| Sources |
- [S27] Ancestry.com, 1940 United States Federal Census, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2012;), Year: 1940; Census Place: Jefferson, Ringgold, Iowa; Roll: T627_1201; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 80-11.
- [S9] Ancestry.com, U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Lehi, UT, USA; Date: 2012;).
- [S1] Ancestry.com, 1950 United States Federal Census, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Lehi, UT, USA; Date: 2022;), United States of America, Bureau of the Census; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790-2007; Record Group Number: 29; Residence Date: 1950; Home in 1950: Jefferson, Taylor, I.
- [S3424] Reunification of Newkirk Children - Sioux City Journal - 15 Oct 1991 - Page 1, (Name: Sioux City Journal; Location: Sioux City, Iowa; Date: 15 Oct 1991;), SEPARATED IN 1959, SIBLINGS FIND EACH OTHER 13 MILES APART.
Pictured above is the Newkirk family in 1959, shortly before they were put up for adoption: front from left, Michael Dean (Michael Bomgaars, Inwood), and Timothy Clare; rear from left, Rozella Mae (Rozella Vahl, rural Rock Rapids), Luella Kae and James Carl.
• Sioux City Journal • Sioux City, Iowa • 15 Oct 1991, Tue • Page 1
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110122755/sioux-city-journal/?xid=637
- [S3425] Adoption of Newkirk Children - The Des Moines Register - 10 Feb 1991, (Name: The Des Moines Register; Location: Des Moines, Iowa; Date: 10 Feb 1991;), BROTHER, SISTER FIND EACH OTHER AFTER 32 YEARS.
The siblings live a mere 13 miles from one another, but they only found out last month that they are related
• Michael Bomgaars and Rozella Mae Vahl, who are brother and sister, live 13 miles away from each other in northwest Iowa and have 14-year-old sons who have attended school together for the last seven years. Nothing out of the ordinary there, except that Bomgaars, 33, and Vahl, 38, didn't know they were siblings until last month, 32 years after being separated because of neglect at home. Bomgaars, who lives in Inwood, was 16 months old when they were separated. Vahl, who lives near Steen, Minn., was 6, and said she remembered bits and pieces of their life together before she, Bomgaars, two other brothers and a sister were placed with a Davenport adoption agency. Vahl said the family lived on a farm in Prescott. Their father, Dean Newkirk, was an alcoholic, Vahl said, and their mother, Rose, didn't cook or clean for the children. During the summer of 1958, Dorothy Newkirk, their aunt, said she reported the situation to authorities. On March 26, 1959, the Taylor County District Court found their parents negligent. AH five children were placed in the Annie Witten-myer Home in Davenport. Bomgaars began to search for his biological family more than five years ago when his adoptive parents gave him his adoption papers and birth certificate. Because he knew his birth name, he said, he found his mother and his relatives named Newkirk fairly easily. His mother is in an Afton nursing home and his father died of cancer in 1979, he said. . All Information about the other siblings Is unavailable, he said. The records were sealed by a court order and can be opened only in the event of a medical emergency. Vahl began her search for the Newkirk family Jan. 3 and within four hours she was put in touch with an uncle, Cecil Newkirk, who then contacted Bomgaars. "It all fell in line by fate," Bomgaars said. Besides living so close to each other, the siblings learned that their 14-year-old sons, Barry Bomgaars and Jonathon Vahl, have been in the same class in Central Lyon schools for the past seven years. Bomgaars has five children; Vahl has two. "I feel pretty lucky," Bomgaars said. "We grew up in the same neck of the woods. We've rubbed elbows with each other, but I never knew it was her." Bomgaars and Vahl said they have talked to each other every day since their reunion. "We're a lot alike, physically and otherwise," Bomgaars said. Because Bomgaars and Vahl have been in contact with their biological relatives, they know the first and middle names and birth dates of their brothers and sister, but have not been able to contact them. s The other siblings are James Carl, born Feb. 25, 1950; Luella Kay, July 7, 1951; and Timothy Claire, Nov. 12, 1956.
• The Des Moines Register • Des Moines, Iowa • 10 Feb 1991, Sun • Page 14
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110124649/the-des-moines-register/?xid=637
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1931 - 1991 (60 years)
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