Some few alege that Gov. Herbert Lehman (1878-1963) adopted or "bought" one or more of his children from the notorious baby broker Georgia Tann (1891-1950). The source offered for the claim is a 1978 Memphis Magazine article that itself offered no evidence in support of the claim, and that named him as "Senator Herbert Lehmann" [sic]. In 1978, Herbert Lehman, his wife Edith Altshul, his adopted son Lt. Peter Lehman, and his adopted daughter Hilda Lehman were dead. His adopted son John Robert Lehman and grandchildren were alive, but probably not readers of a young regional magazine in order to rebut it.
1924 is generally the starting date to which Georgia Tann’s crimes are traced:
Georgia Tann, a conscienceless woman who from 1924 to 1950 operated out of Memphis arranging the illegal adoptions of poor children by middle-class and wealthy couples
Raymond, Barbara Bisantz. "Mystery-Free Adoption." N.Y. Times. July 29, 2007. Op-Ed. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/opinion/nyregionopinions/29LIraymond.html
From 1924 to 1950, Georgia Tann stole, or otherwise separated, more than 5,000 children from their families.
Cooper, Lois. "Georgia Tann: A Story of Stolen Babies." Newton County, Mississippi Historical and Genealogical Society. 2015. http://www.nchgs.org/html/a_story_of_stolen_babies.html
The three Lehman adoptions took place between 1918 and 1922, a fact typically never mentioned by those espousing the conspiracy theory.
L. 1936, ch. 854 had nothing to do with Tann, directly or indirectly and would not have served her purposes. It did pertained to people born in New York only, not in Tennessee or any other state. Furthermore, it made the sealing and amending of birth certificates optional.
Amending and sealing adoptees’ OBCs in New York did not become mandatory until L. 1949, c. 681 when a phrase letting the amendment and sealing of the OBC be at the discretion of adoptive parents was removed from the Judiciary Law. In the Governor’s Bill Jacket:
Memo of the Assembly bill sponsor, also the Chairman of the NYS Special Committee on Social Welfare and Relief of the Joint Legislative Committee on Interstate Cooperation Harold C. Ostertag:
“If this bill is enacted into law, the records of the State Commissioner of Health and the Commissioner of Health of the City of New York would contain the information which any person who has been adopted may need or request concerning his origin and natural parents. It is the belief of our Committee as a result of our studies that this information should be readily available to all persons who have been adopted” (bold emphasis added; the Memo of the Commissioner of the NYS Department of Social Welfare Robert Lansdale was almost identical).
Even in 1949 when the sealing of adoptees’ OBCs became mandatory, a number of other things had yet to be sealed. E.g. the Petition of Adoption and the Order of Adoption, available to the adoptive parents, continued to contain the adoptee’s full birth name into the late 1960s. The legislative intent to keep records from the prying eyes of outsiders for the benefit of the adoptee remained consistent over the following decades even as other documents and indexes were also sealed.
Newspaper databases searched for anything regarding Georgia Tann for 1906-1925:
newspapers.com
fultonhistory.com
nyshistoricnewspapers.org
genealogybank.com
newspaperarchive.com
chroniclingamerica.loc.gov
Book databases searched for anything regarding Georgia Tann for 1906-1925:
hathitrust.org
books.google.com
archive.org
Georgia Tann born July 18, 1891, Philadelphia, Mississippi
Misses Nellie Rayner and Georgia Tann were guests of Miss Ruby Partin at Chunkey last week.
“Hickory.” Newton Record[MS]. March 1, 1906: 8 col 1.
Miss Georgia Tann has returned from an extended visit to Philadelphia. […]
Miss Lucile McKay, of Philadelphia, is the guest of Miss Georgia Tann.
“Hickory.” Newton Record[MS]. July 5, 1906: 8 col 1.
Miss Birdie Stafford, of Newton, was the guest of Miss Georgie Tann Saturday and Sunday.
“Hickory.” Newton Record[MS]. January 2, 1907: 8 col 3.
Miss Eula Semmes and Georgia Tann, with Robert Tann of Hickory, were guests of Miss Kate Merchant Sunday.
“Newton, Miss.” Times-Democrat [New Orleans, LA]. February 17, 1907: 26 col 5.
