More than 200 babies, known as the "Hicks Babies," were. Dr. Thomas Hicks McCAYSVILLE, Ga. - Services for Dr. Thomas J. Hicks, Sr., 83, of McCaysville will be at 2 p.m. Monday in Finch's Chapel here, burial in Crestlawn Cemetery in Copperhill, Tenn. Dr. Hicks, who operated Hicks' Clinic from around 1945 until he retired in 1965, died of leukemia Sunday. Dr Harshi Dhingra is a licensed medical doctor with a specialization in Pathology. How Did People Find Out About the Hicks Babies? me are my real parents or not as i am finding out not every thing they told me about family is real. You are absolutely correct in your assumption. discoveries. What Happened to Dr. Thomas Hicks? The adopted child or biological mother can call and provide information about their gender and birthdate. You saw it. For him to lie to these women is unforgivable. Copyright 2023 Who are You Made Of? Blasio says that 50 of the 200+ children have been identified and located. Many of those from Hicks small town defended his actions. Brother of Lucy Elizabeth Ketron; John Willie Hicks; Samuel Earnest Hicks; Infant Daughter Hicks and Carrie Ellen Dickson. At-home DNA testing wasnt available until recently. He lied to many and told them their babies died! He was buried in Crestlawn Cemetery in Polk County, Tennessee. I hope youre able to solve your case soon. You should be ashamed of yourself because you have no idea of the pain he caused many families! What part of that is okay? Have you heard the story of Dr. Hicks? . The source for today's story was the book The Hicks Family Tree; The Magnificent Journey of Our Branch of the Hicks Family Tree, 1455 to 2011, and The Families That Made a Difference, written by Gale Hicks Thompson and Bob G. Hicks. He delivered my oldest brother. Yes, thats a horrible thought. These include the nurse, the secretary who signed the false documents, Hicks lawyer, and the sheriff who investigated Hicks illegal abortion clinic. Are you for real?? His family did not live like they had money in fact most of his money appeared to be put right back into the town of McKaysville into businesses which kept folks employed and kept the town thriving. In these cases, Hicks would forge a birth certificate and give the baby to adoptive parents in secret from his Georgia clinic. Dr Hicks didnt keep records of the births and adoptions, so the only way to find your brother, if hes still alive, would be if he decided to look for you using DNA. He induced labor and delivered low birth weight babies that were in danger of dying. But what does anyone think was normally done with illegally aborted babies during that time I can tell you, they were likely disposed of in with the garbage. Were it not for him encouraging these women to have their babies, these children would have never been given a chance at life. I dont trust my own memories, let alone 50 year old memories. Think about it, some of these folks could fall in love with a relative and not even know it. Curiously, Dr. Thomas J. Hicks is not buried in a mausoleum that bears his name, but beside it. What we have now is the mothers side of the story. Ignorance is a terrible thing smh!!!! Dr. Thomas Hicks was a small-town Georgia doctor who was accused of selling hundreds of babies in illegal adoptions. He was never formally charged with arranging these illegal adoptions, and for this reason, he never went to jail or faced legal consequences for his actions. I was warned about ever asking those questions again, this man said I know who you are, please let it alone. Chang, Juju, Jasmine Brown, Geoff Martz and Lauren Effron. There is living proof, with dna, of one man, who along with his twin brother, was reported dead and buried by Dr. Hicks. Prior to that, he was practicing just across the state line in Copperhill, Tennessee, and could well have been selling babies then. For perspective, $1000 in 1950 is equal to about $10,900 in todays dollars. His work remained buried as well. It sits in a plaza in McCaysville, Georgia with a pizza shop on one end and a barbecue restaurant on the other, according to Narratively. I know this first hand because of how it deeply hurt my mother for many, many years! He also has a living granddaughter named Sally Sompayrac. The adoptive parents paid $1,000 for the baby, and Hicks would provide housing for the mothers for several months at his farm, a hotel, his apartments or a telephone company building, according to Appalachian History. He then relocated just across the line in McCaysville Georgia. ALL OF THOSE CHILDREN WERE MESSED UP FROM THIS. Jane Blasio's search for her birth mother in McCaysville, Ga, brings to light the black-market sale of as many as 200 babies delivered there by the late Dr Thomas Jugarthy Hicks between 1951 and . 