last updated: 20 November 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Dictionary of Welsh Biography down to 1940. (London: Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1959)
3. Dictionary of American Biography
4. Dictionary of National Biography
5. Oxford Companion to the Literature of Wales, edited by Meic Stephens. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986)
6. Bierman, John. Dark Safari: The Life Behind the Legend of Henry Morton Stanley. New edition. (London: Sceptre, 1992)
7. Layton Tom. "Henry M. Stanley." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://CyberSchool.4j.lane.edu/people/faculty/layton/biographies/S/HenryMStanley/HenryMStanley.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Steel, Billy
British musician

Steevensz, Roy, see: Little Sun, Roy

Steuart, John, see: Cugoano, Ottobah

Stevenson, Elizabeth, see: Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn

Stokes, Richard
African-British soldier

Stolen Generation, see: Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children

Stone Forehead, see: Powell, Peter John

Stone, Catherine Yvonne, see: Williams, Jett

Sudbury, Julia
African-British-American academic

Sudbury's birth parents are Nigerian (Igbo) and English; she was adopted transracially when six months old. She was born in England but now lives in the USA, where she is a visiting assistant professor at Mills College in ethnic studies. Her interests extend to class, gender, sexuality and diaspora studies, and to transracial adoption (she is a founder member of Sankofa, the San Francisco Bay area association of transracial adoptees, and a member of ATRAP, the UK association of transracial adoptees) and to helping other adoptees to trace (she has traced her own birth parents and five siblings). She is publishing a collection of transracial adoptees' autobiographical writings, Voices from the Borderlands, and a study of Black women's political organizations, titled Other Kinds of Dreams. [Last updated: 25 September 1998]
References:
1. Sudbury, Julia. "Voices from the Borderlands." Available at: http://shell9.ba.best.com/~savage/borderlands/ [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Svein Ulfson, see: Norwegian Ruling Families

Swift, Jonathan, 1667-1745
Anglo-Irish priest and author

Swift's father died before he was born and his mother soon afterwards left him in Ireland to be raised by his uncle while she returned to England. (One version of his life states that his mother left for England when he was three months old; another says that she left when he was three or four years old, and that when he was a year old he was kidnapped by his nurse and not returned to his mother for three years.) He did not see her again until 1688. He wrote Tales of a Tub, A Modest Proposal, and most famously, Gulliver's Travels. When he died he left money for the construction of the world's first purpose-built mental hospital. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, edited by F.L. Cross. (London: Oxford University Press, 1957)
2. Dictionary of National Biography
3. McMinn, Joseph. Jonathan Swift: A Literary Life. (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1991) (Macmillan Literary Lives)
4. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
5. "Chronology: A Timeline of Events in the Travels, Swift's Life, and His Times." Available at: http://www.jaffebros.com/lee/gulliver/chron.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Switzerland, see: Kinder der Landstraße

Ta i te Ariki, see: Te Ariki Upoko Tini

Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana, see: Ratana, Tahupotiki Wiremu

Takakazu Seki Kowa, see: Seki Takakazu Kowa

Talamasmico, see: Bemo, John

Tangiia Nui (Chief), 12-13th centuries?
Also known as Uenga and Rangi
Tahitian-Cook Islands chief

Tangiia Nui was named Uenga by his mother, Ka'ungake Ariki ki te Marama, when he was born; later his grandfather, Amaru Enua, named him Rangi. He was adopted by his uncle, Pou te Vanangaroa ki Iva, who renamed him Tangiia Nui, which is the name he is known by in the Cook Islands, while Uenga is his New Zealand name. Pou was paramount chief of Tahiti and the Marquesas, and he had two born-to sons and another adopted nephew-son, Tu Tapu. Pou divided his territory between the four men, giving Tangiia Nui the office of junior chief of Tahiti, under Maono, one of the born-to sons. He rebelled, drove Maono into the interior and had himself declared chief. He soon came into conflict with Tu Tapu over ceremonial regalia and the possession of a bathing pool, and Tu Tapu sailed to Marquesas, while Tangiia Nui went to Mauke in the Cook Islands. But this did not settle the dispute, which raged for many years, across the Pacific Ocean, in a series of fierce battles and epic voyages, ending finally with Tu Tapu's death on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. Tangiia Nui's followers formed one of the two principal tribes of Rarotonga and many years later his descendants sailed from there to settle in New Zealand in one of the early migrations. Tangiia Nui was the father of many children, most of them killed in the wars, and he also adopted Te Ariki Upoko Tini and was the birth father of Te Rei (or Maui), who was raised by foster parents on the island of Mangaia. The legends of the war between these two adoptive bothers comprise one of the principal primary sources for the history of early Polynesian migration, and also one of the main pieces of evidence of their legendary navigational skills. But it is now accepted that while the main characters and outline of the history are quite likely based on real people, the details of the voyages are unlikely to be historical in the modern European sense of the word. [Last updated: 26 February 1998]
References:
1. MacCauley, J.J. Te Ato o Ikurangi; The Shadow of Ikurangi. ([Avarua]: Cook Islands Library and Museum Society, n.d.) (Cook Islands Library and Museum Society Bulletins; no. 2)
2. Te Ariki Tara Are, & Smith, S. Percy Smith "History and Traditions of Rarotonga," Journal of the Polynesian Society, 28 (1919) pp. 183-97; 29 (1920), pp. 11-16, 45-65
3. Kawaharada, Dennis. "1992 No Na Mamo: Sail to Rarotonga." Available at: http://leahi.kcc.hawaii.edu/org/pvs/1992/rarotonga.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Taputapu Atea, see: Te Ariki Upoko Tini

Tashunkewitko, see: Crazy Horse

Tate, Victoria Fyodorova, see: Fyodorova, Victoria

Te Ariki Upoko Tini (Chief), 12-13th centuries?
Also known as Ta i te Ariki and Taputapu Atea
Cook Islands chief

Taputapu Atea was born to Iro Nui ma Ota and Te Toko o te Rangi. He was sent to be fostered on Easter Island where he grew up. Iro's cousin, Tangiia Nui had, he thought, lost all of his children in his battles with his adoptive brother Tu Tapu, and asked to adopt Taputapu Atea. This was agreed to. He was renamed Ta i te Ariki and Te Ariki Upoko Tini, and appointed chief over nine of the tribes of Huahine island. Later, after Tangiia Nui had killed Tu Tapu, Te Ariki Upoko Tini succeeded him as chief of all his followers on Rarotonga, called the Ngati Tangiia, even though it was discovered that some of Tangiia Nui's birth children had survived the wars. Although much of the story surrounding this chiefly family is probably legendary, the people themselves are quite likely historical. [Last updated: 23 February 1998]
References:
1. MacCauley, J.J. Te Ato o Ikurangi; The Shadow of Ikurangi. ([Avarua]: Cook Islands Library and Museum Society, n.d.) (Cook Islands Library and Museum Society Bulletins; no. 2)

Tecumseh (Chief), 1768?-1813
Shawnee (Native American) chief

Tecumseh (Waiting Panther or Shooting Star) was the brother (possibly the twin) of Tenskwatawa, born near Springfield, Ohio. Their father, Pucksinwa, died in the Battle of Point Pleasant against the white men in 1774, and in 1779 their mother left him and his seven brothers and sisters to be raised by relatives, including Chief Blackfish, who also fostered or adopted several white captive children. In 1777 the murder of Chief Cornstalk turned the Shawnee against the Americans. By his 20s Tecumseh was a major chief of the Shawnee. He refused to sign the peace treaty of 1795 in Fort Greenville, Ohio because he strongly believed in communal land ownership: that no individual or even tribe could alienate land to the whites or own land individually. In 1808 at Tippecanoe he and Tenskwatawa founded what they hoped would be a pan-tribal movement, an intertribal nation, stretching from the western Appalachians to the Pacific coast, but it was crushed by the whites in 1811 under the future President William Henry Harrison. He allied himself with the British during the War of 1812 and was killed at the Battle of the Thames. [Last updated: 25 August 1999]
References:
1. Drake, Benjamin. Life of Tecumseh and His Brother the Prophet. (Lewisburg: Wennawoods Publishing, 1999)
2. Dictionary of American Biography
3. Eckert, Allan W. A Sorrow in Our Heart: The Life of Tecumseh. (New York: Bantam, 1992)
4. Shorto, Russell. Tecumseh and the Dream of an American Indian Nation. (Englewood Cliffs: Silver Burdett Press, 1989) (Alvin Josephy's Biography Series of American Indians)
5. Handbook of North American Indians: Vol. 15: Northeast, edited by Bruce G. Trigger. (Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1978)
6. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
7. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992) ("William Tecumseh Sherman")
8. Ohio Public Library Information Network. "Ohio Indians: Tecumseh." [Includes portrait]. Formerly Available at: URL http://www.oplin.lib.oh.us/PPF/ohioans/indians/puzzler.html#person8 [Last visited: 10 May 1998; URL unavailable: 26 June 1999]
9. "Tecumseh" [Website directory]. [Includes portrait]. Available at:
http://www.concord.k12.nh.us/schools/rundlett/heroes/tecumseh.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Tekakwitha, Blessed Kateri, 1656-80
Mohawk (Native American) nun

