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I hope you are beginning to live your new year resolutions in the wake of this new wonderful year. I am, hence this e-mail. As you may or may not be aware, I was adopted at birth, some 50 years ago. This year I am determined to find my natural mother and hope you can help...
Somewhere in the world Joan Bally will hopefully be celebrating her 80th Birthday on the 6th January 2012. I say hopefully because I don’t know whether this lady is alive or dead or whether this is her real name, date of birth or not. But this is all I have to work on.
The story and your help
In 1961 in Poughkeepsie, 100 miles north of New York city, USA, a Jewish lady became pregnant with a child she was unable to keep. That child is me.
Not knowing what to do and not wanting the pregnancy to be discovered, she decided to have the child adopted. Arranging the adoption through Rabbi Irwin Zimit of Temple Beit-el, Phoukeepsie and Rabbi Rabinowitz Birmingham, England. She flew or sailed to England and lodged at 53 Woodstock Lane, Birmingham . Possibly working as a nurse (or Nurse may have been her maiden name) she stayed until the birth of Adrian David on 13th September 1961 at St Chad's Hospital, Birmingham. He was immediately adopted by the Kriss family - Jack, Doris and their children, Pauline (11) and Louise (7).
Nothing has been known of Joan Bally since.
No person alive in the Birmingham Jewish community has any knowledge of Joan Bally. There is nothing to be found on-line about this lady, and no libraries in Poughkeepsie have any information about her.
With the help of the internet I ask you to send this message to as many people as you know by e-mail, Twitter or Facebook, so that somewhere, someone will know her and will contact me. Adrian David Kriss at adriankriss@hotmail.com or at 146, Worcester Road, Bromsgrove,Worcestershire, England B61 7AS. or on 00-44 7973 619613.
Here's a few records I was able to locate. No guarantees that this is your Joan Bally. Did anyone mention if she had ties to or was involved with music?
Name: Joan M Bally
Arrival Date: 22 Aug 1953
Port of Arrival: St Albans, Vermont, United States
Ship Name: Arosa Kulm
Port of Departure: London, England
Age: 16
Birth Date: abt 1937
Birth Place: Pennsylvania
Birth Country: United States
Gender: Female
Record Type: Manifests
Name: Joan Bally
Spouse Surname: Mccausland
Date of Registration: Apr-May-Jun 1961
Registration district: Wortley
Inferred County: Yorkshire West Riding
Volume Number: 2d
Page Number: 1393
Name: William L Mccausland
Spouse Surname: Bally
Date of Registration: Apr-May-Jun 1961
Registration district: Worsley
Inferred County: Lancashire
Volume Number: 2d
Page Number: 1393
HCG- there is a yearbook page with pictures, 1958 West Chester University (Pennsylvania). Can you work your magic and post the picture here?
It will take more digging to know if the ship and marriage records above are related to your Joan. I think Zee is just logging everything he/she? finds for further investigation. When the searchers share their findings as they work, it allows other searchers to help fill in the puzzle.
For instance, the first one - ship manifest - lists a person born around 1937, not 1932, and the arrival date is 1953, not 1961. So it might be her, returning from a different trip to England, (with a transcription error on the birthdate) or might be someone else. I believe the arrival records are only available up to 1957, preventing us from finding the '61-2 record.
And the marriage to McCausland takes place while she would have been pregnant, begging the question, "If she was married while obviously pregnant, then why would she give up the child?" So that doubt helps us to keep an open mind that there may still be records to be found in the US under "Bally" or a different name. However, Adrian could search that name in England to see if it leads anywhere.
Please keep checking back while the history detectives search for more. Sometimes it take a while. And sometimes the object of the search googles her name and finds the thread.
I agree; being pregnant, getting married then giving up the child does seem odd. But the picture....... I showed my son (who is 12) the yearbook page with a picture of Adrian next to it. I asked him if any of the people looked like Adrian & he picked out Joan without hesitation, and he had no idea why I was asking the question.
Adrian has been searching in the UK for some time to no avail. The Synagogue in Phoukeepsie have no records - the Rabbi has since died and his wife has no knowledge of the incident.
I agree; being pregnant, getting married then giving up the child does seem odd.
If you were born 9-13-61 and the registration of marriage was close to April 1, 1961 (Apr-May-Jun 1961 from above) then maybe William L. Mccausland is not your biological Father.
And William did not know Joan was pregnant. The marriage may have been hastened, such that William might be perceived as the Father.
If she turns 80 this week, there is an excellent chance that some of her classmates are still alive. My Father went to one of his re-unions at age 85. Being that old there were not many classmates left, but there were enough to have the re-union.
The class of 1958 could have a 55th re-union next year.
I now know who is living in the house at 1411 Fruitville Park. I am following her on Twitter and have sent her a message asking her to look at this thread. My hope is that she might be able to help with info from the deeds to the property.
We are now almost certain that the UK birth and marriage certificates that we have for Joan Bally are a red herring. The year book photo & address seems to be our most promising lead. The resemblance to Adrian is uncanny - we've shown the page to a number of people and every single one has picked Joan off the page immediately.
I now know who is living in the house at 1411 Fruitville Park. I am following her on Twitter and have sent her a message asking her to look at this thread. My hope is that she might be able to help with info from the deeds to the property.
We are now almost certain that the UK birth and marriage certificates that we have for Joan Bally are a red herring. The year book photo & address seems to be our most promising lead. The resemblance to Adrian is uncanny - we've shown the page to a number of people and every single one has picked Joan off the page immediately.
In the year book photo it shows Joan Bally being involved in music.
Well, from that photo, if that is your Mother, and she could not make it in music, she would have no trouble winning beauty contest.
Very pretty lady.
Hopefully that is her, and she is going to celebrate her 80th birthday tomorrow, as well as many more in the future, and you find her soon.
If you can get some help from those who have access to real estate records, you might get a clue.
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