Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
This was on the news last night, has anyone heard of this before?
Sue
With his wife of 29 years, Don Davis has
two grown sons and a house full of
hobbies, said CBS 2 News' Drew Griffin.
But this Southern Californian is now
finding out that his very beginning was a
far stretch from the very normal life he
lives now.
"I was the only child. I was spoiled,"
Davis told CBS 2 News.
Though he laughs about it, he actually survived what thousands of other
babies
didn't.
"Here I am 52 years old and just finding out about this stuff," Davis
said. "It's
all been in the last three weeks and it's very exciting."
But what Davis calls exciting has
now become one of Canada's worst
secrets.
All that's left of the Ideal Maternity
Home where Davis was born is a
picture. The Canadian building has
long since burned down, but was
once where many unwed mothers
came to give birth in the 1930's and
1940's, reported Griffin.
Babies born there would never know their real mothers. There were
hundreds
of them -- maybe thousands, said Griffin. And the owners, Lila and
William
Young, would keep the children only long enough to sell them. The couple
would get between $1,000 and $10,000 for each child -- a small fortune
for
the time.
The real mother would be told her child had died. The truth was they
were
very alive, living in crates and butter boxes from a nearby dairy, said
Griffin.
They were waiting to be adopted by rich, older couples from the United
States.
Adoptive parents walked between
rows of cribs -- girls on one side,
boys on the other -- and chose their
children like picking apples at a
supermarket, said Griffin.
Babies not adopted due to sickness,
mixed races or deformation were
allowed to starve to death on a diet
of molasses and water, said Griffin.
Some were buried in mass graves,
other were simply tossed in the ocean.
"By coming from this place, you survived where others died," Davis told
CBS
2 News. "I could be buried in a box somplace in Nova Scotia."
Don Davis never knew any of this, and never would have without his son
and
the Internet. He knew he was adopted, was a Canadian and came from Nova
Scotia. But he just never asked anything else about his parents.
"I guess it's because I never had the
need," Davis said.
Don Davis is now intrigued. His
mother died many years ago, and
his father passed away last year at
age 93. Before his death, Louis
Davis told his son he felt more
responsible for taking care of him
than he would have with a natural
son.
That comment made Davis wonder if his father knew what was really
happening at the Ideal Maternity Home, and sent him on a mission to find
the
truth.
Davis' son heard of the butterbox mystery at a dinner last month. They
then
found a page on the Internet devoted to finding Butterbox Baby
survivors,
said Griffin. While the records of who were born in the Ideal Maternity
Home
were destroyed when the building burned down, the records of a guest
house
across the street remained intact.
On May 21, 1946, a couple without
any children was registered as
guests there. They signed in as Mr.
and Mrs. Lewis Davis.
Now Davis' only lead is an
immigration number on his
naturalization papers. However, that
number his
biological mother was given at the
time of his birth.
Somewhere in Canada, the number may give him the name of the woman who
came to the maternity home and gave birth on May 21, 1946.
"She might not even know I lived,"
Davis told CBS 2 News. "She might
have felt I was stillborn never knew
that I grew up and had
grandchildren. That's the real
mystery to me."
Davis said if he finds out his mother
is still alive, he will try to meet her.
Dozens of other former-Butterbox
Babies have been reunited with their
real mothers, and have been communicating with a network of other
survivors
on the Internet.
Davis said he wants to tell his mother her son is still alive and
enjoying a long
and fruitful life. CBS 2 News will let you know if he finds her.
"The Ideal Maternity Home: The Story Of The Ideal
Maternity Home"
The Story Of The Ideal Maternity Home
Lila Gladys Young was daughter of Salem and Bessie Coolen. The family
was of strong
Seventh-day Adventists faith. Lila became a teacher, after finishing
school, then taught school in Fox
Point, Nova Scotia.
In 1925, at the age of 26, she met William Peach Young (b. 11 Jan 1898),
and they were married
in 1925. William was an unordained Seventh-day Adventist minister from
Memramcook, New
Brunswick . He graduated from the Medical Evangelists College in 1923.
He was a self-designated
medical missionary, caring for the sick and spreading the gospel along
the South Shore. They
moved to Chicago, and in December 1927, William graduated from the
National College of
Chiropractic. The same year, Lila graduated from the National School of
Obstetrics and Midwifery.
They returned to Nova Scotia and in February 1928 opened "The Life and
Health Sanitarium -
Where the Sick Get well.". They worked out of their 4 bedroom cottage in
East Chester, with
barely enough money to buy cots for the patients to sleep on. Lila
started delivering babies, and
within a year the Youngs were specializing in maternity services,
largely for unwed mothers. Their
business became known as The Ideal Maternity Home And Sanitarium.
The Youngs
William was the superintendent, Lila the director. (**Reference Bette L.
Cahill)
Privacy And Discretion Guaranteed
Privacy And Discretion Guaranteed: Payment on arrival was a condition,
between $100 and $500
for room and board, delivery, and the adoption of the baby. It was an
additional $12 for layette,
and a baby sitting service of $2 per week. (charged in the early days of
operation). The opportunity
to work off debt, if unable to pay their bill, was an option for the
young mothers. Burial fees of $20
were also charged to cover the cost of the burial of babies that died at
the Home. The $20 included
$5 toward a shroud, and $15 for the Youngs, who would be present at the
burial. The burial fee
included a white pine "coffin". They were "lovely butterboxes", (from
the local grocer) mitered and
very , very smooth, according to Lila, and always lined with satin.