Tekakwitha was orphaned by smallpox as a child of four in New York State (and was herself visually handicapped and scarred by the disease) and raised by relatives. In 1676 she converted to Christianity (her mother had been a Christian), but violent opposition from an uncle forced her to flee to a Catholic mission in Canada. She was famous for her austerities and penances. In 1980 she was beatified and her cause for canonization is being supported by Canadian Native American Catholics. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Hirschfelder, Arlene, & Molin, Paulette. Encyclopedia of Native American Religions: An Introduction. (New York: Facts on File, 1992)
2. Brown, Evelyn M. Kateri Tekakwitha: Mohawk Maid. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1991)
3. Handbook of North American Indians: Vol. 15: Northeast, edited by Bruce G. Trigger. (Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1978)
4. Savilla, Edmund. "The Prophetic Spirit of Kateri Tekakwitha within Our Indian Churches." Available at: http://www.cin.org/kat10.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]
5. Bunson, Margaret, and Bunson, Matthew. Kateri Tekakwitha. (Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor, 1993) (Saints You Should Know Series)

Te Kanawa, Dame Kiri Janette, 1944-
New Zealand Maori singer

Te Kanawa was born to an unmarried couple (European mother and Maori father). They were extremely poor and already had a son, so the baby Kiri was placed for adoption at a few weeks of age with a married couple (again, European mother and Maori father) in Gisborne. Mrs. Te Kanawa already had daughters from a previous marriage. Her singing talent was obvious from an early age and vigorously fostered by her parents. From the early 1960s she was winning major prizes in New Zealand and Australia, and one of the prizes was a scholarship to study in London in 1966. In 1971 she rocketed to operatic stardom in the role of the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro and ever since she has been one of the world's most celebrated and high-profile opera singers. She has also published a volume of Maori folk tales for children, Land of the Long White Cloud: Maori Myths, Tales and Legends. She is the adoptive mother of two. She has never attempted to find her birth family and does not encourage her children to trace theirs. It is known that her birth parents are both dead. [Last updated: 24 September 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. "Kindred Spirits," Telegraph Magazine [London], 10 April 1993, p. 10
3. Who's Who, 1997
4. New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie. (London: Macmillan, 1980)
5. Who's Who in America, 1996
6. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
7. Fingleton, David. Kiri Te Kanawa: A Biography. (London: Arrow Books, 1983)
8. Wendler, Robin. "Kiri Te Kanawa." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://elmer.harvard.edu/~robin/kiri.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]
9. "Dame Kiri Te Kanawa." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.emiclassics.com/artists/biogs/kirb.html [Last visited: 26 September 1999]
10. Jenkins, Garry, & D'Antal, Stephen. Kiri: Her Unsung Story. (London: HarperCollins, 1998)

Templer, James, 1722-82
British businessman

Tenskwatawa, 1775-1836
Also known as Open Door, Lauliwasikau and The Shawnee Prophet
Shawnee (Native American) prophet

Tenskwatawa (Open Door) was one of triplet boys (one source states that he and Tecumseh were twin brothers). Their father, Pucksinwa, was killed in a battle with white men (1774) before they were born and their mother left them in 1779 to be raised by relatives, including older brothers and sisters (one of whom was the future Chief Tecumseh). When he was between nine and 12 he lost an eye in an accident with an arrow. Tenskwatawa grew up to be insecure, a boaster and something of a wastrel. In 1804 or 1805 he apparently died but revived before his funeral. He described visions he had while "dead," which became the basis of a new religion among the Shawnee people. Among other things the new faith denounced alcohol, intertribal violence, polygamy and sexual promiscuity, and promoted a return to a more traditional lifestyle with the renunciation of European technology. It led to the foundation at Tippecanoe of what he and Tecumseh hoped would be the nucleus of a pan-tribal nation, stretching from the western slopes of the Appalachians to the Pacific coast, in 1808. The new religion was quite influential for a few years, but after 1811 and several military defeats at the hands of the US Army it declined, although Tenskwatawa remains an important figure in Native American life. Tenskwatawa was largely responsible for the decisive defeat, because he attacked General Harrison's troops against Tecumseh's advice while Tecumseh was away on a recruiting mission. [Last updated: 12 December 1997]
References:
1. Dictionary of American Biography
2. Hirschfelder, Arlene, & Molin, Paulette. Encyclopedia of Native American Religions: An Introduction. (New York: Facts on File, 1992)
3. Drake, Benjamin. Life of Tecumseh and His Brother the Prophet. (Lewisburg: Wennawoods Publishing, 1999)
4. Edmunds, R. Daird. The Shawnee Prophet. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983)
5. Handbook of North American Indians: Vol. 15: Northeast, edited by Bruce G. Trigger. (Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1978)
6. Ohio Public Library Information Network. "Ohio Indians: The Prophet." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.oplin.lib.oh.us/PPF/ohioans/indians/puzzler.html#person6 [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Tenzin Gyatso, see: Dalai Lamas

Thomas, Leslie John, 1931-
Welsh author

Thomas, R. David (Dave), 1932-
American businessman

Thomas was adopted as a baby but his adoptive mother died when he was five. His father remarried three times and Thomas had an unsettled childhood. He did not learn he was adopted until he was 13, from his grandmother. From the age of 12 he worked in the restaurant business. He was a high-school dropout and left home after the 10th grade. He founded the Wendy's franchise restaurant chain in 1969. He is on the boards of directors of the Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio and the St. Jude Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and won the Horatio Alger Award in 1979. In 1992 he established the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, to promote adoption law simplification and reduce the costs of adopting in the USA. He traced his birth parents but they had already died when he located them. [Last updated: 20 November 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Who's Who in America, 1996
3. Thomas, R. David. Dave's Way: A New Approach to Old-Fashioned Success. (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1991)
4. "Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.wendys.com/community/adoption/adoption.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]
5. Den. "Entrepreneur's History: Dave Thomas (Wendys)." Available at: http://www.bsp.net/den/data/2.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Thorne, Grahame
New Zealand politician and sportsman

Thyssen-Bornemisza, Heinrich (Baron), 1875-1947
German industrialist

Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus, see: Rome

Tibet, see: Dalai Lamas

Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista, 1696-1770
Italian artist

Tiepolo was born in Venice to a merchant and his wife. His father died the year after he was born, and his mother entrusted him to a painter, Gregorio Lazzarini. He studied with other painters as well and joined the painters' guild of Venice in 1717, but his first major commission was in 1719. He worked in fresco and oils and also did drawings and etchings. He worked for several years in Bavaria, for the prince-bishop of Würzburg (1750-53), returning to Venice to become director of the Venetian Academy. In 1762 he and his sons went to Madrid, where he lived for the rest of his life, working on decorations for the palace of King Carlos III and other commissions. [Last updated: 1 October 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Encyclopedia of World Art. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967)
3. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
4. Christiansen, Keith, et al. Giambattista Tiepolo, 1696-1770. (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997)
5. Levey, Michael. Giambattista Tiepolo: His Life and Art. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994 reprint)
6. Gerten, Carol L. and Compton's Encyclopedia Online. "Bio: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770)." Available at: http://sunsite.auc.dk/cgfa/tiepolo/tiepolo_bio.htm [Last visited: 2 October 1999]

Tierney, Sydney, 1923-
British politician and trade unionist

Tinh Hue, 13th century
Vietnamese princess

Tito, 1892-1980
Also known as Josip Broz
President of Yugoslavia

Marshall Tito (a pseudonym originally taken to protect his identity as a Communist) was born to a large (the seventh of 15 children) mixed Slovenian-Croatian peasant family in Kumrovec, Croatia. Because of his parents' poverty he was sent to live nearby with his grandfather from 1895 until 1900, when he began to work on the family farm and started school. His schooling soon ended, when he was sent to live with an uncle at the age of 12. This arrangement did not last long, but it was the end of his formal education. At 13 he went to the town of Sisak and became an apprentice locksmith. He was captured by the Russians during World War I. He joined the Communist Party and was imprisoned several times for union and political agitation. In 1940 he became leader of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, head of the Yugoslavian government in 1943, and president for life in 1963. [Last updated: 4 February 1999]
References:
1. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
2. Historic World Leaders, edited by Ann Commire. (Detroit: Gale Research, 1994)
3. MacLean, Fitzroy. Josip Broz Tito: A Pictorial Biography
4. "Tito." "Tito's Home Page." Available at: http://www.titoville.com/ [Last visited: 11 October 1999]

Toki 'Ukamea, see: Mariner, William

Tolstoy, Leo Nikolayevich, 1828-1910
Russian novelist and philosopher

Tolstoy was born the son of a noble landowner in Russia but his mother died when he was two and his father when he was nine. He was then raised by relatives, first a grandmother, who died, then an aunt, who also died, and finally another aunt. He was educated privately and then went to university, where he came under the influence of the teaching of Jean Jacques Rousseau. He left without graduating and plunged into a life of dissipation in Moscow high society. In 1851 he joined his brother in the Caucasus where he came to admire the Cossack way of life. He returned to St. Petersburg in 1856 and became more and more interested in the welfare of his serfs and progressive education, starting an influential school in the estate village of Yasnaya Polyana. He married and had 13 children but his marriage was not happy and he was tormented by the disparity between his beliefs and his own great wealth. He left home at the age of 82 and died alone a few days later. He is most famous today as one of the greatest novelists in history; his most famous novels being War and Peace and Anna Karenina. [Last updated: 20 November 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
3. Wilson, A.N. Tolstoy. (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1988)
4. Shklovskii, Viktor Borisovich. Lev Tolstoy. (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1978)
5. "Tolstoy Links." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://pubweb.acns.nwu.edu/~navaho/tolstoy.html [Last visited: 4 Sepember 1999]
6. "Tolstoy Library." Available at: http://www.tolstoy.org/ [Last visited: 4 Sepember 1999]

