You might want to acquire the adoptee's exact date of birth. If that fact is unknown to members of the family, check a few documents. The most unreliable document concerning birth is the death certificate. Apply to the Division of Vital Records, State Capitol, 600 East Boulevard Ave, Bismarck ND 58505; phone 701-328-2360.

The marriage license or record should contain the age of the bride and might contain her exact date of birth. Similarly for the full copy version of your father's birth certificate---the adoptee would be listed as his mother, with age and her birthplace--perhaps only the name of the state.

It seems that death occurred before Social Security cards were in use, so there is no chance of obtaining her exact date of birth from the online Social Security Death Index.

If you obtain the adoptee's exact date of birth, and if you know her adoptive first name, and if her first name was not changed after adoption because she was no longer an infant in 1909, and if you lack her birth surname and place of birth---can you obtain her full copy original birth certificate from the Division of Vital Records? I don't think so.

Other research could be in courthouse indexes seeking the adoption record in a probate or district court in North Dakota. At least that could be found using the adoptive surname without knowing the birth surname. However, there are dozens of counties in North Dakota and you do not know the place where adoption occurred.

Reg Niles