My Search for A Birth Family - Adoption Details

***Please remember that most of the information I have regarding this adoption and the birth family has not been confirmed. Most of the information I have has come from my grandmother who was already in her nineties before she shared the information with me and although she was mentally sharp until the time she died she sometimes confused information. With that said I do believe most of the details she shared with me are very accurate as none of the details ever changed no matter when I asked her. If any of the information listed below has been confirmed by documentation or any other reliable source it will have an ***astrik*** next to it along with the source that was used to confirm it.***

Adoptee's Full Name at the time of Birth: Margaret Louise White **Per the original adoption decree. Margaret Louise was the name given by her adoptive parents so it is likely that the birth mother only knew her as "Baby Girl White" or perhaps some other name she gave the baby for her memory.

Date Of Birth: February 11, 1958***

Date baby was taken home by adoptive parents:February 15, 1958, taken home from the hospital at 4 days old by the adoptive parents***

Hospital Name and Location of Birth: Stillwater Medical Center; Stillwater, Oklahoma, Payne County, USA

Adoptive Parents Full Names, D.O.B, Age, Occupation and Residence at the time of the Birth: Earl Taylor Fairchild July 17, 1917, 40 years old, Retired Serviceman/Real Estate Broker/Business Owner; Mary "Eleanor" (Robinson) Fairchild December 17, 1915, 42 years old, long time grade school/music teacher at Ripley Public Schools, they lived 5 miles north of Ripley on HWY 108 at the time of the adoption until Eleanor sold the house in 2002

Date Adoption was Finalized: May 4, 1958 ** Per the original adoption decree**

Case Number of Adoption: 408 **original adoption decree**

Birth Mother's Last Name at time of birth: White **Original adoption decree**

The Fairchild's attorney: Everett Berry Sr. of Stillwater/Pawnee, he was also the president of Pawnee National Bank, Pawnee, Oklahoma. In addition to being the Fairchild's personal attorney for the adoption and all personal/business matters, he was also Earl's nephew although they are very close in age. Everett was Earl's eldest sister's son. **Original adoption decree/My grandmother**

Various information about birth mother: Divorced

2 older children; a boy 17, a girl 13

Grew up/lived in/had family in Macomb, Oklahoma Pottawatamie County and Pawnee, Oklahoma Pawnee County

Stayed withMrs. Phillips, a cafeteria lady at Ripley Public Schools, for at least part of the pregnancy.

Emma Phillips was the only Mrs. Phillips that can be found that ever worked in the cafeteria or the school in general for that matter, she worked there during 1958 and the surrounding years, lived a few blocks from the school and used to walk to and from work, attended the Church of God which was just down the street from her house, was in her 60's in 1958, had long hair worn up in a bun all of the time, and her husband, Noah, passed away about 10 years prior to the birth. All of this information corresponds exactly with my grandmothers memory of Mrs. Phillips, all of which my grandmother described to me before I found the information during my research.*** Information on Mrs. Phillips was confirmed through ancestry and various other websites as well as by speaking to one of Emma's grandaughter's, her daughter's daughter.

Emma Phillipshad 3 daughters and 1 son, but none could be the birth mother meaning that the birth mother was either relative not in her immediate family possibly a niece, cousin or even a relative of her husbands, or she was just a friend. Emma's daughters were ruled out because not only were the oldest 2 married to the same person their entire lives, but one had 4 children both older and younger than my mother with one being born very close to my mother's date of birth making it impossible for her to be the birth mother, and the other daughter was unable to have children and eventually ended up adopting a son later in life. The youngest daughter and the only one still living was divorced twice but never had any children of her own. I have spoken with the youngest daughter to see if she remembers anything, but she denies knowing anything about it. It's possible she's not telling the truth in an attempt to continue keeping it a secret, but regardless she has mild dementia and probably wouldn't be able to be much help regardless **This information was confirmed by speaking with Emma's grandaughter as well and also through reading through the children's different obituaries.

Kept the pregnancy a secret from most of her friends and family including her children

Sent her daughter to stay with family in Macomb or somewhere near to hide the pregnancy

Son recently enlisted in the army and was leaving for basic training or deployment around the time of birth. Birth mother was in a hurry to leave the hospital to get to Oklahoma City in time to see him off.

The Birth mother petitioned and was granted permission to leave the state immediately after the adoption was finalized for employment seeking purposes. ** That information was stated in the original adoption decree(Which I do have)***

The mother might have either lived inChicago, Illinois before getting pregnant or moved their after the adoption.

She might have been a buyer for a department store which caused her to travel a lot with her job, which would've helped tremendously with hiding the pregnancy from her loved ones.

Was full or part Native American

The pregnancy was probably the result of an affair in which the birth father might have been someone with a high standing in the community, having a lot to lose if word of the pregnancy was to ever get out which is why it was kept such a secret.

Another reason she may have given the child up for adoption was because she was fairly recently divorced and already raising 2 older children as a single mother couldn't afford to provide for any more children.

She was supposed to be driven to the hospital by the Fairchild's attorney when she went into labor but when it actually happened he was stuck in Oklahoma City (60 miles away) in court with another case, so the attorney contacted the adoptive father Earl who picked her up and drove her to the hospital. That was the only time either adoptive parent ever met the birth mother.

Praying for a Miracle, My Search for my Mother's Birth Family