Torres Strait Islander Children, see: Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children

Tous-les-Saints, see: Skanudharova

Train, George Francis, 1829-1904
American businessman

Train was born in Boston. In 1832 his family moved to New Orleans but soon afterwards they all except young George died of yellow fever. He was then raised by his grandmother. He became a merchant in Boston and also in Australia and England. In Britain he is most famous for his attempt to introduce the first tram service, in 1860-62, which failed. He returned to America where he became famous as a public speaker and eccentric. He wrote at least 11 books. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Dictionary of American Biography
2. Train, George Francis. An American Merchant in Europe, Asia, and Australia: A Series of Letters from Java, Singapore, China, Bengal, Egypt, the Holy Land, the Crimea and Its Battle Grounds, England, Melbourne, Sydney, etc., etc. (New York: G.P. Putnam, 1857). Also Available at: http://moa.umdl.umich.edu/cgi-bin/moa/sgml/moa-idx?notisid=AFK6711 [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Trajan, see: Rome

Transportees, 1597-1866

Trapp Family
Austrian-American musical and business family

The Trapps, Baron and Baroness von Trapp and their 10 children, are one of the world's most famous families, and the subject of one of the most successful stage musicals and films in history: The Sound of Music. Maria Augusta Kutschera, Baroness von Trapp, was born on a train in 1905. Her mother died when she was two and her father left her to be raised by cousins so he would be free to travel with his work as an engineer. She continued to visit her father until he died when she was nine. Initially she was cared for by an elderly cousin with grown-up children, then by her son-in-law, who was a judge, but mentally unstable and who abused her physically. After school she went to a teachers' college, but after a radical religious conversion she entered a convent in 1924. While still a postulant she was sent to be governess to a sick daughter of the wealthy widowed Baron Georg von Trapp, a retired naval captain. The rest is musical and cinematic history: Maria and Georg were married in 1927, Maria became step-mother to the Baron's seven children, and they had three more together. In 1938 the entire family, in reduced circumstances after a bank failure, and with Maria expecting their last child, Johannes, fled to Italy to escape the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany, leaving everything behind, and settled, virtually penniless, in the USA. To survive, they turned a family recreation into an international career as a singing family. Some years later, on tour in Australia, they were approached by Archbishop Carboni, who encouraged them to consider becoming involved in South Pacific missions. In 1957 the family gave up professional music, both touring and a music camp they had begun in 1947. Baroness Maria and two of the children did some teaching and fact-finding work for the Church in the South Pacific for a year and returned home to Vermont. Daughter Maria stayed in Papua New Guinea for 30 years as a missionary. The family built up a still thriving ski and holiday village in Vermont, the Trapp Family Lodge. Of the 10 children, Rupert died in 1992, Hedwig in 1972, Johanna in 1994 and Martina in 1952. Agathe, Maria, Werner, Rosemarie, Eleonore and Johannes are still living; Johannes is head of the family business. Baroness Maria died in 1987 and Baron Georg in 1947. [Last updated: 20 November 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Trapp, Maria Augusta von. The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1949)
3. Trapp, Maria Augusta von. Maria: My Own Story. (Carol Stream: Creation House, 1972)
4. Trapp, Maria Augusta von. The Trapp Family on Wheels. (London: G. Bles, 1960)
5. "Maria Augusta von Trapp," Current Biography Yearbook, 1968
6. "Trapp Family Lodge: History of the Trapp Family." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.trappfamily.com/history.htm [Last visited: 19 June 1999]
7. Associated Press. "Von Trapp Daughter Returns from Reunion." Available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/frompost/march98/sidebars/trapp041687.htm [Last visited: 25 August 1999]. Originally published: Washington Post, 16 April 1987, p. M11?
8. Argyle Enterprises, and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. "The Sound of Music: Historical Archives." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.foxhome.com/soundofmusic/arc/arcm.html [Last visited: 25 August 1999]

Traynor, Joanna, 1960?-
African-British novelist

Tree, Little, see: Carter, Forrest

Trendle, Douglas, see: Bloodvessel, Buster

Truffaut, François, 1932-84
French film director, producer and critic, actor and journalist

Truffaut was born in Paris to an architect and his wife. He was a frail child and his parents, sports enthusiasts, rejected him, sending him to live with his grandmother until he was eight, and he was neglected by his parents after returning to them. He discovered films when he was 11. He left school at 14 and worked at menial jobs but was sent to reform school (borstal) for thefts committed to finance his cinema interests. The influential journalist and film critic André Bazin rescued him and fostered him. He joined the French army but deserted as a conscientious objector and was imprisoned. Bazin rescued him again and found him a job as a critic for the magazine he edited. In 1954 Truffaut published an article which established him as the founder of the French New Wave. His first film was also made in 1954, Une Visite, and he went on to make a number of the most influential films of the second half of the century, including The 400 Blows, Jules et Jim, The Wild Child (about a feral child), The Man Who Loved Women, The Bride Wore Black, and he acted in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He died of a brain tumor shortly after the birth of his third child. [Last updated: 2 October 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, vol. 2: Directors, edited by Laurie Collier Hillstrom. 3rd edition. (Detroit: St. James Press, 1997)
3. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
4. De Baecque, Antoine, & Toubiana, Serge. Truffaut. (New York: Knopf, 1999)
5. "Chronologie." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://iihm.imag.fr/truffaut/chronologie.html [Last visited: 2 October 1999]
6. Baseline's Encyclopedia of Film. "Francois Truffaut." Available at: http://www.1worldfilms.com/francois_truffaut.htm [Last visited: 2 October 1999]

Turkey, see: Janissaries

Tu Tapu, 12-13th centuries?
Tahitian-Marquesan chief

Tu Tapu was the birth son of Maonga and Pou Teo and was adopted by Maonga's brother, Pou te Vanangaroa ki Iva, high chief of Tahiti and the Marquesas. Pou had two born-to sons and another adopted son, Tangiia Nui. Pou divided his territory between the four men, with Tu Tapu being given the Marquesas. Tu Tapu and Tangiia Nui fell out over the possession of a bathing pool and ceremonial regalia, which eventually escalated into full-scale war, lasting for many years, stretching across the South Pacific and causing the deaths of many warriors and civilians. It did not end until Tu Tapu had pursued Tangiia Nui to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, where he had settled peacefully. In the end, Tangiia Nui killed his adoptive brother in single combat. The body, after its tapu had been removed, was cooked and eaten. The legends of the war between these two adoptive bothers comprise one of the principal primary sources for the history of early Polynesian migration, and also one of the main pieces of evidence of their legendary navigational skills. But it is now accepted that while the main characters and outline of the history are quite likely based on real people, the details of the voyages are unlikely to be historical in the modern European sense of the word. [Last updated: 26 February 1998]
References:
1. MacCauley, J.J. Te Ato o Ikurangi; The Shadow of Ikurangi. ([Avarua]: Cook Islands Library and Museum Society, n.d.) (Cook Islands Library and Museum Society Bulletins; no. 2)
2. Te Ariki Tara Are, & Smith, S. Percy Smith "History and Traditions of Rarotonga," Journal of the Polynesian Society, 28 (1919) pp. 183-97; 29 (1920), pp. 11-16, 45-65
3. Kawaharada, Dennis. "1992 No Na Mamo: Sail to Rarotonga." Available at: http://leahi.kcc.hawaii.edu/org/pvs/1992/rarotonga.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Twain, Eileen, see: Twain, Shania

Twain, Shania, 1965-
Also known as Eileen Regina Edwards and Eileen Twain
Canadian-American singer

Twain was born Eileen Edwards. When she was two her parents separated. Later her mother married Jerry Twain, an Ojibway Indian, and she was later formally adopted, still as a young child. Through her adoptive father she acquired legal status as a Native Canadian, and she and her full and half siblings were raised with a thorough grounding in Ojibway culture. She began singing publicly when she was only eight, but also morked at a Macdonald's restaurant and helped her father in his work as a forester and prospector. After finishing high school she left home to pursue a music career in Toronto, but both her parents were killed in a car accident in 1987 and she returned home to care for her younger brothers and sisters and work at a nearby resort. After they became more independent she returned to music. She changed her professional name to Shania before releasing her first album, Shania Twain, in 1993. She has also released The Woman in Me (1995) and Come on Over (1997). She has won the Grammy award for Best Country Album, an Academy of Country Music award, a Canadian Country Music Award, and others. She is married to record producer Robert Lange and they live in New York state. [Last updated: 27 January 2000]
References:
1. Hall, Russell. "Shania Twain." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://wallofsound.go.com/artists/shaniatwain/home.html [Last visited: 27 January 2000]
2. "Shania Twain Biography." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/5091/shaniabio.html [Last visited: 27 January 2000]
3. "Shania Twain Biography." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/6445/bio.html [Last visited: 27 January 2000]
4. Who's Who in America 2000