'Hicks Baby' Adoptee Sold by Georgia Doctor 50 Years Ago Reunites With Birth Mother, Brother, Who are the Hicks babies? If so, login to add it. These werent all women seeking abortions, a number of these women were seeking medical care for themselves and their unborn babies only to be robbed of that precious life. Have you taken a DNA test yourself? Theyre an invaluable resource for parentage searches. Thats a totally twisted way of thinking!!! These babies were born between 3.5 and 4.75 lbs.. very unfavorable!! Babies For Sale: The Secret Adoptions That Haunt One Georgia Town. Narratively, accessed 17 September 2019. I am by no means defending Dr Hicks black-market adoption practices, but its important to remember that, even today, people die from asthma attacks. Thank you for visiting dr thomas hicks family tree page. Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings to use this part of Geni. Within a decade, he was not only performing illegal abortions but selling newborns on the black market. My brother was born in the middle 1930s. News, TLC Shows. In the mid-1940s, Dr. Thomas Jugarthy Hicks opened the Hicks Community Clinic in the small town of McCaysville, Georgia, mere steps from the Tennessee state line. There were cases where Hicks talked women out of abortion. Some birth mothers knew they were placing a baby for adoption, some thought they had an abortion, and some were told their . When mothers came in to the clinic and expressed hesitancy about carrying their pregnancies to term, the doctor would persuade them to have their babies. They were all corrupt! Just watched the documentary. Then hed place a baby in their arms. "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SPQ5-SW1: accessed 10 April 2021), A G Hicks, Copperhill, Polk, Tennessee, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 10, sheet 1B, line 89, family 17, "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4ZJ-HRF: 11 January 2021), Thomas J Hicks, Civil District 3, Polk, Tennessee, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 70-8, sheet 11B, line 42, family 207, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. They may not even know theyre adopted. These folks deserve to know where they came from! But many aspects of his clinic remain a mystery to this day. My mother/father picked me up from a nurse in a hotel in 1967. Dr. Hicks was married and had two kids a son and a daughter. I am from Tennessee before Dr Hicks moved across the state line to McCaysville Ga. Ive heard that many times in my life by a lot of people. Most people whose recent ancestors were born in the United States will find that their DNA match lists include people who are related to them at a distance of 2nd-3rd cousins. Hed do anything for anybody sometimes hed pay a price for it, she said. That is crazy! He delivered many babies in Tennessee before they ran him out of the state. Has your family done any dna tests like 23andme or ancestry? Thank you! My Hicks line starts in New York in 1833. He was wrong and he did wrong so did the mayor and chief of police. Autosomal DNA tests, such as Ancestry DNA, 23andMe, My Heritage, and Family Tree DNA, offer extensive DNA match lists. I am honored to be part of the behind-the-scenes team of passionate and compassionate people who helped some of them in their journeys. amd im 13 so i have a long way to go . And most of these women were likely unmarried, which was a huge no-no at the time. is anything else your are looking? Many had no idea they were adopted until well into adulthood. They should at least be thankful that they werent aborted. If it was a black-market clinic, there probably arent any records of the transaction. I was waiting for one mother to come on and say that they were told that their baby had died, but nope. Until Mother's Day 1997, when his adoptions were exposed. I know abortion was illegal at the time, and then I think he was running into people who couldnt afford adoptions, he told the New York Post. Genealogy for Dr Thomas Jugarthy Hicks, Sr (1888 - 1972) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. I realize Dr. Hicks is not here to defend himself or answer questions, but I cannot imagine how you can defend him after what you heard. There are always three sides to any story: One side, the