The article you refer to below was in the Tribune on July 12, 1944. Apparently, it was not against the law for doctors to arrange adoptions privately in Illinois at that time. The article was calling for a change in the adoption law because a patient filed a law suit stating she was in a weakened state when she signed the papers and did not understand what they were having her sign. This led to an investigation of the hospital. On July 19, 1944 there was another article stating the hospital had been closed due to unsanitary conditions and failure to keep proper records on maternity and adoptions. On August 31, 1944 there was an article about the woman who filed the lawsuit. Later on, the adoption was reversed and she got her baby back. The August 31 article mentioned another doctor - Andrew B. Rotche of 1703 Madison St. who told him Dr. Seinfeld said the woman wanted to give the baby up. The woman's name is given but she could still be living, so I am not writing it here. Regarding the court records - the charges mentioned in these articles were filed by the State's Attorney's office against the People's hospital for an alleged adoption racket. Dr. Cortesi's subpoena was issued by Assistant State Attorney Samuel A. Papanaek I did not find a mention of Dr. Summers/Sommers or anything about twins, but there could have been other doctors and other cases involved that did not make it to the newspaper. Lisa ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bruce & Laurie" <bldnj74@earthlink.net> To: <COOK-CO-IL@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, May 18, 2007 10:34 PM Subject: [COOK-CO-IL] Peoples Hospital 1944 > HI List, > I wrote a little while ago on Summers/Sommers. > I learned this happened at Peoples Hospital, 1944. I found some > newspaper articles but have not found when it went to court. > The one doctor who owned the Hospital was Dante Cortesi and one > doctor listed in the article is Dr. Seinfield of 561 Diversery. > > First I am wondering if the court case on this would be in the > criminal dept, as my husband says it should be there. Also it appears > the hospital took in unwed mothers and "hid" them from their > families, having them work in the hospital until the baby was born, > then when the women/young girls were drugged up a bit they convinced > them to sign over their babies. > > It is really interesting and I am wondering also if anyone else > remembers this. > Laurie

The article I sent was from May 1940, so well before the date of your question. I'll go back for another look, and let you know what I find. Maybe something will turn up under People's Hospital. Except for woman who changed her mind, and called the authorities on the 1940 folks, although it was an illegal operation, it seemed as though the women there wanted to give up their babies, unlike the the story you are investigating. I'll keep you posted. Lisa ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bruce & Laurie" <bldnj74@earthlink.net> > HI List, > I wrote a little while ago on Summers/Sommers. > I learned this happened at Peoples Hospital, 1944. I found some > newspaper articles but have not found when it went to court. > The one doctor who owned the Hospital was Dante Cortesi and one > doctor listed in the article is Dr. Seinfield of 561 Diversery. > > First I am wondering if the court case on this would be in the > criminal dept, as my husband says it should be there. Also it appears > the hospital took in unwed mothers and "hid" them from their > families, having them work in the hospital until the baby was born, > then when the women/young girls were drugged up a bit they convinced > them to sign over their babies. > > It is really interesting and I am wondering also if anyone else > remembers this. > Laurie

My question is on having your name changed legally in court...what questions are asked of one to apply for a name change. The family name was changed many years ago in Chicago,IL. Is there a question for reason to change? I would like to see an example of the form filed. Appreciate your suggestions and answers. thank you. LaVerne Lavmanx@comcast.net

I found Peoples Hospital located at 253 W 22nd (Cermak Rd) in an old street guide of Chicago. Dave B --- Bruce & Laurie <bldnj74@earthlink.net> wrote: > HI List, > I wrote a little while ago on Summers/Sommers. > I learned this happened at Peoples Hospital, 1944. I > found some > newspaper articles but have not found when it went > to court. > The one doctor who owned the Hospital was Dante > Cortesi and one > doctor listed in the article is Dr. Seinfield of 561 > Diversery. > > First I am wondering if the court case on this would > be in the > criminal dept, as my husband says it should be > there. Also it appears > the hospital took in unwed mothers and "hid" them > from their > families, having them work in the hospital until the > baby was born, > then when the women/young girls were drugged up a > bit they convinced > them to sign over their babies. > > It is really interesting and I am wondering also if > anyone else > remembers this. > Laurie > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email > to COOK-CO-IL-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message > David T Buzzek <www.gensearch.net> You cannot soar with the eagles during the day if you hoot with the owls at night! ____________________________________________________________________________________ Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles. Visit the Yahoo! Auto Green Center. http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/

I will be out of the office from May 10-21. Please send reference requests to genealogy@newberry.org or call the genealogy reference desk at (312) 255-3512. I will respond to other matters when I return on May 22nd. Thank you.