Elaborate contracts were signed by the unwed mothers, giving William the
power of attorney and
legal authority over their babies and their adoptions. If not signed
within 14 days of the birth, they
were charged an additional $30.00. By the time the girls left the Home
their bills often exceeded
$300.00. *(Average wages at this time were: Sales clerks $8 per week,
domestics $4 per week)
With the increase in the number of babies for adoption, the American
tourist trade, hard working
lawyers, and the Greed of the Youngs, a whole new, wealthy adoption
market opened, and many
babies found new homes in the USA, where many couples were restricted
from adopting, due to
age, state laws, etc. These grateful new parents were very generous, and
made large and generous
"contributions" to the Home out of "gratitude". Many of these children
found good homes, but not in
all cases "legal". In many cases, these new parents were not aware that
siblings (twins) may have
been separated to provide them with their chosen child, or that the
child may have been secretly
taken away from it's mother. In the mid 40's the pregnant girls coming
to the Home were generating
revenues of about $60,000, for the Youngs, but the real money was coming
from the baby sales.
Babies were sold for between $1000 and $10,000 each. On top of that,
donations were demanded
and expected. Even allowing for the "rejected" babies and those who died
- at least 10 percent of
the total - and sales to the less lucrative local market, it is
reasonable to estimate that half the babies,
700 or so, were sold for an average of about $5,000. That is a total of
$3.5 million.
The Ideal Maternity Home was big
business.
Note: If any one Knows any of the Babies in This picture Could you
Kindly E-mail me and Let me
know which one it is and the name of the Baby. Thanks
In 1933, the Youngs had plans to expand the Home. Over the next few
years there were many
changes, some of which William did himself. The Home was growing in
reputation and with that the
number of births and adoptions. In 1939 the Youngs paid off their
mortgage on the Maternity
Home, and then built their own home, a three story house containing nine
bedrooms, three
bathrooms, den, dining room, living room and kitchen.
(Now under new ownership, and formerly operated as the East Chester
Inn).
Over the next six years they bought new cars and land and continued to
add to their assets. By
1943, the Youngs were well on their way to wealth. After several
additions and expansions, the
cottage they started with in 1928 was now a huge structure with 54 rooms
and 14 bathrooms. The
home had elegant turrets and was surrounded by expansive lawns and
greenery and most important
to the Youngs - mortgage free.
By 1933 some people were taking an interest in the Home. The Liberal
Party swept into office and
Dr. Frank Roy Davis was appointed to the Public Health portfolio, and he
was introduced to
problems at the Ideal Maternity Home. He heard some of the gossip
regarding baby deaths at the
Home, and for the next 15 years that he spent in office, he proved to be
an enormous thorn in the
Young's business lives. Also in 1933 - in response to mounting pressure,
the Youngs were forced to
hire their first Registered Nurse.
On March 4, 1936 the Youngs were arraigned on two counts of manslaughter
related to the death
of Eva Neiforth and her baby, but succeeded in winning the case.
Following this Public Health
Minister Frank Roy Davis ordered the RCMP to investigate all known
deaths at the Home. In the
years that followed They were charged with fraud, and under constant
investigation. The Youngs
had built up a strong support group, which was constantly there and
supported them. This included
prominent citizens, and politicians. They "presented" themselves very
well, and if things looked as if
they might go against them, they weren't above threatening, as there
were now, many prominent
people in society, and politics, who had discretely used the services of
the Home over the years. Up
to this time the Home was permitted to operate without license (17
years). In 1940 The Maternity
Boarding House Act was amended, and William and Lila applied for
license, and were turned
down. On November 17, 1945, based on findings from inspections the Ideal
Maternity Home was
ordered closed.
Despite this, the Youngs were still advertising "Lovely Babies for
Adoption". Frank Davis continued
in his battle to be rid of the Ideal Maternity Home forever and began to
track some of these
adoptions. New Jersey officials came to his aid as they were also trying
to crack down on illegal
adoptions and baby smuggling. In the fall, a New Jersey newspaper
reported that the smuggling
scheme had been uncovered. To avoid an even bigger scandal, child
welfare officials in Canada and
the U.S. remained on the lookout for the unauthorized movement of
adopted babies that didn't have
government approval. To get around this one, the Youngs devised an
alternate strategy which was
to convince the birth mothers to travel with their babies to the U.S.
After numerous charges, and
some unsuccessful court appearances, fines, etc., the Youngs announced
that they were closing their
Maternity Home and opening a Hotel. About the same time a Montreal
newspaper article was
released, telling of the Young's business, bringing unfavorable
attention from both Canada and the
U.S again. The Youngs were back in court again, attempting to sue for
slander, but lost their case.
Following the trial, the Youngs developed serious financial problems,
their reputation hurt their
business, their profits dwindled, and they were now in debt.. Bankrupt,
they left East Chester,
penniless, as they were when they arrived thirty years earlier. Two of
their five children moved to
Sudbury Ontario, one to the U.S., and two remained in Nova Scotia. The
Home was destroyed by
fire in 1962. Several years after their hasty departure, William died of
cancer, and Lila returned to
Nova Scotia and resumed teaching school near Fox Point, where she grew
up, In 1969, at the age
of 70, Lila died of Leukemia and was buried in the Seventh -day
Adventist Cemetery in Fox
Point...close to the many babies, in their Butterbox Coffins, who didn't
have a chance to enjoy life.
Subscribe/Unsubscribe, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In the body of the message enter: subscribe/unsubscribe law-issues
