The World of Grandpa Don

Loretta Anna Balck (AKA Loretta Anna Miller) The following story was sent to me by Loretta's  great-granddaughter, Kara. It is a story of adoption. Kara found this website by doing a search for "Adoption, Chicago, 1931". There are many similarities to the story of Harry Ronald Cecora.
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In 1931, Loretta Anna Miller, a nurse at a Chicago hospital gave birth to a baby boy. She was in the process of divorcing her husband Andrew. The father of the baby was a doctor at the hospital. Initially, the baby was taken to the home of Loretta's sister, Anna, for two weeks but she decided she could not care for him so she returned him to the hospital. The baby was subsequently adopted and his identity and whereabouts are unknown.

Loretta was born 1906 in Kaukauna WI. She had 12 brothers and sisters. her mother and father were German but her father spoke fluent Polish. She married Andrew Miller in 1926 and gave birth to a daughter, Mary Ann  the same year.

Loretta went to live in Chicago to work in nursing. Mary Ann was left with an aunt  in Wisconsin. When Mary Ann was 5 in early 1931 Aunt Bert brought her to Chicago to live near her mother but with her other aunt, Anna.  Mary Ann attended kindergarten in Chicago.

It is believed that the father of the boy, a doctor, was married and from New York. and moved back to New York just before or soon after Loretta had the baby.

In 1936. Loretta contracted TB and moved back to Wisconsin to live in a sanitarium. She had an experimental procedure in hopes of a cure but died during an operation in 1939. It was not until many years later that Mary Ann discovered by accident that she had a half brother. Mary Ann married in 1945 and died in 1989. Her descendants are now researching this mystery.

 

The two stories

 

Comments:

1. Information about Loretta Anna Balck comes from her great-granddaughter. Additional information from Ancestry.com OneWorldTree

2. Information about Harry Ronald Cecora is from:

   Adoption Decree

   The Letter from Catholic Charities

   Sister-in-law of Adopted mother (now deceased)
    

3. The Mother's name is a major discrepancy and has proved to be the correct name for both cases.

4. The difference in Mother's occupation could be simply a 'word of mouth error on the part of the relative who provided the information for Harry.  It was, indeed, an error of some kind.

5. The origins of the name Harry Ronald Cecora are a mystery. (No longer)

6. On June 17, 2006 it was reveled that the two cases were totally unrelated and completely coincidental.

On June 17, 2006 The Adoption Database informed Don Plefka (Harry Cecora) that they had found his natural birth family.

Adoption Database
http://adoptiondatabase.org/index.htm

See the story of my adoption at:
Harry Ronald Cecora