Added Note & Correction: DISREGARD FORMER (2001) SUBJECT LINE which is erroneous.

More details -- An emotional plea by an ill Mildred SCHULDT, N. 202 Mill St., Apt. 9, Colfax, WA 99111 appeared in the Sept-Oct 1987 issue of "The Genealogical Helper" magazine with a photo of a woman thought to be here birth mother "Belle BALL." Mildred states she was born Estaline BALL at The Willows, a Kansas City, MO hospital for unwed mothers. Agnes and Emanual HITES adopted her when she was eight days old, renaming her Mildred Madeline HITES. She was nine years old before she was told that she had been adopted. The HITES, both 53 years old, lived in New Virginia, IA, and within the next year moved to Moscow, ID. Her unwed mother had signed the deed of adoption as "Bell BALL." That deed was filed June 14, 1915 with the Warren County recorder in Indianola, IA. Her adoptive father died when she was 5, and her adoptive mother remarried, after working for a short time as a housekeeper. She may have been ill with cancer, for she wore a radium pad around her throat. The same month Mildred learned of her adoption she went with her adoptive mother to the office of a probate judge, where she was readopted by Alfred and Elizabeth CARSON, also in their 50s, who had been Moscow neighbors of the HITES. "Mama" died 2-1/2 years later, in 1926, and she then went to live with the CARSONs and became Mildred CARSON, an insecure 11-year-old. The CARSONs had a grown daughter who was teaching school when she went to live with them. They are all deceased. Mildred says she is very grateful to all four of her adoptive parents for the love, care, and guidance they gave her. The topic of her birth parents was never discussed. Her deed of adoption, a "crib card" from The Willows, where she was born, came into her possession when she was 21 and was leaving home following her graduation from the U. of ID to work on a newspaper in southern ID. The card listed her birth weight, physical description of her birth parents, their occupations, and their nationalities as "American." Mildred came to Colfax 50 years prior to her letter to the genealogy magazine to work on the newspaper, married Art SCHULDT in 1940, and the couple had two sons. Mildred's husband died in 1984. She began to search for her roots in 1979. That same year she became ill with myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease. In 1985 Mildred was told that her first adoptive father was her real father but she had not confirmed that. She was also given an old photo, purported to be her mother. No name was mentioned. The hospital card indicated that her birth mother was a school teacher. Her search for a "Belle BALL" had not turned up anything over the years. She said she was also suffering from Parkinsons disease. "It would bring me so much joy to learn some of the facts and characteristics about my birth mother while I am able to cherish them and to tell my sons and grandchildren something of their heredity through me. Please help if you can."

Note -- I am not related, just trying to help a researcher (who may now be deceased) and her family find these roots. I have an adopted child and know how much it means to locate information on birth parents. If you are definitely related to these individuals, you can contact me for a photocopy of Mildred's "mystery photo."