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lilybug80
Was this location always specifically for unwed mothers and adoptions? Is there a chance that you could have been born there (years 1946 - 1948) and not have been born out of wedlock or involved in an adoption? Did it ever operate as a "regular" (for lack of a better term) maternity hospital? Thanks in advance for your replies.
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I was part of this discussion several years ago as Andromeda. Since I can't remember a password, I had to change my name and password to rejoin this board. I research family history and have been quite active lately with my own family. While looking on a website that has Missouri death certificates available to the public. I was putting in family names to see if anyone had died in Missouri more than 50 years ago which is the most recent available on the site. To my surprise I found an unnamed infant that was born in Fairmount Hospital in 1931. The death certificate said the baby was buried in a cemetery in Kansas. The mother and father's names were on the death certificate and gave their places of birth in Iowa. I have found the mother in 1920-30 censuses but not the father for sure. The death certificate was signed by Harry S. Lane and the informant was Mrs. Ronnie or Bonnie Lee Lane, both addresses 4911 E. 27th, KC, which is the Fairmount Hospital address. I have since learned that the mother who would now be nearly 100, married at least 5 times and I hope to learn more about her. Thought many of you might be interested in what happened to a woman who spent time in Fairmount & whose baby died. Frankly, I wish we could track more mothers who spent time in maternity homes and lost babies to adoption. It would make for very interesting social commentary. Lynn
Hi, I am an adult adoptee from St. Anthony's Orphanage, and recently learned my birth mother's name. I was born in November 1961 at St. Vincent's, spent time with my birth mother until I was approximately 18 months, at which point I was take to St. Anthony's for adoption. I was adopted soon thereafter by wonderful people! I know my birth mother's name, though there appear to be several iterations, spellings, and possible cousins with the same or similar name in the greater KC area. I don't not know my birth father's name. I know that my birth mother's family had a private business in the greater Kansas City area, but can't quite narrow that down. I know the date of my baptism at St. Vincent's, though the names are my adopted parents, I also have a 'birth certificate', again with my adopted parents names. I'm looking for any advice or guidance.
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I created a Facebook page Alumni Of St. Anthony's Home For Infants with some current and historical photos etc. [url]http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/233836086996/[/url]
Thank you Blue Irish eyes. Very use full information. I just got my dad parents non ID information and said that my dad was born here in 1943. I'm hoping to find some of his family! I'm working with adoptionsearchservices.com. Now I'll just wait and see. Anyway thank you again. Just wished it wasn't such a long process, but there are wonderful people doing their best.
TwistedSister
Your father :clap: sounds indeed like he was a wonderful man. I hope you have good luck on your search. Your sister is lucky to have you to help her. I'm doing the same thing for my brother. He's very stubborn about getting a computer but maybe this will convince him about all the things that are possible with one. My brother and sister were both adopted from St. Anthony's orphanage my brother in 1941 and my sister in 1945. When my mother passed away ten years ago there were lots of papers she had collected over the years. In her hope chest tucked in an out-of-the-way place were copies of the final decree granting the adoption for both of them. My sister was already deceased but I gave it to my niece and she was able to find her birth grandmother really quickly. You see the two final adoptions from the Juvenile Court in Kansas City had both the natural parents and the adoptive parents names on it as well as the names they were given as children. I gave my brother's copy to him but he lost it as he really wasn't interested but now he needs it in order to get a passport on account of the new restrictions they do not want to accept his revised birth certificate they want the original one but its been hard to get. Anyway we are going to fill out the form with the Court and see what we can come up with that way. Depending on who you talk to at the Courts will make a difference what you find out. They told my brother they didn't know what he was looking for and they would have nothing but obviously they do because I had copies of it. So we will try again with the form filled out and that should help. Good luck again on your search.:flower:
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My son was born in KC, not at St. Anthony's, and we got his original birth certificate more than 20 years ago when he needed his original adoption decree. His adoptive parents said they could not locate their original copy that was needed for some legal purpose and he and I proceeded to get both when we showed up in person at the county office. When I saw that my name was prominent on the adoption decree, I realized that his parents had my name all those years and I felt sure that was the reason they had been unable to 'find' their copy. They didn't want him to see proof that they had known my name and his original name for more than 25 years. He had never been told that his name at birth was James. He had only been told that his mother was 'a cute little blonde from Iowa'. The only accurate info in their statement was that I was from Iowa. I wasn't blonde; I wasn't little and I didn't think I was cute. I believe issues like mother's names being on adoption decrees makes the argument that we were promised anonymity moot. There never was anonymity for the mothers, only for the adoptive parents who were not identified to mothers in any way, shape or form. I'm also adopted and, while my mother was meticulous about keeping things, I have never found my adoption decree in her papers.