Monday, July 04, 2011

Baby Girl Kathrine Chandler, a Texas adoptee

The following information comes from an original Texas birth certificate dated 5 June 1941.  The certificate was found in the estate of an attorney who handled a lot of adoptions.  We are almost certain that this child was adopted, probably in April 1945, in Harris County, Texas.  We have no knowledge of who the adoptive parents were; we offer this information for genealogical purposes.

The child was named Katherine or Kathrine Chandler.  The handwriting is messy.  She was born in St. Joseph's Maternity Hospital in Houston, Texas on June 5, 1941.  Her mother was Julia Bates Martin, a white woman, age 21 [1920], born in Terrell, Texas.  Julia was a waitress at the Hill Top Drive-In and lived at 3918 Day Street in Houston.

The child's father was Ralph Benjamin Chandler.  He was white, 28 years old [1913], born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and a photographer.  His whereabouts were unknown at the time of Kathy's arrival, but the birth was legitimate, according to the certificate. 

The certified copy of the certificate is dated 12 Apr 1945, and is labeled as "Exhibit 1", presumably for the court proceedings.  It also has a notation of Book 108, Page 29.  The birth certificate number is 4023.  The last four digits of the adopted person's certificate should also be 4023; that's the way it's done in Texas.

We have no further information about this family.  We transcribe it here for future generations.

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