August 7, 2024
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry writes more 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.
Today I continue my series on “Genealogy Tips: Locating Lost Kin – Abandoned Babes,” focusing on some more cases in Massachusetts.
To recap: My last story (see Part 1) covered some newspaper reports on abandoned infants in Massachusetts during the early 20th century and where they were placed.
According to sources, many of these unknown babies were usually given the last name of the street where they were found. Sometimes a name would be created through the circumstances in which the child was discovered, like the infant in my first story, Homer Case.
Additionally, the infants’ approximate age and health status were recorded, and attempts were made to locate their parents or family members. For those unclaimed, the city homes would attempt to arrange adoptions, using their matrons to verify the qualifications of potential adopting families.
If the children were “unadoptable” due to disease, etc., they would be placed at the state farms/almshouses like Tewksbury or Bridgewater. How to obtain files and records from those places is listed at the end of this article.
Here are some more reports I found in Massachusetts during the early 20th century from newspaper searches on abandoned infants. I will include links and contact information on how you can obtain records. Some are available online and others must be requested.
‘Abandon Baby in Height of Storm. Infant 2 Weeks Old Found on Doorstep in the West End.’
A Boston newspaper records a baby boy left on a doorstep during a winter snowstorm in 1916.
This article reports:
In last night’s snowstorm, a two-weeks’-old baby boy was left on the doorstep of the house at 28 Hancock Street, where its cries attracted the attention of Miss Helen A. Gates of that address. She went to the door, found the baby and notified the police of her discovery.
The baby wore a pink-and-white blanket, with a flannel blanket outside, and had nicely embroidered clothing. It was so warmly wrapped that it had suffered little from the storm, and not at all, apparently, from the cold.
From all appearances the child was that of people in good circumstances.
The baby was sent to the Chardon Street Home, a temporary abode for women and children that also took in abandoned children, many of them newborns found on doorsteps and brought in by a police officer or one of the Overseers of the Poor.
Below is an image of this baby’s intake form, from the Boston Overseers of the Poor Records Collection.
According to the intake form, the baby’s name was Harold Brooks, he had blue eyes and light hair, and was born at the Lying-in Hospital.
The recorded notes reveal the mother was residing at the City Temporary Home after she delivered her child. On 3 March 1916 the mother and child were escorted by a nurse to the mother’s home on Crescent Street in Chelsea, Massachusetts.
‘Man and Woman Abandon Baby in Lodging House’
A Boston newspaper reports in 1917 that a man and woman (presumed parents) abandoned a male baby in a lodging house in Boston.
This article reports:
A man and a woman deserted a 3-weeks’-old male child in a room in a lodging house at 42 Fayette Street, South End, yesterday.
The child was found wailing in the bed by the landlady early in the afternoon. The police send the infant to the Chardon Street Home.
‘Four Weeks’ Old Baby Found on Doorstep’
The Lynn Library Archives Collection has this newspaper clip from 17 January 1917 with a front-page photo featuring a nurse holding an infant found on a doorstep in town.
This article reports:
In Lynn – At 1:30 in the morning Frank H. Frazier heard a cry and discovered a four-week-old baby boy wrapped up in an old overcoat on the front step of the residence of ex-councilor George H. Harwood at 15 Stickney Street.
Frazier notified the police station and House Policeman John F. Brazell and Patrolman Henry E. Southwick responded to the call in the auto ambulance.
The little guy spent the night in the police station and made himself right at home. He was doted over by the male officers who had some experience with infants.
One of them was John F. Fitzgerald who gave the little guest a bottle of warm milk and spoke baby talk.
The following day the baby was examined by Supt. Dr. Alfred T. Hawes for any health concerns including exposure to the cold. Thankfully, he received an excellent report.
The police started an investigation to locate the mother, but any success of finding her was bleak. While the baby’s identity remains unknown, he will go the Lynn City Home located on Tower Hill and later will be placed in the charge of the State Board of Charities.
To be continued…
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Note on the header image: abandoned infants, from the Foundling Library Collection. Credit: Denver Public Library Archives.
Contact information for organizations:
- Tewksbury Hospital Medical Records: com; and weekly returns of admission and discharge, 1894-1918: Familysearch.com. Other records/patient case files are maintained at Health Information Services at Tewksbury Hospital.
- Files to Massachusetts State Hospitals with Records to Almshouses, Asylums, and Overseers of the Poor, Including Abandoned Children, Foster, and Adoption List: Records and Guides.
Related Article:
July 24, 1948, Northampton, MA, Cooley-Dickinson Hospital. Newborn baby girl found at entrance by doctor reporting for shift. There were several articles written about her at the time. Interesting story. I may have found her birth mother through DNA, but not her birth father.
That was my wife. She passed away November 28, 2021. I miss her fiercely.
Thank you for sharing this. Have you tried reaching out to Adoption Search Coordinator, Department of Children and Families, 600 Washington Street, Boston, MA? They are helping me with two of my clients’ adoptions. Let me know if you could reach them. I will also check in via email.