Twardecki, Aloizy, see: Nazi Germany

Tydings, Joseph Davies, 1928-
American politician

Tydings is the adoptive son of Millard Evelyn Tydings. He was a member of the Maryland state House of Delegates from 1955 to 1961 and US Senator from Maryland from 1965 to 1971. His father was also a politician and US Senator from Maryland. [Last updated: 24 February 1998]
References:
1. Who's Who in America, 1996
2. Kestenbaum, Lawrence. "The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Turney to Tye." Available at: http://www.politicalgraveyard.com/bio/turne-tye.html [Last visited: 16 June 1999]

Tyson, Mike G., 1966-
African-American boxer

Tyson, the youngest of three children, was born into a poor African-American family in Brooklyn, New York. His father never was a significant part of his life, and both his parents died before he was 21. By the age of ten he was already in trouble with the police for burglary and robbery, and spent part of his childhood living on the streets, out of parental control. When he was 12 he was sent to the Tryon School for Boys, a juvenile offenders institution, for purse snatching. While there he was discovered by the boxing trainer, Cus D'Amato (who died in 1985). He was released into D'Amato's guardianship the next year and according to some sources he was legally adopted by him and/or D'Amato's sister-in-law, Camille Ewald. He won the World Boxing Federation and International Boxing Federation world heavyweight title in 1987 but lost it in 1990 to James Douglas. In 1992 he was imprisoned for six years for the 1991 rape of a beauty-contest contestant. He resumed his boxing career after his release, but in June 1997 he was banned from boxing and fined $3,000,000 for biting off part of the ear of Evander Holyfield during a fight. His license was restored in October 1998. [Last updated: 29 October 1998]
References:
1. Matthews, Peter, et al. Guinness International Who's Who of Sport. (Enfield: Guinness Publishing, 1993)
2. Macintyre, Ben. "Tyson's Lawyer Spars with Judges for Retrial on Rape," Times [London], 16 February 1993, p. 13
3. Who's Who in America, 1996
4. Heller, Peter. Tyson: In and Our of the Ring. (London: Robson, 1996)
5. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
6. Oates, Joyce Carol. "Mike Tyson," Life Magazine (March 1987). [Includes portrait]. Also Available at: http://storm.usfca.edu/~southerr/tyson.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]
7. Kanigher, Steve. "Tyson Fine Suggested for Children's Home," Las Vegas Sun, 18 July 1997. Also Available at: http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/1997/jul/18/506105357.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Uenga, see: Tangiia Nui

United Kingdom, see: Child Migrants and Transportees

United States of America, see: Native American Children and Orphan Trains of the USA and Shakers and Slaves and Transportees

United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Coming, see: Shakers

Valero, Helena, 1920?-
Brazilian captive

Valero is a white Brazilian who was abducted in 1932 or 1933 by Yanomami Indians. She lived with them for 22 years until she escaped back to white society. Her story is told in the book Yanoáma. Since her return to white society she has assisted a number of anthropologists, and at the request of missionaries she has become involved in trying to smooth the inevitable contact between these people and European civilization. In 1997 she was still living with her children as a poverty-stricken Yanomami on the Ocamo Catholic mission station on the upper Orinoco River. [Last updated: 13 December 1997]
References:
1. Valero, Helena, & Biocca, Ettore. Yanoáma: The Story of a Woman Abducted by Brazilian Indians. (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1969)
2. Carrera, José Antonio. "Los Yanomami." Available at: http://www.distrito.com/mestizo/enlared/pag11.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Vanacorn, Vanessa-Mae, see: Vanessa-Mae

Vanessa-Mae, 1978-
Also known as Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn Nicholson
Singaporean-British musician

Vanessa-Mae's parents divorced when she was very young and she has been adopted by her step-father. She was born Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn (she added Nicholson to her name when she was adopted by her English lawyer step-father) in Singapore and is half Thai and half Chinese, but moved to the UK when she was four. She began playing the piano (her mother is a professional pianist) at three, and won the British Young Pianist of the Year competition when she was eight, but decided to concentrate on the violin, which she took up aged five. At 10 she was performing with orchestras, and was a child prodigy in the mold of Mozart and Mendelssohn. She is one of the most spectacular of young recent concert violinists, combining classical and modern music and her own compositions. Like Nigel Kennedy, she is sometimes criticized for the publicity machine which surrounds her. [Last updated: 15 December 1997]
References:
1. Newman, Tommy. "The Ultimate Vanessa-Mae Website." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/square/ev90842/mae/vm.htm [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Vassa, Gustavus, see: Equiano, Olaudah

Vaughan, Arthur Owen, see: Mills, Robert Scourfield

Venerable Bede, see: Bede

Victor, the Wild Boy of Aveyron, see: Feral Children

Villon, François, 1431-63?
Also known as François de Loge and François de Montcorbier
French poet and criminal

Villon was born into a poor family, although he had an uncle who was a well-to-do priest. While still a young child he was adopted by Guillaume de Villon, a priest. His adult life was that of a criminal (including the murder of a priest and robberies from churches and his priest uncle) - he spent time in Prison, was banished to the provinces, and narrowly escaped hanging. But he was also one of the greatest poets of his period. His works were extremely popular in his own time and have remained important landmarks of French literature. The 1930 film, The Vagabond King, is a highly romanticized version of his life. [Last updated: 19 August 1998]
References:
1. Reference Guide to World Literature, edited by Lesley Henderson. (New York: St. James Press, 1995)
2. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
3. Stevenson, Robert Louis. Familiar Studies of Men and Books. Many editions. Also Available at: http://204.211.129.11/books/fsomb10.txt [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

von Kleist, Heinrich, see: Kleist, Heinrich von

von Trapp. Maria Augusta Kutschera, Baroness von Trapp, see: Trapp Family

Wagner, Priscilla Ann, see: Presley, Priscilla Beaulieu

Waiting Panther, see: Tecumseh

Walker, Madame C.J., 1867-1919
Also known as Sarah Breedlove and Sarah McWilliams
African-American entrepreneur and philanthropist

Walker was born Sarah Breedlove and orphaned in 1874 when both her parents died of yellow fever. She was then raised for several years by her older brother and sister, but married for the first time when she was 14. By the age of 20 she was a widow (Moses McWilliams was a victim of a race riot) with a baby daughter, and soon moved to St. Louis, where she worked as a laundress and attended night school. Some time between 1900 and 1905 she invented the hair-straightening treatment which was to make her the first self-made African-American millionairess. By 1911 she was grossing over $100,000 a year from a line of beauty products for African-American women, sold mainly by agents working door-to-door, but she also had beauty parlors and was investing in property and manufacturing the products. Her friends included Booker T. Washington and Mary McLeod-Bethune. She was a generous benefactor of African-American charities, especially educational institutions, and campaigned against Jim Crow laws and other forms of racial discrimination. Her daughter, A'Lelia, was an adoptive mother, to Mae Walker Perry, who was president of her grandmother's company from 1931 (when her mother died) to her own death in 1945. [Last updated: 27 May 1998]
References:
1. McKissack, Particia C., & McKissack, Fredrick. Madame C.J. Walker: Self-Made Millionaire. (Hillside, Enslow, 1992) (Great African Americans)
2. Bundles, A'Lelia Perry, & King, Coretta Scott. Madame C.J. Walker. (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1991) (Black Americans of Achievement)
3. Dictionary of American Biography
4. Indiana Historical Society, Manuscripts & Archives. "Madame C.J. Walker (1867-1919) Collection (1910-1980)." Available at: http://www2.ihs1830.org/ihs1830/walker1.htm [Last visited: 19 June 1999]
5. "Great African-Americans in Science: Madame C.J. Walker." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://tqd.advanced.org/11646/data/walker.htm [Last visited: 19 June 1999]
6. Brown, Mitchell C. "Madame C.J. Walker: Additional Bibliographies." Available at: http://indigo.lib.lsu.edu/lib/chem/display/walker_bibliography.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Wallace, Edgar, 1875-1932
Also known as Dick Freeman
English novelist and journalist

Wallace was born to an unmarried actress and fostered by a Billingsgate Fish Market porter and his wife when he was nine days old. His foster family already had 10 children. They were poor but a loving and happy family. He took the name Dick Freeman but wrote as Edgar Wallace and grew to be one of the most successful and widely-read popular novelists in the world, with about 173 novels and 40 plays to his bibliography. At one point in his career 25% of all books sold in Britain were by Wallace, and his total sales to date are over 25,000,000. He wrote the first 1,500 words of each novel in longhand, and then would dictate the rest to his secretary; he never revised or corrected anything - that was left to the secretary. In addition, he was a prolific journalist. Although highly successful he died deeply in debt, because he spent his fortune as fast as he earned it; he had to keep writing at the pace he did to sustain his lavish lifestyle. [Last updated: 20 November 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Lane, Margaret. Edgar Wallace: The Biography of a Phenomenon. (New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1939)
3. Kuusankosken Kaupunginkirjasto. "Edgar Wallace (1875-1932)." Available at: http://kirjasto.sci.fi/ewallace.htm [Last visited: 25 August 1999]

Wallace, Richard Horatio Edgar, see: Wallace, Edgar

Ward, Glenyse, 1949-
Also known as Glenyse Spratt
Australian Aboriginal writer

Ward was born in Perth. When she was a year old she was forcibly removed from her birth family (see: Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children) because her mother took her to the doctor when she was ill. Initially she was put into a Catholic orphanage near Perth and later sent to a mission station 80 miles away. She was not good in school and was made a servant on the mission. When she was 15 or 16 she was hired out as a domestic servant to wealthy whites, but a year later she ran away. She worked as a kitchen domestic, then a nursing assistant, and then for the community health services in Perth. She writes autobiographically-based books. [Last updated: 4 June 1998]
References:
1. Ward, Glenyse. Wandering Girl. (London: Virago, 1988)
2. Ward, Glenyse. Unna You Fullas. (Broome: Magabala Books, 1991)
3. "Ward, Glenyse (1949-)." Available at: http://avoca.vicnet.net.au/~ozlit/ [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Wa-Sha-Quon-Ason, see: Grey Owl

