Photo ID - Alabama
Anyone know what the name of this orphanage/children’s home was? Anyone know who the lady is?
These photos were taken in front of the home/orphanage where the 2 boys (pictured) were taken when their mother was hospitalized and couldn’t care for them. This was sometime between 1953 and 1959 in Montgomery, Alabama. Possibly somewhere not far from Pill Street, Gunter Ave/St Or Sayre Ave/St. (I can’t find Pill St. on a map so I assume the street names changed). The boys remember being there and said it was a horrible place, said the lady in the photo was very cold and cruel to the children there. I’m hoping someone may recognize the building or the lady in the photo. Thank you all for your help‼️ 😊😊😊
@Adoption and Unknown Family Research @Southern States Family History Research @Family History Research @United States Genealogy Research
Best Answer
-
I had a situation just like this with my husband's father. I was able to find the orphanage by googling all the orphanages in the city of question, and then using the street view in google maps to find the right orphanage! I now have a screen shot of the google street view, with complete current day address visible, and superimposed on it is the photo of my father in law as a small child standing in front of what is clearly a photo taken from the exact same vantage point by the google photographer. My father in law and his siblings were abandoned by both parents for reasons that have remained shrouded in mystery. In fact, there were only mentions of a possible orphanage and nothing else. None of the kids ever revealed the truth to anyone before their deaths, and the photo I inherited was the start of the research. I made an assumption that the building in the photograph was an orphanage, and took it from there. It was big and official looking, and turns out I was right. Using various records, I have gone a long way towards piecing the doomed family timeline together. The orphanage itself has long been out of business, and the state has already told me they do not have access to any of the records (after charging $100 for that answer!). My husband's family has more answers than they ever had before, but there is still a lot missing. Interestingly, we have linked up with several DNA matches connected with the family, through Ancestry. We have shared information and pooled more pieces of the family legends, but even my father in law's mother never shared her distress with her family, as we found out from a descendant of THAT side. It remains one of a handful of deep family secrets on my "to do" list to try and figure out. Good luck!
0
Answers
-
where does your reference of "pill street" come from
Im wondering if Pill is an abbreviation
but I would expect whatevr it is to show up like on an old Montgomery Alabama city directory
0 -
@Dennis J Yancey Pill St, Gunter and Sayre were the addresses where the boys lived with their parents during the 50s....at some point between 1953 and 1959 is when the boys were taken to this home for a period of time until the mother could come back for them. Not sure how long it was, maybe a few weeks to a couple of months
0 -
understood - just wondering what specific document indicates that - and if you could share a copy .
I have yet to find that a Pill ever actually existed (is this Montgomery, or some other city?)
so Im wondering if Pill is an abbreviation for smething else - or a mis-read.
0 -
Yes @Dennis J Yancey its I’m City Directories and is also mentioned in the father’s criminal confession 1952 here: https://casetext.com/case/shiflett-v-state-10 and here is a partial transcript from that page: This statement, in pertinent parts, was as follows:
"I, David Long Shiflett, now confined in the Montgomery County Jail do hereby make the following statement of my own free will and accord without threats, promises or hope of reward being made to me by any one, after having been advised that I might have a Lawyer if I desire one and also that any statement I may make may be used against me in any Court of Justice.
"My home is 25 Pill Street Montgomery, Alabama. This is the first time I have ever been in any kind of trouble.
"I have been employed as a night watchman at the Cotton mill at Kilby Prison since July of 1951.
"The only reason I tried to smuggle this dope into the Prison is the fact that I was in great need of money.
"I took my first dope to Kilby on Thursday night March 20th, 1952. I tried to take in the second bottle on Friday night March 28th, 1952. Both bottles were one ounce bottles and the second time I tried I was caught. Friday night when I reported for work Deputy Warden Dees and the Night Warden stopped me and searched me and found the small bottle of paragoric on my person.
"When I was caught the Highway Patrol was called and they took me to talk to some men here in Montgomery and then brought me on to the County Jail.
"The convicts at Kilby told me first about how to buy three ounces of Paregoric and boil it down to a one ounce bottle of dope. They told me to put the Paregoric in a small pan and put a fire under it and then touch the fire to the inside of the pan and when the fire on the inside of the pan went out the dope was ready. The balance of the liquid left in the pan I put in a small bottle and took it to Kilby and sold it for Ten Dollars per bottle.
"I bought a one ounce of Paregoric from each of the following named Drug Stores." (Here followed a list of six drug stores.)
The bottle taken from the appellant by O.R. Dees, the Deputy Warden was by him turned over to George Mosley, Jr., Deputy Sheriff of Montgomery County who locked it in his office that night and the next morning turned it over to Dr. C.J. Rehling, State Toxicologist.
Dr. Rehling testified that he analyzed the contents of this bottle and that it contained a residue produced by evaporating or boiling down paregoric; that in terms of opium it contained a little more than four grains of opium, and .43 of a grain of morphine.
It is thus apparent that the State's evidence was ample in its tendencies to establish the illegal possession of narcotic drugs, and to bring this appellant within the proscription of Section 254, supra, which makes it unlawful for any person to manufacture, possess, have under his control, sell, prescribe, administer, dispense, or compound any narcotic drug except as authorized in Chapter 8, Title 22, Code of Alabama 1940.
0 -
@X24mom X24mom what you shared may "crack" the case. (bad pun, as you will find out). I decided to see if Pill Street was a nick name. I searched "nick name" for Pill Street - and I came across a list of nick names drug dealers use to "rename" streets so that clients know which street to go to for what they want to buy. In case you don't believe me, the URL is below. Now, Pill street isn't actually listed, but could this still apply?
https://www.addictioncenter.com/drugs/drug-street-names/.
So, could David have used the drug street name because he never had a reason to even learn the real name?
What do you guys think???
0 -
Pill street was a legitimate street in Montgomery in the 1950's and probably up until the last decade.
it was only a block long and was very near the loop in the Alabama river there in Montgomery.
the area now seems to be totally barren (buildings have been knocked down - and streets empty - Im not sure why that is.)
I had sent a map to X24mom privately.
but the same thought did cross my mind - that the name was made up.
but turns out that is not the case.
0 -
OK. I will stop researching then. Thanks!
0 -
Ty @Gail S Watson That’s a great find! but Pill St. was the name of the street in City Directories ... lol David wasn’t an actual drug dealer per se ... his family was starving and his job paid very little so he felt he had no choice ... his pay was so small actually that the jury in his case asked the judge for permission to recommend more pay for the prison guards.
0