Miss Georgia Tann returned home Friday, after spending several months with her grandmother in Philadelphia.
“Hickory.” Newton Record[MS]. August 1, 1907: 5 col 6.
Miss Eulah Semmes and Georgia Tann, in company with Robert Tann, of Hickory, were the guests of Miss Kate Merchant Sunday.
“Hickory.” Newton Record[MS]. February 7, 1908: 5 col 3.
A very pleasant event was the dining on last Sunday by Miss Kate Merchant in honor of a few friends, among the guests were Mrs. G. C. Tann and Mrs. F. G. Semmes, Rob Tann and Misses Georgia Tann and Eulah Semmes, of Hickory.
“Home and Vicinity Notes: Of People and Things In and Near Newton.” Newton Record[MS]. February 20, 1908: 4 col 1.
Misses Maude Gallaspy and Georgie Tann spent Friday at the fair at Lake [sic]
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. October 22, 1908: 8 col 3.
Miss Willie Stafford, of Meridian, was the guest of Miss Georgia Tann the past week.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. Supplement. December 3, 1908: 9 col 4.
Miss Gerogia [sic] Tann had as a guest the past week Miss Kate Germany, of Meridian.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. December 31, 1908: 8 col 4.
Miss Georgia Tann has returned home from a visit to friends at Meehan Junction.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. August 26, 1909: 8 col 1.
Misses Georgia Tann and Marie Hall of Hickory, are the guests of Miss Germany of Asylum Heights.
“Social and Personal Notes.”Meridian Evening Star [MS]. February 16, 1910: 3 col 3.
Misses Georgia Tann and Lucille Madison visited friends and relatives at Homewood Sunday.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. April 14, 1910: 8 col 1.
Miss Georgia Tann is spending the week with friends at Decatur.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. August 8, 1910: 8 col 5.
Miss Georgia Tann left last week for Virginia, where she will attend Martha Washington college.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. September 28, 1911: 11 col 2.
Miss Georgia Tann will leave next week for Abingdon, Va., where she will finish at Martha Washington college this session.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. September 12, 1912: 8 col 3.
COLLEGE GIRLS PLAYED PRANKS
Martha Washington Students Celegrate [sic] April Fool's Day with Many Novel Jokes.
Martha Washington College, Va., April 5.—(Special)—[...]
At supper the girls were all on time. As each teacher arrived to find a student in her place dressed in her favorite suit and hat, she would look surprised, hesitate and appear to be trying to realize which was which. After adjusting herself, she would begin with humility to seek a lower seat. Miss Georgia Tann, dressed in a black uniform with standing collar and the regulation black tie, was especially good as the president, bringing down peals of laughter as she seriously promenaded the dining room inspecting the tables. Dr. Long, the original, says he did not recognize himself, but that was probably because he did not expect to be so good looking. All through the meal, eaten with knives, the teachers made announcements, comically familiar. [...]
Roanoke Times [VA]. April 6, 1913: 15 col 2.
Georgia majored in music, and after graduating in 1913 50 taught school briefly in Columbus, Mississippi.51
Raymond, Barbara Bisants. The Baby Thief: The Untold Story of Georgia Tann, The Baby Seller Who Corrupted Adoption. NY: Union Square, 2008. 50.
When Georgia graduated from college in 1913, Mississippi had three professional, religiously affiliated orphanages. An orphanage operated by the Fraternal Order of Masons was located in Meridian; Georgia had volunteered her services there during summer vacations. In 1912 the first state orphanage, the Mississippi Children’s Home-Finding Society, was also established in Meridian. Georgia obtained employment with this organization, and after its headquarters was relocated to Jackson in 1916 took a position there as field agent.57
Raymond, Barbara Bisants. The Baby Thief: The Untold Story of Georgia Tann, The Baby Seller Who Corrupted Adoption.NY: Union Square, 2008. 56-57.
50 “after graduating in 1913”: Records of Martha Washington College, Abingdon, Virginia.
51 “taught school briefly in Columbus, Mississippi”: George C. Tann, handwritten note, Mississippi State Archives; Rowland, p. 545, bibliographical [sic] sketch written by George C. Tann, undated, Mississippi State Archives, Jackson, Mississippi.
57 "Georgia obtained employment ... as field agent": http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/gpakt/pamsfamily/MamawR/mamaws.htm[sic]. I.e.