Wassaja, see: Montezuma, Carlos

Waters, William R., 1932-
Canadian businessman, economist and academic

Waters was placed at six weeks of age with a middle-aged single woman as a foster child, and was adopted by her in 1935. He was unable to afford to go to university when he finished high school, but six years later he began to study part time, gaining his first degree that way. He continued to study, gaining three more degrees, including a Ph.D. in 1976. Since 1964 he has been a member of the University of Toronto Faculty of Management, also holding a number of administrative positions at the university. He is also a company chairman, company board member, investment industry and public utilities consultant, and appears as an expert witness before tribunals, arbitration panels and in court cases in several countries. He has been a major benefactor of his first college, Woodsworth College of the University of Toronto. He has never tried to trace his birth family, although he was raised quite near to where they lived and his adoptive mother knew their names. [Last updated: 20 December 1997]
References:
1. Personal correspondence
2. University of Toronto. "The U of T EMBA Faculty." Available at: http://www.mgmt.utoronto.ca/EMBAweb/faculty.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Watson, Reatha, see: La Marr, Barbara

Weinstock, Lord Arnold, 1924-
British businessman and sportsman

Weinstock was born to a family of Polish-Jewish immigrants to England, the last child, the eldest of whom was 24 when he was born. His father, a tailor's cutter, died in 1929 and his mother in 1934. Initially he was looked after by his brothers, then by his brother Harry's wife's family. During World War II he was evacuated to Warwickshire. He graduated from the University of London in statistics and has become one of the wealthiest and most powerful industrialists in the UK, turning GEC from a small appliance manufacturing company into the largest manufacturing company in the UK. He was knighted in 1970 and created a life peer in 1980; he is also a trustee of the British Museum and an important racehorse owner. [Last updated: 13 November 1998]
References:
1. Who's Who, 1998
2. Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage, 1995
3. Encyclopaedia Judaica, edited by Cecil Roth. (Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, 1971)
4. Aris, Stephen. Arnold Weinstock and the Making of GEC. (London: Aurum, 1998)
5. Brummer, Alex, & Cowe, Roger. Weinstock: The Life and Times of Britain's Priemier Industrialist. (London: HarperCollinsBusiness, 1999 )
6. "GEC Appoints New Managing Director." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.gec.com/b2.htm [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Weintraub, Aaron, see: Brodkey, Harold

Weisner, Conrad, see: Honorific Adoption

Weiss, Ehrich, see: Houdini, Harry

Welch, Bruce, 1941-
Also known as Bruce Cripps
British musician

Welch's mother died when he was five and he was raised by his aunt. In 1957 while still at school he formed a band called the Railroaders. After winning a talent contest in London the following year, they were asked to join Cliff Richard's backing band, The Drifters, which later became The Shadows. He was more than just a band member; he produced albums for Richard in the 70s, wrote some of Richard's best-known songs and "discovered" Olivia Newton-John. He stayed with the band for the next 30 years, with only one short break. [Last updated: 23 January 1998]
References:
1. Welch, Bruce. Rock 'n' Roll - I Gave You the Best Years of My Life: A Life in the Shadows. (London: Penguin, 1989)
2. "Bruce Welch." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://webserv1.stockportmbc.gov.uk/daved/shadows/Bruce/bruce.htm [Last visited: 26 June 1999]
3. The Shadows Circle of Friends Australia. "The Shadows." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://scofa.muse.com.au/who.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Weletawash, see: Slocum, Frances

Westheimer, Ruth Siegel (Dr. Ruth), 1928-
German-Israeli-American therapist

Westheimer, known to millions as Dr. Ruth, is the most famous psychosexual therapist in the world. She was sent by her German parents to boarding school in Switzerland when she was 10, and being Jewish, was forced to stay there during the War. Her parents were killed in the Nazis in the Shoah and at 16 she emigrated to Palestine, where she became a resistance fighter in the Haganah. Later she went to Paris to study psychology at the Sorbonne, and emigrated to the USA in 1956. She has a masters (sociology) from the New School of Social Work and Ph.D. (education) from Columbia. Her pioneering radio and television sexual advice programs, Sexually Speaking and The Dr. Ruth Show, have made her famous, as have her books, newspaper columns, video and computer software. [Last updated: 13 July 1998]
References:
1. Who's Who in America, 1996
2. Westheimer, Ruth K., & Yagoda, Ben. All in a Lifetime. (New York: Warner Books, 1987)
3. "Dr. Ruth Westheimer." Available at: http://www.wic.org/bio/westheim.htm [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Wheatley, Phillis, 1753?-84
African-American poet

Wheatley was kidnapped in West Africa (the Senegal-Gambia region) and brought to America as a slave when she was about seven. She was bought by John Wheatley, a prosperous tailor, as a servant for his wife, but she soon became almost like another child to them. Recognizing her remarkable intelligence from an early age, he had her taught to read and write, although she never attended formal school, and within two years she was reading the Bible in English, Latin and Greek; and the family also encouraged her poetry from the age of about 13. Her first poem was published in 1767, and her elegy on the death of George Whitefield made her famous in the northern colonies. In 1773 she published her first book (the Wheatleys had to go to England to find her a publisher) and was given her freedom. This book was the first ever published by an African-American and only the second by an American woman. She was soon famous and was introduced to President Washington. Her patrons, the Wheatleys, all died by 1779, except for their son, who lived in England. She married and had two children who died as babies. Her husband was unable to provide for her while he was in debtors' prison and she died in abject proverty giving birth to their third child, who also died. [Last updated: 20 November 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Dictionary of American Biography
3. "Phillis Wheatley: A Poet for Her Times," in: Great Women in the Struggle, edited by Toyomi Igus. (Orange: Just Us Books, 1991) (Book of Black Heroes; vol. 2)
4. Richmond, M.A. Phillis Wheatley. (Chelsea House, 1992) (American Women of Achievement)
5. Greene, Carol. Phillis Wheatley: First African-American Poet. (Chicago: Children's Press, 1995) (A Rookie Biography)
6. Wheatley, Phillis, & Peters, Phillis. Life and Works of Phillis Wheatley, Containing Her Complete Poetical Works, Numerous Letters and a Complete Biography of This Famous Poet .... (Miami: Mnemosyne Pub. Co., 1969)
7. Weidt, Maryann N. Revolutionary Poet: A Story About Phillis Wheatley. (Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 1997) (A Carolrhoda Creative Minds Biography)
8. Oxford Companion to African American Literature, edited by William L. Andrews, Frances Smith and Trudier Harris. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997)
9. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
10. Media House International. "Phillis Wheatley: Precursor of American Abolitionism." Available at: http://www.forerunner.com/forerunner/X0214_Phillis_Wheatley.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Wheeler, Caron
African-British singer

Whitbread, Fatima, 1961-
African-British athlete

White, Billy, see: Grayson, Larry

White, Donald Edwin, 1935-95
British advertising man, opera patron and author

White, Eartha Mary Magdalene, 1876-1974
African-American musician, teacher, businesswoman and philanthropist

Eartha White was adopted as a baby in Florida. Her adoptive father died when she was five and she was then raised by her widowed mother. After high school White attended beauty school and then the National Conservatory of Music in New York. She became an opera singer with the Oriental American Opera Company (the first African-American opera company), but returned to Florida in 1896, where she graduated from the Florida Baptist Academy and became a teacher in Bayard and Jacksonville. She was also a business woman and property speculator. She ran and owned a dry goods store, employment and cleaning bureaus, a taxi company and a steam laundry; she was a real estate broker and insurance agent, and her own property deals made her a millionaire. She never married, lived frugally, and spent all her money on a wide range of philanthropic activities, including social work with prison inmates, an orphanage, a mother and baby home, a working women's childcare facility, homes for the aged, a boys' club and a mission for the poor, all of which, due to segregation, were directed primarily towards African-Americans. She was also an active Republican Party member, campaigned against job discrimination, was a charter member of the National Negro Business League and the Jacksonville Business League, and founded the Colored Citizens' Protective League in Jacksonville. In 1970 she was awarded the Lane Bryant Award for Volunteer Service and was appointed to the President's National Center for Voluntary Action in 1971. [Last updated: 2 July 1998]
References:
1. Notable Black American Women. (Detroit: Gale Research, l992)
2. University of North Florida, Thomas G. Carpenter Library, Special Collections Section. "Eartha M.M. White Collection: Biography." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.unf.edu/~ebrady/earbio.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Whitehead, Phillip, 1937-
British politician, writer and television producer

Whitehead was chair of the Consumers' Association and a Labour MP from 1970 to 1983. He is currently [1997] the MEP for Staffordshire East and Derby. He was adopted. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Who's Who, 1997
2. "Phillip Whitehead, MEP, Staffordshire East and Derby." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.eplp.org.uk/pwhiteh.htm [Last visited: 26 June 1999]