other side, and the truth (which is usually somewhere in between). The extra mouths to feed were simply too expensive. Now, my family has to wonder, is he out there? I know your heart aches. "Tennessee State Marriage Index, 1780-2002," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VNX9-1PS: 4 December 2014), Thos J Hicks and Chassie Copeland, 07 Jun 1917; from "Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com: 2008); citing p. 222, Polk, Tennessee, United States, Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Thomas Hicks. Blasio went on to help dozens of Hicks babies so they could track down their birth parents and relatives. If you fully watched the documentary you would know that almost all the babies were 4lbs at birth weight or even SMALLER and he was doing this to hurry along the money. i never thought it was real when i was little either. The son, Gillam Thomas Hicks, and his family will be featured in next week's column. Leave a message for others who see this profile. Taken at Birth TrueStory https://t.co/E14faD7AFT pic.twitter.com/cXOtajC4yQ, Sugar Mummy (@findsugarmummy) October 9, 2019. It may have started with good intentions, but these babies deserve the truth and they deserve it now. I dont know. HE WAS A HORRIBLE MAN, JUST HORRIBLE!!! He surrendered his Georgia medical license to halt his prosecution.2. Some on here commented that the bio moms were likely unwed and didnt want the babies. was there more than one Dr. Hicks mentioned in the Taken AT Birth documentary or just one? Unless you were one of the babies there is no way you could know what its like to have this to happen to you. Then you missed the entirety of the story. Thank you. Blasio first traveled to McCaysville in 1988 to search for her birth mother. There are stories that even suggest that some mothers were told that their babies did not survive at birth. Hed encourage them to put their babies up for adoption instead. Ive heard the same story over and over, that the mother heard her baby cry but was told it was stillborn. Im going to play a little devils advocate. Dr Thomas Hicks was a small-town Georgia doctor who was posthumously accused of selling hundreds of babies in illegal adoptions. She did not go to him for an abortion or to give her baby away. He induced birth prematurely to make money. Stories of young girls dying from botched abortions in the early 50s still exist in the living memories of those from the region. This man not only took away peoples family history, but ruined their future as well. So telling the one mother her twin boys were stillborn is acceptable to you. He died at age 83 in 1972 of leukemia, according to Appalachian History. One thousand dollars in 1955 would be nearly $10,000 today. Labor was induced at 31-34 weeks (based on the birth weight of the survivors). Oh my gosh Barbara, he also delivered the babies early, like induced at between 31 & 34 wks causing them to have low birthweight, failure to thrive and other health issues. She did NOT go to him for an abortion, she went to deliver MY BROTHER. His clinic, the Hicks Clinic, was in operation between about 1945-1965. It is suspected that many of them did and there is rumor that perhaps he disposed of those little bodies in the river. Corinthios, Aurelie. Jane Blasio, The Hicks Baby Who Broke the Black Market Baby Adoption Case: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know. She said the whole time she was having the babies that there was a very nice dressed lady sitting in the room across the hall from her. But there was nothing in it. More than 200 babies, known as the Hicks Babies, were sold by Hicks through a back window of the Hicks Community Clinic in McCaysville, Georgia during the 1950s and 1960s. McCaysville, which is located in the southern Appalachian Mountains right on the Georgia border with Tennessee, was shocked to hear that their beloved town doctor, Dr. Hicks, was accused of arranging illegal adoptions, and even selling babies, for parents wanting to adopt. As far as they know the first baby that was adopted out was a twin. is anything else your are looking? Hicks didnt oversee legal adoptions. He died in 1972 and it took three decades before Hicks' actions were brought to light. Thomas Hicks was a well-respected doctor in the small town of McCaysville, Georgia. A sick, twisted & greedy man. A legacy linked to illegal adoptions in rural North Georgia, Woman illegally sold to couple by doctor as newborn speaks out with new book: 'story isn't just about me'. He