“Georgia Tann was employed as a field agent for the Mississippi Children's Home Society in 1919, and perhaps even earlier than 1919." Gibbs, Pamela J. ”Mamaw Rayborn’s Page, or Little Girl Lost.” Pam’s Mississippi Genealogy.
58 "She was run out of town": Interview with Vallie Miller, 1992; interview with Hickory, Mississippi resident, 1993. [NB: those statements were made about seven decades after her departure from the Mississippi Children’s Home Society. While the interviewees might have been correct, claiming she was run out of Mississippi may have been a way of distancing Mississippi from Georgia Tann’s crimes? “‘They resent how Mississippians have been portrayed in the national media as barefoot, watermelon seed-sptting rednecks,’ [Maisie] said. Hickory residents felt their town was known for only one thing, spawning Georgia Tann, and that they were embarrassed” (Raymond 30). 260 n. 39 Maisie was noted to be the pseudonym given a Hickory resident.]
Raymond, Barbara Bisants. The Baby Thief: The Untold Story of Georgia Tann, The Baby Seller Who Corrupted Adoption.NY: Union Square, 2008
BIG VOTING CONTEST GROWING IN INTEREST
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NUMBER OF CONTESTANTS WORKING FOR ATTRACTIVE PRIZES.
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Inquiries Are Being Received Daily as to Voting, Working and Getting Subscriptions for The Record.
—
The candidates and others interested in The Record Voting Contest will soon have the opportunity of seeing the piano which is to be given to the lady having the largest number of votes. […]
The nominations so far made are as follows. […]
HICKORY […]
Miss Georgia Tann
Newton Record [MS]. April 24, 1913: 1 cols 1-2.
Prof. C. D. Johnson, of Clarke Memorial, goes to Hickory next term and will be assisted by Prof. M. G. Scarborough, first assistant. Misses Lula Everett, Mamie Taylor, and Carrie Koonce, assistants. Miss Georgia Tann will teach music.
Mississippi Educational Advance [Jackson, MS] 4(3). September 1914. 3-4.
Miss Georgia Tann, who is studying music under Prof. Lundburg, of Meridian, made her weekly trip Friday, accompanied by little Miss Merritt Ruth Todd.
The Zeisburg Musical club under the direction of Miss Georgia Tann, gave a very interesting program in piano, voice and expression at the school building Saturday afternoon from 4 to 6.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. February 4, 1915: 4 col 1, 2.
Miss Georgia Tann entertained the pupils of her music class at a valentine party Friday evening. The rooms were decorated in appropriate valentine decorations. Many games were played Miss Blanche Henton and Lindsey Everett being the lucky prize winners. Later fruit gelatin in orange buckets with whipped cream, and pink and white block cake were served by Misses Tann, Temple and Rayner.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. February 18, 1915: 4 col 2.
INDUSTRIAL ENGLISH.
Marian Emeth Tuttle, Director; Georgia Tann, Assistant.
1 (a) Composition.—The course includes a review of grammar and a careful study of composition. Weekly theme 3 hours a week, first term.
(b) Continuation of the work of the first term with the addition of representative selections from American Literature. Composition, 2 hours; Literature, 1 hour, second term. Required of all Freshman Industrials.
II. A survey course in English Literature, 2 hours a week, first term; 1 hour Composition, 3 hours a week, second term. Required of all Sophomore Industrials.
Bulletin of the Mississippi Industrial Institute & College 3(3). June 1915. 54.
Moonlight Picnic.
The home of Judge and Mrs. G. C. Tann was the scene of much merriment Monday evening, when their daughter, Miss Georgia, assisted by the Misses Pierce, Henton and Rayner, entertained at a moonlight picnic.
The spacious front yard hedged with shrubbery, was artistically arranged with rustic seats, rugs, etc. Japanese lanterns hanging among the trees, gave everything a very pretty appearance.
“Muffin Man from Druryland,” “Marching ‘round the levy,” “Wig-wag” and other children’s games, indulged in by grown-ups, and all were the cause of lots of fun. Later the different figures of the barn yard dance, on the grass, was a pleasant pastime.
Well-filled baskets were brought by all and spread on the porch in picnic style, after which frozen ices and iced drinks were served.