Hi Laurie - I couldn't find anything naming Dr. Summers/Sommers, but I did find a bunch of articles about an illegal "baby farm" at 2415 Winnemac Avenue - run by a woman named Mrs. Mae Smith & her daughter Mary Smith. Apparently, they helped deliver babies of unwed mothers then placed them for adoption. The first article said there were records of 1922 births. I'll send that one to you in a separate message. Lisa llepore@comcast.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bruce & Laurie" <bldnj74@earthlink.net> To: <COOK-CO-IL@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, May 18, 2007 8:56 PM Subject: [COOK-CO-IL] Dr. Summers/Sommers 1940's > HI List, > I am trying to find out about a scandal involving a Dr. > Sommers/Summers in the mid 1940's. Most likely this happened through > Cook County Hospital. > This Dr. Sommers had something to do with the births, that > girls/women got pregnant and he convinced them to give the babies up > for adoption. I am trying to find newspaper articles on this. As it > went to court and some of the young girls had to testify against him. > I am not 100% on the spelling of the name, or if it is indeed the > name. One of these young girls is now much older and brought this > story up to me in hopes I can find something and maybe even her daughter. > > Thanks > Laurie > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > COOK-CO-IL-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

HI List, I wrote a little while ago on Summers/Sommers. I learned this happened at Peoples Hospital, 1944. I found some newspaper articles but have not found when it went to court. The one doctor who owned the Hospital was Dante Cortesi and one doctor listed in the article is Dr. Seinfield of 561 Diversery. First I am wondering if the court case on this would be in the criminal dept, as my husband says it should be there. Also it appears the hospital took in unwed mothers and "hid" them from their families, having them work in the hospital until the baby was born, then when the women/young girls were drugged up a bit they convinced them to sign over their babies. It is really interesting and I am wondering also if anyone else remembers this. Laurie

HI List, I am trying to find out about a scandal involving a Dr. Sommers/Summers in the mid 1940's. Most likely this happened through Cook County Hospital. This Dr. Sommers had something to do with the births, that girls/women got pregnant and he convinced them to give the babies up for adoption. I am trying to find newspaper articles on this. As it went to court and some of the young girls had to testify against him. I am not 100% on the spelling of the name, or if it is indeed the name. One of these young girls is now much older and brought this story up to me in hopes I can find something and maybe even her daughter. Thanks Laurie

I will be out of the office from May 10-21. Please send reference requests to genealogy@newberry.org or call the genealogy reference desk at (312) 255-3512. I will respond to other matters when I return on May 22nd. Thank you.

Hi Amy; My grandmother, Mildred Green, and her younger sister, Ruth, were also at St. Mary's. One interesting fact is that they took all the kids up to a summer camp in Wisconsin in the summer. I have a letter written by my g-grandma, who was dying at the time, to my grandmother while the latter was staying at the camp. Cheers, Masugu

