Hi Andrea,
Kittie Parker was the half-sister of my grandfather, John Alfred McGinn, who was also adopted. Here is a summary of what I discovered. Emma Hazen had three or four children: Kitty, Alfred, Wilfred and perhaps a daughter named Mae. Alfred and Wilfred were supposedly twins, but Alfred was more than a foot taller than Wilfred. We believe that Frank W. Newton was the twin’s father. Frank either died or left the family and Emma eventually married John C. Halverson. About a year later, Emma, at the age of 30, died and the boys were surrendered to the Boys’ and Girls’ Home of Sioux City, Iowa. Patrick and Bridget McGinn of Melrose, Iowa adopted the twins and changed their names to James Alfred and James Wilfred McGinn. As of about 12 years ago, the home was still in operation.

By the way, I met Aunt Kitty in Minnesota in the late 1970s. She was an incredibly kind woman and shared her memories of being a very young girl and of a woman crying. She thinks that the woman was Emma and that Emma was leaving her with another family.

I posted two longer summaries back in April of 2002 on Ancestry; you can do a search on “Alfred Wilfred” in the Ancestry Message Boards. I would love to talk to you about what I discovered and see if you can fill-in some of the blanks for me as well. Please note that my email has changed to reneedavis12@gmail.com. I look forward to connecting with you!

Renee