{"id":385,"date":"2012-10-21T02:25:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-21T02:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/21\/i-beg-you-to-take-my-child\/"},"modified":"2012-10-21T02:25:00","modified_gmt":"2012-10-21T02:25:00","slug":"i-beg-you-to-take-my-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/21\/i-beg-you-to-take-my-child\/","title":{"rendered":"I beg you to take my child"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Warning: DEPRESSING. -egg]<\/p>\n

I beg you to take my child<\/a>: <\/p>\n

In 1869, in response to a sharp rise in the number of babies being abandoned in New York, often in dangerous circumstances,\u00a0The Foundling Asylum<\/a> \u2014\u00a0run by Sister Irene Fitzgibbon<\/a>, pictured above \u2014\u00a0opened to the public with a single white cradle on its doorstep, and immediately began to give safe shelter to unwanted infants. In the first two years alone, 2’500 children were taken in. <\/p>\n

Babies were often abandoned at the Foundling along with a letter, many of which have since been preserved by the New York Historical Society<\/a>. Below are just five examples.<\/p>\n

Transcripts follow each image.<\/p>\n

(Source: The wonderful Ephemeral New York<\/a> & the\u00a0New York Historical Society on Flickr<\/a>; Image above: Sister Irene at the\u00a0Foundling Asylum in 1888, via Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/i>)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Transcript<\/b><\/p>\n

2-21-71<\/p>\n

New York Tuesday<\/p>\n

Kind Sisters, <\/p>\n

you will find a little boy he is a month old to morrow it father will not do anything and it is a poor little boy it mother has to work to keep 3 others and can not do anything with this one it name is Walter Cooper and he is not christen yet will you be so good as to do it? I should not like him to die with out it his mother might claim him some day I have been married 5 years and I married respectfully and I did not think my husband was a bad man I had to leave him and I could not trust my children to him now I do not know where he is and he has not seen this one yet I have not a dollar in the world to give him or I would give it to him I wish you would keep him for 3 or 4 months and if he is not claimed by that time you may be sure it mother can not support it I may some day send some money to him do not forget his name. <\/p>\n

Yours respectfully, <\/p>\n

Mrs Cooper<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

Transcript<\/b><\/p>\n

New York April 6th<\/p>\n

My dear good Sister, <\/p>\n

Please accept this little outcast son of mine trusting with God’s help that I will be able to sustain it in your institution. I would not part with my baby were it in any way possible for me to make a respectable living with it, but I cannot, and so ask you to take my little one, and with the assistance of Our Blessed Lady I promise to place in the contribution box, each month all that I can spare from my earnings, and to bring it clothes as often as my means will allow. This is no idle promise Good Sister. I know how often such are made and broken, but I will do my duty. Its name is Joseph Cavalier.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

Transcript<\/b><\/p>\n

Sister Superioress<\/p>\n

I am a poor woman and I have been deceived under the promise of marriage, I am at present with no means and with out any relatives to nurse my baby. Therefore I beg you for god sake to take my child until I can find a situation and have enough means so I can bring up myself. I hope that you will so kind to accept my child and I will pray god for you. <\/p>\n

I remain humble servant<\/p>\n

Teresa Perrazzo<\/p>\n

New York, Dec. 3rd 1874<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

Transcript<\/b><\/p>\n

New York July 3rd 1872<\/p>\n

Kind Sisters of Charity<\/p>\n

This worthy man Mr. Edward Keefe has had the misfortune to lose within about a week, both daughter and wife. The mother of his child died today, leaving upon his hands a tender infant but a few hours old.<\/p>\n

He prays of you to care for it and sustain in it the feeble spark of life which God has placed there. <\/p>\n

Yours truly<\/p>\n

F.E. Donlin MD<\/p>\n

No 1 Ludlow Place<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

Transcript<\/b><\/p>\n

Dear Sister of Mercy, <\/p>\n

Please take care of my baby as I can not do it my self. I trust God will reward you. I do not know if I live or die. I give it in charge of you and the Almighty. I have sinned can not expect much good luck. It will not be christened as I know you will attend to that. If I live I hope to claim it some day. Its fathers name is Hudson. You call it as you think best. I am not able to write any more. I call it Julia R Hudson. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Warning: DEPRESSING. -egg] I beg you to take my child: In 1869, in response to a sharp rise in the number of babies being abandoned in New York, often in dangerous circumstances,\u00a0The Foundling Asylum \u2014\u00a0run by Sister Irene Fitzgibbon, pictured above \u2014\u00a0opened to the public with a single white cradle on its doorstep, and immediately […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3pfIY-6d","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.novonon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}