Whitman, Marcus, 1802-47
American medical missionary

Whitman's father died when he was eight and his mother sent him and his four brothers and sisters away to be raised by relatives. He was away for 10 years. He became a medical doctor and missionary to the Cayuse and Nez Perce people of Washington State. He and his wife were not very successful as missionaries, and in time transferred their attention to assisting white settlement in the area. Their daughter died young, but they later fostered and adopted 11 orphans of Oregon Trail settlers, including a family of seven, the Sangers. In 1847 the mission station and the Cayuse people nearby were struck by a virulent measles epidemic, to which the Native Americans had no immunity. The missionary-doctors were unable to treat it effectively, many people died, and the missionaries were blamed (and it was the whites of course who brought the measles). In fear or revenge the mission was attacked and 14 people killed, including Whitman and his wife. The Whitman Massacre is one of the major events in the history of the American Pacific Northwest. [Last updated: 22 October 1997]
References:
1. Dictionary of American Biography
2. Hirschfelder, Arlene, & Molin, Paulette. Encyclopedia of Native American Religions: An Introduction. (New York: Facts on File, 1992)
3. Jones, Nard. The Great Command: The Story of Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and the Oregon Country Pioneers. (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1959)
4. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
5. "The Mission at Waiilatpu." Available at: http://www.halcyon.com/rdpayne/wmnhs-mission.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Whittaker, Jim, see: Bowen, Jim

Wiesel, Eliezer (Elie), 1928-
Romanian-French-American humanitarian, academic and writer

Wiesel was born into a Hasidic Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania. In 1944 his village was captured by the Nazis and at 15 he and his family were sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. One sister and his mother were sent to the gas chambers; he and his father remained together for another year, but his father died just before the end of the war, in January 1945. Elie also spent time in the Buna, Buchenwald and Gliewitz camps before liberation in April 1945. He and his two other sisters survived. After the end of the war he spent several years in a French orphanage, but in 1948 be began study at the Sorbonne. The Nobel prize-winning author François Mauriac convinced him to break his vow of silence on his experiences, and he has since devoted his life to writing (over 35 books to date, including novels and factual works) and teaching about the Shoah and supporting humanitarian causes in general. He was naturalized a US citizen in 1963, awarded the US Congressional Medal of Honor in 1978 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. Since 1976 he has been the Andrew Mellon Professor of Humanities at Boston University. [Last updated: 4 November 1998]
References:
1. Wiesel, Elie. All Rivers Run to the Sea. (New York: Knopf, 1995)
2. Who's Who in America, 1996
3. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
4. Kallin, Diedra, & Robinson, Michael. "Elie Wiesel." Available at: http://english.cla.umn.edu/courseweb/1591/Students/ElieWiesel/Eliewiesel.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]
5. "Elie Wiesel." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/HOLO/ELIEBIO.HTM [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Wild Boy of Aveyron, see: Feral Children

Wiles, Terry
African-British-New Zealand personality

Wilkins, George
Australian businessman

Wilkins was 10 years old when he, his brother and sister, were shipped to Australia as Child Migrants. He spent the rest of his childhood in Australian institutions and the next 24 years in dead-end jobs. He decided to go to university, did well, and is now a millionaire, with a chain of video shops. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Humphreys, Margaret. Empty Cradles. New edition. (London: Corgi Books, 1995)

Wilkomirski, Binjamin, 1941-
Also known as Bruno Grosjean and Bruno Dössekker
Latvian-Swiss musician

Wilkomirski (he is not sure whether this is in fact his real name) is one of the many Jewish children orphaned by the Shoah and one of the few hundred young children to survive the death camps. When he was three or four he witnessed his father being killed by the Nazis in Riga and he was separated from his family and sent to the Majdanek and Auschwitz concentration camps. The rest of his family died in the camps. He was abused and starved for the rest of the war, eventually liberated, sent to orphanages in Poland and Switzerland, fostered and ultimately adopted by a Swiss family who refused to discuss his traumatic past with him. In his isolation he was not even told that the war was over and that he was no longer in danger until his last year of school. He is now a high-school music teacher and clarinet-maker in Switzerland and has written about his childhood. However, since the publication of Fragments controversy has arisen as to whether the book is in fact based on genuine memories, a construct based on false memories (recovered memory syndrome), or even a conscious and deliberate fraud. One critic (Daniel Ganzfried) maintains that the author's real name is Bruno Dössekker, a gentile who was born Bruno Grosjean in 1941 to a poor, unmarried woman (who had herself been a Verdingskind) in Biel, Switzerland, taken into care by the local social services department and spent several years in an orphanage in Adelboden before being adopted (placed in 1945, formally adopted in 1957) by a wealthy and childless gentile couple in Zürich, both of whom died in 1986. The adoption was not a happy one, according to Wilkomirski. Ganzfried maintains that the book is a deliberate fabrication based on detailed historical research, although not necessarily malicious in intent. If so, there is concern that anti-semites will use it as further "evidence" that the Holocaust never took place. Research by the British Broadcasting Corporation, broadcast in November 1999 seems to prove conclusively that the man who calls himself Bruno Wilkomirski was in fact born Bruno Grosjean. It discovered his birth father, who is willing to take a DNA test to prove his paternity (which Wilkomirski refuses to do), his birth mother's brother, who tried unsuccessfully to adopt him, a foster brother who remembers him well, photographs of him as a happy, healthy child taken in Switzerland during the time he claims to have been in the Polish orphanage and damning official Swiss documentation. An American who claims to have memories of him from Auschwitz has been exposed as a serial fraudster and has vanished. It seems likely that "Wilkomirski" suffers from a psychological form of Munchausen's syndrome. Fears about his fraud being used by anti-Holocaust revisionists and neo-Nazis have proven to be well founded. But in spite of all this, one fact remains: the author of Fragments is an adoptee, although not in the way he claims. [Last updated: 7 November 1999]
References:
1. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
2. Wilkomirski, Binjamin. Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood. (New York: Schocken Books, 1996)
3. Rammer, Stefan. "Eine Erfundene Identität des Grauens," Passauer Neue Presse (17 September 1998). Also formerly available at: URL http://www.vgp.de/red/pnp/1998/09/17/feu/00000007.htm [Last visited: 2 March 1999; no longer available: 4 September 1999]
4. Gilbert, Martin. The Boys: The Untold Story of 732 Young Concentration Camp Survivors. (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1997). This volume contains other, similar stories of child victims of the Holocaust
5. Lappin, Elena. "The Man with Two Heads," Granta, 66 (Summer 1999), pp. 7-65
6. Green, John. Anonym Unterwegs: Ein Fernsehjournalist Berichtet. (Berlin: Dietz Verlag, 1991)
7. Eskin, Blake. "Featherman File." Forward, 28 May 1999[?]. Available at: http://www.forward.com/BACK/1999/99.05.28/featherman.html [Last visited: 28 May 2000]

William I (The Conqueror) (King), 1028?-87
King of England and Duke of Normandy

William was the illegitimate son of Robert, Duke of Normandy, and Herleva, the daughter of a tanner. His father left on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1034 and died the next year while away, leaving William the title. His mother immediately married and seems not to have had any further part in his life. Although he was protected by some of his servants, the years until he reached adulthood were a time of civil unrest and the boy had to live part of the time in hiding in Normandy, disguised as a peasant. In 1066 he invaded and conquered England, changing the course of European civilization and world history. [Last updated: 20 December 1997]
References:
1. Green, Robert . William the Conqueror. (New York: Franklin Watts, 1998) (A First Book)
2. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
3. Knox. Ellis L. "William the Conqueror." Available at: http://history.idbsu.edu/westciv/willconq/ [Last visited: 26 June 1999]

William of Normandy, see: William I (The Conqueror)

William the Conqueror, see: William I (The Conqueror)

Williams, Daniel Hale, 1858-1931
African-American surgeon

Willliams was born to a mixed-race family in Pennsylvania. His father, a white man, was married to a free Black woman, and was an active abolitionist who died when he was 11. Although some members of the family lived as whites, and he could also have done so, Daniel refused to "pass" and actively identified himself as Black. Soon after his father died his mother sent her children to live with different relatives, except Daniel, who was apprenticed to a shoemaker in Baltimore, while she went to live in Illinois. After a while Daniel left his apprenticeship and followed her, but although the reunion was happy, his mother soon moved to Maryland with his sisters to rejoin the other children, and Daniel elected to stay in Illinois. For the next several years he worked and lived with various cousins, but when he was 16 he struck out on his own and moved to Wisconsin, where he became a barber, living very happily with his employer's family, and also attended high school. His employer-cum foster father later financed his medical training in Chicago, and he graduated in 1883. Unable to practice in Chicago's segregated hospitals, he opened his own, the first integrated hospital in the USA, in 1891. He also established two nursing schools for Black nurses. At Provident Hospital Williams made history in 1893 by performing the world's first open-heart surgery, on a stabbing victim (who lived another 50 years). He was also the first Black man on the Illinois State Board of Health and later chief surgeon at Washington's Freedmen's Hospital. He was the only Black doctor invited to be a founder member of the American College of Surgeons (1913) and one of the founders of the National Medical Association (the medical society founded in 1895 for Black doctors). [Last updated: 11 October 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
3. Dictionary of American Biography
4. Kaye, Judith. The Life of Daniel Hale Williams. (New York: Twenty First Century Books, 1993)
5. Thompson-Peters, Flossie E. Daniel Hale Williams, Surgeon. (Los Angeles: Atlas Press, 1988) (Dynamic Black Americans)
6. Harris, William C., II. "Daniel Hale Williams: First Heart Surgery." Available at: http://www.wpmco.com/text_daniel_hale_williams.htm [Last visited: 2 October 1999]
7. Chicago Historical Society. "Douglas/Grand Boulevard: The Past and the Promise." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.chicagohistory.org/DGBPhotoEssay/DGB06.html [Last visited: 2 October 1999]
8. "Daniel Hale Williams, 1856-1931." Available at: http://sun3.lib.uci.edu/~afrexh/Williams.html [Last visited: 2 October 1999]

