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• 335 I was born 1n New York City December 10 1906. My parents were Annie and Michael Korcinsky. They were very poor and could not take care of me. So, on January 2 1907, when I was about three weeks old they took me to the Sisters of Charity of St.Vincent de Paul who ran the New York Foundling Home. The good sisters took care of me until I was three years and three months old. At that time they sent me on the "Orphan Train" to Bay St. Louis. Here I was one of the first orphan children placed for adoption by the Sisters of Charity. March 12 1910 was my lucky day. On that day I was indentured and adopted by Alex Damborino and his wife Lena. They gave me the name of .John Korcinsky Lawerence Damborino. They took good care of me for the rest of their lives. They sent me to elementary school at Ripp's University in Bay St. Louis, and to St. Stanislaus for High School. I was Confirmed at Our Lady of the Culf. In my last years of elementary school I worked as a Western Union messenger boy and while at St. Stanislaus I worked, part time, at. the Sea Coast Echo as a printers helper or as the job is called, an "Ink Devil". After finishing high school, I went to work full time at the Sea Coast Echo, which was then owned by Charles G. Moreau. I worked there for 28 years before founding a newspaper of my own. It was called the Hancock County Eagle. I was the owner-editor of this newspaper for about 20 years. I sold the Eagle to the new owner of the Sea Coast Echo, Mr. Powell Glass. On June 18 1927, I married Margaret Mary Heitzman of Bay St. Louis. We had t. wo daughter?;, Maragalo and Honorine . When I was in my teens, I asked my mother if I was adopted. She said f irmly. "NO" and then proceeded to burn my adoption papers. It was not a socially accepted practice to admit to having an adopted child in the early 20th century. I continued to wonder about my adoption until I was grown. By chance I wrote to the Sisters of Charity in New York City and with their help I was able to secure my original birth certificate from the Bureau of Records division of the New York Department of Health. My wife and I later visited the nuns at the orphanage at 68th and Lexington in New York. We were shown where babies are still left in a cradle and the bell that the mother must ring to have the child admitted. An old nun, who remembered man) of the orphans, gave us this advice "Don't spend too much t ims looking for your mother, it may be disappointing t.o you and/or your mother". The nun gave us the name of a tailor who lived in the Polish district. We found him and he told us the building that he thought my mother had lived had been torn down. He also told us that many of the Polish residents had roturned to Poland. I never found my biological mother. I died on my 81st birthday December 10 L 98 7. T am buried in this grvave. My adopted parents are buried on my left and their daughter Katy, my adopted sister is buried o n my r i g h t,.. Wei 1 folks, I am get t i rig tired, so it is time for me to craw! back into my coffin.
Orphan Train Riders of BSL Document (061)