also told the mothers that their babies died, gave them death certificates but then sold the baby out the back door for $1000. Dr Thomas Jugarthy Hicks Sr Born 18 Oct 1888 in Bloomington, Pickett, Tennessee, United States Ancestors Son of David Fleming Hicks and [mother unknown] [sibling (s) unknown] Husband of Chass (Copeland) Hicks married 7 Jun 1917 in Polk, Tennessee, USA Father of Thomas Jugarthy Hicks Jr Died 5 Mar 1972 at age 83 in Tennessee, United States Anyways the family is from Georgia and they film there as well. i am from polk county tenn we are trying to find if our brother danny is still alive we have learned 3 dead babies in my family it is interesting. Hicks Baby Adoptee Sold by Georgia Doctor 50 Years Ago Reunites With Birth Mother, Brother. Perhaps your dad was referring to the equipment used to save preemies. And, even though it was illegal, many women thought they were having an abortion. It sits in a plaza in McCaysville, Georgia with a pizza shop on one end and a barbecue restaurant on the other, according to Narratively. I am the youngest of seven siblings. Several of the Hicks Babies found the mausoleum was vandalized when they paid a visit in 2018. Hicks was providing a service, Ken Rush, director of the Ducktown Basin Museum, told Narratively. Besides his charitable practices, he performed unauthorized abortions. Blasio and 200 others were taken from their mothers at birth in the 1950s and 60s and sold illegally on the black market out the back door of a clinic run by Dr. Thomas J. Hicks. My mother remarried in 1969 in GA, I cannot locate any information about her daughter except a clipping cutout from the obituaries in michigan, NO GRAVE, BIRTH OR DEATH RECORDS can be found, can you help, The connections of Georgia and Michigan and Ohio seemed odd, we desperately desire to locate her, Do you know where she was born (which clinic or hospital)? can you imagine waking up one day to find out accidently that you were adopted and come to find out through this show or other means that your wife is your sister or first cousin? 23andMe is on sale right now, so its a good time to buy. Blasio confirmed with the county birth records that she was likely one of the hundreds of babies sold between 1950 and 1965.2. Dr. Thomas J. Hicks died at age 83 on March 5, 1972, after a battle with leukemia. It was Mother's Day of 1997 when Reymann saw a story in the Akron Beacon Journal featuring the story of Jane Blasio who had discovered she had been illegally sold as an infant for $1,000 from a clinic run by Dr. Thomas Hicks in McCaysville, Ga. some three decades earlier. He reportedly performed abortions, which were illegal at the time, for $100. I may have a couple brothers out there. Her name is Alana honey boo boo if you dont know who she is you can google her. If you find ANYTHING humane or OKAY about that then God so help you! On the documentary the officer in the second episode claimed he gave a relative of his a shot and she died 30min later. I can attest to the fact that some of the mothers were married (yes, to the biological fathers) at the time their infants were sold. He would then sell those babies, for prices as high as $1000, to couples who wanted to adopt. We Delivering you Souvenirs from China;Our site is Specialized in Selling Chinese Special Versions of Stamps, Currency (Coins / Paper), also Selling Souvenirs From the Most Famous Chinese Tourist Sites www.ChinaCoinz.com Part of NTD E-Commerce Co. LTD www.ChinaCoinz.com Part of NTD E-Commerce Co. LTD,. That seems to be a repetitive theme amongst the living relatives. Did the births take place at the Hicks Clinic? All of the babies were children of mothers who were persuaded to give up their children for adoption, and were not biological children of Dr. Hicks. She grieved her the rest of her life for her first born son. As a result, he could not provide information that would help the babies find their parents or the other way around.4. Shameful + Sinful + Criminal + Evil!! My Dad was a black-market baby in 1941 in Akron OH. Thank you. The poverty here in the Copper Basin of southeast Tennessee and far north Georgia, which includes the town of McCaysville, often meant that pregnant women couldnt ask a relative or friend to help raise their children. Just horrible! My YDNA indicates I am not Hicks. You can follow their life-changing stories in a three-night series, Taken at Birth, airing October 9th-11th, 2019, on TLC and some streaming platforms.
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