Williams, Iris
African-Welsh singer

Williams was born, like Kate Adie, to a married woman whose husband was away at war. He returned before she was born but refused to accept her (he was white and her father was Black), so she was raised in a children's home. Her mother never initiated contact but did follow her career at a distance and eventually Williams contacted her and has rejoined the family. Williams was one of the first well-known Welsh-language pop music singers and now has a career in cabaret and on cruise liners. She now lives in New York. Her story was the subject of a British television channel S4C television documentary. [Last updated: 20 November 1999]
References:
1. WM Online. "On the Town." [Portrait]. Available at: http://www.totalcardiff.com/wm/spring1998/page59.html [Last visited: 6 August 1999]

Williams, Jett, 1953-
Also known as Antha Belle Jett, Catherine Yvonne Stone and Cathy Louise Deupree
American singer

Williams is the birth child of Hank Williams, the country and western singing star. She was born in Montgomery, Alabama, (named Antha Belle Jett) five days after he died and adopted by her grandmother, who renamed her Catherine Yvonne Stone. When she was two years old, and just three weeks after the adoption was finalized, her grandmother died, and since her father's family did not want her she went through several foster homes before being adopted again, renamed Cathy Louise Deupree. All this time she did not know who her birth family was. When she was 21 her mother told her of rumors that she was Hank's daughter, but it took until 1984 for her to uncover the documentation, which also proved that the rest of her birth family had deliberately hidden her origins in order to defraud her of her inheritance. She successfully sued those responsible in the Alabama and US federal courts. Jett, who has now changed her name to Jett Williams, follows in father Hank's footsteps as a country and western singer, even using some of his backing musicians and songs. [Last updated: 15 December 1997]
References:
1. Williams, Jett, & Thomas, Pamela. Ain't Nothin' as Sweet as My Baby: The Story of Hank Williams' Lost Daughter. (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990)
2. "Jett Williams: Living the Legend: Past." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.jettwilliams.com/past.htm [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Williams, John Owen, 1853-1932
Also known as Pedrog
Welsh poet

Williams, Peter, see: Bowen, Jim

Wilson, Clerow, see: Wilson, Flip

Wilson, Flip, 1933-98
Also known as Clerow Wilson
African-American comedian

Wilson was orphaned when he was eight. (Another version of his life states that his mother deserted the family when he was five and his father, unable to cope with a large family alone, placed them in foster homes.) He had a difficult childhood after that, living in a succession of foster homes and including a spell in reform school, where he was with his brothers. He joined the US Air Force when he was 16, and it was there that his performing career began. After leaving the Air Force he worked as a bellhop in a hotel, where he also started as a stage comedian. He went on to night clubs, three television series and three films. The high point of his career was the top-rated 1970-74 NBC TV series The Flip Wilson Show. [Last updated: 20 November 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Smith, Ronald L. Who's Who in Comedy: Comedians, Comics and Clowns, from Vaudeville to Today's Stand-ups. (New York: Facts on File, 1992)
3. Associated Press. "Flip Wilson Dies of Cancer at 64." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.usatoday.com/life/enter/leps022.htm [Last visited: 7 July 1999]
4. Associated Press. Channel 6000. "Comedian Flip Wilson Dies at 64." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.koin.com/news/stories/news-981125-234617.html [Last visited: 7 July 1999]

Wine, Maria, 1912-
Danish-Swedish poet

Wine was born in Denmark but moved to Sweden on her marriage. Her books include Man Har Skjutit ett Lejon, Byta Daggkapa, Den Bevingade Drommen, Djurkrets, Karleken and Vinge. She is an adoptee. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Bergquist, Annika. "Maria Wine." Available at: http://www.bok.bonnier.se/abforlag/FORFATTA/Wine_M.htm [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Winfrey, Oprah, 1954-
African-American television personality and actress

Winfrey was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, and raised by her grandmother on a farm for the first six years of her life, then spent some years with her mother, during which time she was sexually abused. When she was 14 she had a baby who died, and later went to live with her father, who was very strict and put her on the path to success. She acted in the film versions of The Color Purple and Native Son, but is best known for her television talk-show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, which has made her the best-known Black woman in America, if not the world, and almost certainly the wealthiest self-made Black woman in the world. She is also a major collector of Shaker furniture. [Last updated: 1 November 1997]
References:
1. Who's Who in America, 1996
2. "Oprah Winfrey: Talk Show Queen," in: Great Women in the Struggle, edited by Toyomi Igus. (Orange: Just Us Books, 1991) (Book of Black Heroes; vol. 2)
3. Nicholson, Lois. Oprah Winfrey. (New York: Chelsea House, 1994) (Black Americans of Achievement)
4. Patterson, Lillie, and Wright, Cornelia H. Oprah Winfrey: Talk Show Host and Actress. (Hillside: Einslow, 1990) (Contemporary Women Series)
5. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
6. The Hall of Business. "Oprah Winfrey, Entertainment Executive: Biography." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/win0bio-1 [Last visited: 19 June 1999]
7. "Oprah Winfrey." Available at: http://www.davison.k12.mi.us/dms/projects/women/awinfrey.htm [Last visited: 19 June 1999]
8. Woods, Geraldine. The Oprah Winfrey Story. (Minneapolis: Dillon Press, 1991) (Taking Part Books)

Winterson, Jeanette, 1959-
British novelist

Winterson was born in Manchester, England and adopted as a baby by a working-class Lancashire Pentecostal couple who wanted a child to dedicate to God (see Oblates) and she had a bizarre upbringing, portrayed in her autobiographical novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. Her lesbianism estranged her from the church and her family, but her negative account of her childhood is disputed by her family. She is one of the most widely-read contemporary women novelists in English. Other books include Boating for Beginners, The Passion, Written on the Body, Sexing the Cherry, Art & Lies, and Art Objects. [Last updated: 30 October 1997]
References:
1. Levy, Geoffrey. "Why Does My Jeanette Do this to Us? Why Does She Make People Think We're so Terrible?" Daily Mail [London], 28 November 1994, pp. 32-33
2. Who's Who, 1997
3. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
4. "The Salon Interview: Jeanette Winterson." Available at: http://www.salonmagazine.com/april97/winterson2970428.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]
5. Lumbert, Perrin, "Jeanette Winterson." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.adlbooks.com/wntrsn.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Wirt, William, 1772-1834
American attorney general and author

Wirt was born to a married couple in Maryland, but his father died when he was two and his mother when he was eight, and he became the ward of his uncle Jasper. He studied law and soon became a popular lawyer in the circle of Thomas Jefferson, on whose recommendation he was appointed Clerk of the Virginia House of Delegates. He was the prosecuting attorney in the 1807 treason trial of Aaron Burr and was counsel in a number of other landmark trials and served as US attorney general from 1817 to 1829, longer than any other person. In 1832 he ran for president on the Anti-Masonic Party ticket, but lost overwhelmingly to Andrew Jackson. He was a renowned if excessively flowery orator and also wrote sketches in the style of Joseph Addison and the first full-length biography of Patrick Henry (it is thought that Wirt was himself responsible for fabricating the famously spurious quote "Give me liberty or give me death"). His life inspired several sentimental novels of the time. Although he spoke against slavery he was himself an owner of slaves. He also attempted to form a sugar cane colony (Wirtland) in Florida, using German immigrants as an alternative to slaves. [Last updated: 6 November 1998]
References:
1. Glassner, Gregory Kurt. Adopted Son. (Chapel Hill: Professional Press, 1997)
2. Dictionary of American biography
3. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
4. Robert, Joseph C. "The Many-Sided Attorney General," Supreme Court Historical Society Yearbook (1960). Also Available at: http://sunsite.unc.edu/schs/pubs/robert76.htm [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Woman, Mountain Wolf, see: Mountain Wolf Woman

Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850
English poet
Wordsworth, Dorothy, 1771-1855
English writer

Wright, Allen (Chief), 1825-85
Also known as Kiliahote
Choctaw (Native American) minister and chief

