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Baby birth/death records from 1910’s and 20’s New York — Doctor scandal — #general
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Stuart Ungar
Is there a way to get birth records from New York from about the 1920s? My grandparents (Eisenberg) had two children prior to having my mom and my uncle. Both supposedly died shortly after birth. I heard from family members that the delivering doctor was later found out to be selling babies. If that is true, I could have some cousins out there that I don’t know but would love to find. If there were birth records for these “deceased” babies would it even have the delivering doctor’s name? Unfortunately it is a real puzzle w/o many clues right now.
Appreciate any thoughts! - Stuart UNGAR
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Fred Kolbrener
There is something you can try using familysearch.org. If not a member, join, it's free.
Do a new search, enter the last name in the surname field, and ONLY the FIRST Names of both parents in the mother and father field (you can try one parent name also, but the list will be longer). Under TYPE, check off BIRTHS. In the birth location field, fill in New York City or other part of NYC and do a search. Change location and keep trying - there are never guarantees. You'll get a list of all the birth records that got indexed for the surname and the first names of the parents unless the name was butchered badly on the records. Try variations If you are lucky, you'll find a couple of promising leads. Some of the data on the BC's are extracted. With the film number and certificate number, you can go to the Family History Center when they reopen and find the images on line. I have found several children that were unknown in our family in this manner and had died at birth or even within four or five years later. Fred Kolbrener
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Renee Steinig
Stuart, From a family tree that's on Geni.com, I'm assuming that your grandparents were Julius Eisenberg and Lena Greenberg. According to a NYC death record extracted on Family Search, a baby boy was born to them on April 25, 1927, and died on April 26, 1927, in Manhattan. The death record says that he was buried on April 29, 1927, at "M.R. Ocean View Cemetery" -- a reference to Mount Richmond, one of the Staten Island cemeteries run by the Hebrew Free Burial Association. Mount Richmond burial records on Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2223/) show a Male Child Eisenberg buried not on April 29, but two days later. I suggest that you contact the Hebrew Free Burial Association (https://www.hebrewfreeburial.org) to ask if they have additional information about the baby. Their records may even show who requested the burial. As for the doctor... The Mount Richmond record includes a mention of "Dr. Leff H." -- probably a reference to Dr. Leff's maternity hospital. Dr. Leff may be the doctor you heard about. In August 1948, the New York Daily News reported the arrest of Dr. Morris Leff on charges of trafficking in black-market babies. The article also said that these babies were "systematically taken from unwed mothers," so your grandparents, married in 1925, may not have been victims. Renee Stuart Ungar <stuartungar@...> wrote:
Is there a way to get birth records from New York from about the 1920s? My grandparents (Eisenberg) had two children prior to having my mom and my uncle. Both supposedly died shortly after birth. I heard from family members that the delivering doctor was later found out to be selling babies. If that is true, I could have some cousins out there that I don’t know but would love to find. If there were birth records for these “deceased” babies would it even have the delivering doctor’s name? Unfortunately it is a real puzzle w/o many clues right now.
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Deanna Levinsky <DEANNASMAC@...>
Re Doctor Leff This was Doctor Leff’s Central Maternity Hospital located on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx Deanna Mandel Levinsky Long Island New York -- Deanna Mandel Levinsky
-- Deanna M. Levinsky, Long Island, NY
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s_wiener@...
Dr. Leff moved his maternity clinic from Manhattan to the Bronx sometime between the birth of my mother and her brother - late 1930s or early 1940s. Scandals aside - including arranged abortions as well as the questionable adoptions, I understand from both my male relatives as well as several on my husband's side that the BEST hospital food ever was served at Dr. Leff's Maternity Hospital. They catered to a particular clientele or at least the image.
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Deanna Levinsky <DEANNASMAC@...>
I attended the Bronx High School of Science, took the bus down the Grand Concourse and worked as the hospital's switchboard operator from four to late evening. This was from 1952 to 1954. They were kind enough to give me supper. If I remember correctly it was Mrs. Leff who cooked or at least supervised the meals. And yes, they were delicious 😋
Deanna Mandel Levinsky, Long Island, NY -- Deanna M. Levinsky, Long Island, NY
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