Genealogy Tips: Locating Lost Kin – Abandoned Babes (part 1)

Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry writes about a subject that often causes brick walls for genealogists: finding lost kin, especially abandoned infants. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.

Recently I was asked to locate a boy in Lynn, Massachusetts, who was adopted in 1911. In my search I came across several articles on abandoned children. This was not my first rodeo trying to rustle up some intel, and it occurred to me that maybe this was a subject to be explored and to offer some insight on how readers may find some clues to locate their lost kin.

In this first part, I present a few reports from newspaper search results on abandoned babes in Massachusetts during the early 20th century.

‘Abandon Infant on Steps of Lynn House’

Here is one example from 1911, when a baby was left on the steps of a house while a party was going on.

This article reports:

While Tony Scriboli of 84 Sagamore Street was entertaining a few invited guests at his home tonight somebody stole up and deposited an uninvited guest, about six months old, on his front doorsteps.

It was not until the party broke up that its presence was discovered. Max Jacobs of 83 Amity Street walked out the door and stumbled over a bundle. He picked it up, took it inside and, opening it, disclosed a lusty youngster contentedly considering a bottle of milk. The baby is now at the City Home.

Below is a photo of the City Home in Lynn. I am currently gathering information on this establishment, so please stay tuned.

‘Woman Holds Baby’

In 1915 a woman in Worcester, Massachusetts, fell prey to the oldest trick in the book when she agreed to watch a baby while its mother ran into a shop, but mama never returned.

This article reports:

The old game of leaving a baby in charge of a person for a few minutes and failing to return, was played on Mrs. George Casey, Woonsocket, according to a report she made to the police yesterday morning. She was standing near city hall, waiting for a Springfield car, when a woman approached her and asked her to hold her baby a few minutes, as she wanted to make a purchase in a store.

The Casey woman fell for the game and waited about an hour, allowing one Springfield car to go by, hoping that the woman would return for her child. Finally she reported to Patrolman John H. Cronin and he sent her to station 1, where she left the child with Mrs. Catherine A. Murphy, matron.

The woman told her story to the police and was allowed to continue on her trip to Fiskdale. She described the woman who left the baby as about 30 years old, tall, slim, very dark complexion, very dark hair, wore black skirt and shirtwaist, both of which appeared well worn, large black hat with white plume, glasses, and carried a brown dress suitcase.

The baby is a girl, apparently about 3 weeks old. It was taken to the Home Farm yesterday afternoon.

Below is a photo of the Home Farm in Worcester. According to sources the first Poor Farm in Worcester was opened on the site of the Jennison Tavern (at the corner of present-day Lincoln and Boylston Streets) in 1818. In the early 1850s, the farm was relocated to Lincoln Street and later renamed Brookside Home in 1952.

‘Live Baby Is Found in a Suitcase’

In December 1915 a baby boy was found in a suitcase in Springfield, Massachusetts. Luckily, he survived.

This article reports:

An abandoned baby boy in a suitcase was found this afternoon in Union Station by Patrolmen E. C. LaFleur and Fred J. Sevigne. The suitcase had probably been left by someone who caught a train, leaving it on the stairway at Lyman Street.

When the suitcase was opened by the officers a white baby boy about two or three weeks old was propped up against the side of the suitcase, sucking its bottle contentedly. The suitcase had been watched for several hours, but was not opened until 3’ o’clock.

The baby was taken to the police station by the officers, who returned to the station to conduct an investigation to locate the party or parties who abandoned the suitcase. Most of the people in the station have been quizzed, but no information leading to the identification of the parties who left the baby has as yet been received.

‘“Suitcase Baby” Is Named Homer Case’

The next day the press reported on the babe’s condition and noted the lad had already acquired a bit of notoriety among the town and with one of the wags who was caring for him at the Home of the Friendless.

According to this follow-up article, the baby was in good health and a name for him was chosen: Homer Case.

Below is a photo of the home that cared for the rescued “suitcase baby.”

Stay tuned for more.

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Note on the header image: Children’s Home, Boston, Massachusetts, from the Leslie Jones Collection, Boston Public Library. Credit: Digital Commonwealth.