Wright, Richard Nathaniel, 1908-60
African-American-French writer

Wright was born on a Mississippi plantation, where his father was a sharecropper and where his ancestors had been slaves. In 1913 or 1914 Wright's father left the family for another woman. In 1915 he and his brother were placed in an orphanage for a short time but their mother took them out again and moved to live with her sister and brother-in-law, who became like a father to the boys. But in 1917 this uncle was murdered by whites, and the Wrights and their aunt fled to Arkansas. In a couple of years his mother's health deteriorated to the point where he and his brother had to leave home again; he was fostered by another aunt and uncle for a short time, and then an unmarried aunt. So his time with his parents, never very stable, ended by the age of 11, although he did have temporary spells when his mother lived with him from 1927 on. He moved to the North where he began to write in earnest and became a communist. From 1936 he was a successful writer; from 1940 one of the most famous novelists and essayists in America; probably the most successful ever Black author up to that time. In 1940 he met his father again, but their relationship failed. In 1947, due to racism and US government anti-communist witch-hunts (although he had by this time left the party) he and his family became permanent expatriates in Paris. His books include Black Boy, Native Son, The Outsider, Savage Holiday, Pagan Spain, The Color Curtain, White Man, Listen!, The Long Dream and Uncle Tom's Children. [Last updated: 20 October 1997]
References:
1. Dictionary of American Biography
2. Urban, Joan. Richard Wright. (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989) (Black Americans of Achievement)
3. Oxford Companion to African American Literature, edited by William L. Andrews, Frances Smith and Trudier Harris. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997)
4. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
5. "Richard Wright - Black Boy: Bibliographies." Available at: http://www.pbs.org/rwbb/rwbib.html#4 [Last visited: 19 June 1999]
6. Hancuff, Richard. "Richard Wright, a Disgruntled Postal Worker." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~cuff/wright/index.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Wyatt, Steve, 1954?-
Also known as Steve Lipman
American heir

X, Malcolm, 1925-65
Also known as Malcolm Little and Malik Shabazz
African-American civil rights activist and religious leader

Malcolm Little was born in the American South. His father, a Christian minister, was murdered by white racists in 1931. Several years later, because of their great poverty, and her mental illness, he and his siblings were taken from their mother by social workers and put into a children's home. He was later fostered but got into trouble (he was once sent to reform school for putting a thumb tack on a teacher's chair). Although a brilliant student he drifted into a life of petty crime. While in prison he became converted to the Nation of Islam (the Black Muslims) and when released he became one of their most effective evangelists and leaders. After a pilgrimage to Mecca he left the Nation of Islam and became a "mainstream" Muslim, but he was assassinated by members of the Nation of Islam in 1965, leaving three daughters and a widow pregant with twins. He is known as one of the most influential of all the civil rights activists of the 1950s and 1960s. [Last updated: 20 November 1999]
References:
1. Dever, Maria, & Dever, Aileen. Relative Origins: Famous Foster and Adopted People. (Portland: National Book Company, 1992)
2. Dictionary of American Biography
3. Rummel, Jack. Malcolm X. (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989) (Black Americans of Achievement)
4. X, Malcolm. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. (New York: Ballantyne, 1992)
5. Dyson, Michael Eric. Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995)
6. A film biography, Malcolm X, was made in 1992, directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington
7. Oxford Companion to African American Literature, edited by William L. Andrews, Frances Smith and Trudier Harris. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997)
8. Moritz, Elke. "Malcolm X." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://www.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/~moritz/malcolm.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]
9. "The Nation of Islam Online." Available at: http://www.noi.org/ [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Xechaciwinga, see: Mountain Wolf Woman

Xianzi, see: Chinese Qing Dynasty

Xuang Tong, see: Chinese Qing Dynasty

Yi Zong, see: Chinese Qing Dynasty

İnan, Afet
Also known as Afet Inan and Afet Hanimefendi
Turkish academic

İnan was adopted by the founder of modern Turkey, Kamal Atatürk (see also: Sabiha Gökçen). I have been unable to find much information about her, but she seems to have been a professor of history or anthropology at the University of Ankara before and after World War II, and to have conducted anthropometric and linguistic studies of Turks and Kurds in the 1930s. She is listed as a speaker at the Second Turkish Language Congress. [Last updated: 25 September 1998]
References:
1. [Portrait.] Available at: http://quake.mkutup.gov.tr/Ataturk/okey/97.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]
2. Balci, Cafer, & Behrens, Rita. "Linguistische Sprachenpolitik am Beispiel der Türkei und des Kurdischen." Available at: http://www.wis.uni-bremen.de/wis/fup/faecher/kurdisch/default.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Yoshida Shigeru, 1878-1967
Japanese diplomat and prime minister

Yoshida's birth father, Takeuchi Tsuna, was a samurai noble, and his mother was his mistress, possibly a geisha. He was adopted as a baby or small child by his father's friend, Yoshida Kenzo, also a samurai noble, and his wife. His adoptive father died in 1887, leaving Yoshida a wealthy but lonely boy. He was educated for the diplomatic service and married into the emperor's circle of advisors. From 1907 to 1938 he was in Japan's diplomatic corps. He was called out of retirement in 1945 to become foreign minister, and from 1946 to 1954 he had several terms as prime minister, during which he guided Japan through its post-war reconstruction and occupation to stable independence and economic regeneration. [Last updated: 20 December 1997]
References:
1. Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan. (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1983)
2. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia, 1993-97
3. "Yosh[i]da Shigeru". Available at: http://render.calumet.yorku.ca/jawo/a2txt.htm [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Young, Brigham, see: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Ystumllyn, John, ca. 1738-1791
Also known as Jack Black
African-Welsh captive and servant

Yugoslavia, see: Janissaries

Zahhak, see: Feral Children

Zai Tian, see: Chinese Qing Dynasty

Zai Yi, see: Chinese Qing Dynasty

Zai Ying, see: Chinese Qing Dynasty

Zaid bin Haritha, 7th century
Also known as Zain bin Muhammad
Arab Muslim general

Zaid was enslaved as a young child. He was brought to Mecca and given as a present to Muhammad the prophet. He was treated so well by Muhammad that when his father located him and tried to redeem him he preferred to stay with Muhammad, who then freed him and adopted him. His name was changed to Zain bin Muhammad, and he was made one of his father's generals. He was commander of the army during the Ghazwa of Mu'tah. Muhammad's marriage to Zainab (who was Zaid's divorced wife) has been the cause of considerable controversy inside and outside Islam. [Last updated: 19 May 1998]
References:
1. Armstrong, Karen. Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet. (London: Victor Gollancz, 1991)
2."Unjust Sacrilege against The Prophet (pbuh): The West's Confession." Available at: http://www.jamaat.org/islam/unjust.html [Last visited: 19 June 1999]

Zain bin Muhammad, see: Zaid bin Haritha

Zohak, see: Feral Children

Zvi, Sarah, 1642?-74
Wife of Sabbatai Zvi

Sarah was a Jewish girl and the daughter of a rabbi from Podolia (then in Poland, now in Ukraine) whose parents were murdered in a pogrom in 1648. She was then, according to one version of her life, forcibly converted to Catholicism and raised by nuns in a Polish convent (or by a Polish nobleman, according to other sources). She spent time living in Amsterdam and Mantua, but eventually became a prostitute in Egypt where she met and married Sabbatai Zvi (1626-76) in 1664. She as his third wife. He had heard stories of a beautiful woman who claimed she was going to marry "the Messiah." Sabbatai Zvi was the most successful and influential post-Christian false messiah of the Jewish people, and at one time over half the Jews of Europe were his followers, so Sarah's power as his wife was considerable, although she was never prominent in the movement. In 1666, after the failure of his prophecy that the millennium would begin that year, and under threat of death, they both converted to Islam, but even then some of their followers remained faithful. Zvi's adherents gave rise to the tiny and covert but long influential Dönmeh sect of Islam who are ostensibly orthodox Muslims but in secret practice a form of heretical Judaism, and who may have survived into the 20th century; and later also to the Frankists, who eventually turned into a covert but also influential group of mainly Polish Roman Catholics, secretly revering Jacob Frank as Zvi's successor, surviving at least into the 19th century. For other cases of the forcible conversion of Jewish children by Christians see Edgaro Mortara and the Finaly brothers. [Last updated: 31 July 1999]
References:
1. Encyclopaedia Judaica. (Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, 1971)
2. Scholem, Gerschom. Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah, 1626-1676. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973)
3. New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia, editor-in-chief Geoffrey Wigoder. 7th edition. (New York: Facts On File, 1992) ("Shabbetai Tzevi")

Zweig, Stefan Jerzy, ca. 1937-
Polish cameraman

Zweig was the son of a prosperous Polish Jewish lawyer. When he was only a toddler the Nazis sent him and his father to the Buchenwald concentration camp. There they were separated and his father disappeared. Stefan was now alone, barely three years old, in one of the worst concentration camps of the Third Reich. He was "rescued" by Wille Bleicher (1907-81), who had been imprisoned for labor union and Communist activities; the camp authorities wanted to kill the boy, as a "useless consumer of food" - there was no place for anyone unable to work as a slave laborer. Bleicher, at first alone, and later with the connivance of other inmates, hid the boy, risking certain death to do so. In the fall of 1944 Zweig was supposed to be deported with other children to Auschwitz, but it seems that Bleicher bribed the camp doctor to certify the child as infected with typhus, thus avoiding the transport train. After liberation Zweig emigrated to France, then to the German Democratic Republic where he studied film making, and then became a cameraman with ORF, the Austrian television network. The story of his rescue is the subject of the novel Nackt unter Wölfen (1958) by Bruno Apitz (1900-79, who was an inmate of Buchenwald for five years), which was made into a film in East Germany with the same title in 1963. [Last updated: 26 March 1999]
References:
1. "Verschiedene Arbeiten aus Meiner Schulzeit: Willi Bleicher: Sein Wirken als Widerstandstkämpfer." Available at: http://privat.schlund.de/m/mdbb/schule.htm [Last visited: 4 September 1999]
2. Green, John. Anonym Unterwegs: Ein Fernsehjournalist Berichtet. (Berlin: Dietz Verlag, 1991)

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