Hi, I'm still trying to find out what happened to my GU Robert McDowell. He was born in 1852 in Brooklyn, NY and moved to Denver to work on the railroad. When it went out of business in 1914, I lose track of him. His family appears in Chicago on the 1920 census. His wife's information is wrong. Has her down as M instead of F for starters. But she's listed as married. I would have thought she'd be a widow. No records of Robert McD in Chicago and I've not found anything about his death in Denver. I'm trying to locate birth information on his grandson, Neil McDowell, born 1916 in IL. The thought occurred to me that if the Chicago Vital Records are not completely done for that time period I may be coming up empty with both of these relatives since the events are in the same timeframe. Does anyone know if the records for 1915-1916 are complete? Thanks. Barbara -----Original Message----- From: cook-co-il-request@rootsweb.com To: cook-co-il@rootsweb.com Sent: Wed, 16 May 2007 1:02 AM Subject: COOK-CO-IL Digest, Vol 2, Issue 127 Today's Topics: 1. Re: COOK-CO-IL Digest, Vol 2, Issue 126 (Rutherfordm) 2. St. Mary's Home for Children (Amy Tillman) 3. GL Naval Base (Kathy) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Tue, 15 May 2007 02:03:28 -0500 From: Rutherfordm <rutherfordm@newberry.org> Subject: Re: [COOK-CO-IL] COOK-CO-IL Digest, Vol 2, Issue 126 To: <cook-co-il@rootsweb.com> Message-ID: <917442670@nl-mail.newberry.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" I will be out of the office from May 10-21. Please send reference requests to genealogy@newberry.org or call the genealogy reference desk at (312) 255-3512. I will respond to other matters when I return on May 22nd. Thank you. ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Tue, 15 May 2007 07:04:49 -0500 From: "Amy Tillman" <atillman1@cox.net> Subject: [COOK-CO-IL] St. Mary's Home for Children To: <cook-co-il@rootsweb.com> Message-ID: <00cd01c796e9$3d640560$6700a8c0@S0029036274> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" I found my grandmother and her sister living in the St. Mary's Home for Children in the 1920 census. Does anyone have information on this home? Does it still exist? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks! Amy ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Tue, 15 May 2007 12:13:54 -0500 From: "Kathy" <Kathyfuhr@new.rr.com> Subject: [COOK-CO-IL] GL Naval Base To: "COOK-CO-IL-" <COOK-CO-IL-L@rootsweb.com> Message-ID: <MJECKMOHNDFPAJDIKLFIIEPGFCAA.Kathyfuhr@new.rr.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Hi all, Thank you to all who reponded. Through some info sent me I was able to give to my friend who made some phone calls & found the info she desired. Lake Shore Inn is an Officers BOQ. Has an Officers Club next door with more ammenities around it. Thank you to all who tried to help. Kathy ------------------------------ To contact the COOK-CO-IL list administrator, send an email to COOK-CO-IL-admin@rootsweb.com. To post a message to the COOK-CO-IL mailing list, send an email to COOK-CO-IL@rootsweb.com. __________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to COOK-CO-IL-request@rootsweb.com with the word "unsubscribe" without the quotes in the subject and the body of the email with no additional text. End of COOK-CO-IL Digest, Vol 2, Issue 127 ****************************************** ________________________________________________________________________ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com.

Is the Augustana Childrens hospital still in existence? I was adopted from there and would love to know more about it.Norrita from Idaho Norrita in idaho Researching MALM,McCALLA ANDERSON,GUSTAFSON,NEWMAN --------------------------------- Give spam the boot. Take control with tough spam protection in the all-new Yahoo! Mail Beta.

>From time to time, I post this request. Please remember NOT to hit "reply to all" when posting from the digest. Many of us skim through the digest and decide to read message by their subject title. When you use the "reply all" or "reply" button, all we see is "Cook County-IL digest in that line. Thanks. Jackye Sullins San Diego

I will be out of the office from May 10-21. Please send reference requests to genealogy@newberry.org or call the genealogy reference desk at (312) 255-3512. I will respond to other matters when I return on May 22nd. Thank you.

Amy Tillman asked about the records for St. Mary's Home for Children. According to this website: http://genealogytrails.com/ill/cook/1905asylums.html St. Mary's Home for Children was an Episcopal institution located at 1251 W. Jackson Boulevard. The website of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago is: http://www.epischicago.org/ The address and telephone number for the Episcopal Diocese are on this website. You might want to contact them for more information about St. Mary's Home for Children. Thomas Mackowiak MACKOWIAK/SERWATKIEWICZ/WANATOWICZ/JANUSZEWSKI/LESCZYNSKI/ORLIKOWSKI/MROZ/MU NO/HARNEY -----Original Message----- From: cook-co-il-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:cook-co-il-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Amy Tillman Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 7:19 AM To: cook-co-il@rootsweb.com Subject: [COOK-CO-IL] St. Mary's Home for Children The census report shows this home was located on West Jackson Boulevard in Chicago. I'd love to find out how to access these records. Any ideas out there? Thanks! Amy

The census report shows this home was located on West Jackson Boulevard in Chicago. I'd love to find out how to access these records. Any ideas out there? Thanks! Amy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Amy Tillman" <atillman1@cox.net> To: <cook-co-il@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 7:04 AM Subject: [COOK-CO-IL] St. Mary's Home for Children >I found my grandmother and her sister living in the St. Mary's Home for >Children in the 1920 census. > > Does anyone have information on this home? Does it still exist? > > Any help would be appreciated! > > Thanks! > > Amy > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > COOK-CO-IL-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I will be out of the office from May 10-21. Please send reference requests to genealogy@newberry.org or call the genealogy reference desk at (312) 255-3512. I will respond to other matters when I return on May 22nd. Thank you.

Hi all, Thank you to all who reponded. Through some info sent me I was able to give to my friend who made some phone calls & found the info she desired. Lake Shore Inn is an Officers BOQ. Has an Officers Club next door with more ammenities around it. Thank you to all who tried to help. Kathy

I found my grandmother and her sister living in the St. Mary's Home for Children in the 1920 census. Does anyone have information on this home? Does it still exist? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks! Amy