About a dozen families besides Misses Margurite and Elizabeth Suttle, of Meridian, enjoyed this lovely affair.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. July 29, 1915: 3 col 2.
Misses Marguerite and Elizabeth Suttle, and Clarice Henderson, of Meridan, who have been the guests of Miss Georgia Tann for ten days past, returned home Friday, and were accompanied by Miss Tann, who will remain in Meridian a few days.
Miss Edna Baker, of Meridian, was the guest of Miss Georgia Tann Wednesday.
Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. August 12, 1915: 3 col 2.
Thursday morning from eight until ten, Miss Tann entertained at an al fresco party, progressive rook being the game in order. Score and tally cards bore hand painted morning glories.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. September 2, 1915: 4 col 2.
Miss Georgia Tann, who will be one of the I. I. and C. [Industrial Institute and College] faculty, left the first of the week to visit in Meridian before going to Columbus [MS].
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. September 16, 1915: 4 col 3.
Hickory, Nov. 24.—Mrs. G. C. Tann is spending Thanksgiving in Columbus with her daughter, Miss Georgia, of the I. I. and C. faculty.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. November 25, 1915: 4 col 3.
Miss Georgia Tann, of the I. I. and C. faculty, of Columbus, came home last week to attend the funeral of her grandmother, Mrs. Susan Yates.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. December 16, 1915: 3 col 1.
Matrons Party.
Miss Georgia Tann was hostess Monday afternoon from 3 till 5 at an informal party for matrons, to meet her guests, Mesdames J. R. Plummer, of Jackson, and Sudie Edwards, of Louisville.
The interior of this hospitable home was prettily decorated in autumn flowers, and Miss Tann was assisted by her mother, Mrs. G. C. Tann, in receiving her guests.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. November 2, 1916: 2 cols 5-6.
WOMAN’S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION.
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Hickory, Mississippi.
PROGRAMMES FOR 1916-1917.
—
Officers—[…] Miss Georgia Tann, Superintendent of Sunday Schools. […]
Members—[…] Mrs. G. C. Tann, Miss Georgia Tann […]
JUNE.
Guest Day—Flower Mission Day.[…]
Hostesses—[…] Miss Tann […]
SEPTEMBER.
Business Meeting.[…]
Hostesses—[…] Mrs. Tann.
Newton Record [MS]. November 23, 1916: 3 cols 3, 5.
Musical Recital.
The School of Music, under the direction of Miss Lora B. Gilmore, teacher, gave a high class and entertaining program at the school auditorium Friday evening in behalf of the piano fund.
The program consisted of vocal numbers, by Misses Tann, Tidwell and Hill, Piano numbers, Misses M[?] Mullan and Ruby Shepherd and [?] kindergarten department.
In conclusion a scene from [the] well known play, “The School [for] Scandal,” by [Richard Brinsley] Sheridan, was given [with?] Miss Gilmore as Lady Teazle and Miss Tann as Sir Peter. A crowded house was in attendance.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. November 23, 1916: 6 col 6. [Right edge of page torn on scanned newspaper.]
Miss Georgia Tann will spend the week-end with relatives in DeKalb.
Social.
Miss Georgia Tann was at home Monday evening to her many friends to introduce her holiday guests, Misses Etoile and Bettye Davis, of Meehan, and Miss Laura Gallaspy’s guest, Miss Roth, of Columbus.
Book and five hundred were played, and also the one-step dances indulged in. Christmas fruits were served informally.
Those present were Misses Roth and Davis, Ina Pierce, Mabel Gilmore and guest, Miss Rena Belle Logan, of Newton, Laura Gallaspy and Claire Henton, Messrs. Otis Hanner, Earl Williams, Millard Pierce, Demar Tidwell and R. R. Tann. Others were prevented from being present on account of inclement weather. […]
Christmas Program.
The W. C. T. U., under the direction of Misses Tann and Carraway, gave the following program at the Methodist church Sunday evening at 8 o’clock.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. January 4, 1917: 4 cols 2-3.
January 17, 1917 — Peter Gerald Lehman born in Baltimore, Maryland
The following officers and members of the W. C. T. U. went over to Newton Wednesday afternoon and were royally entertained by the same organization there: Mesdames C. V. Gilmore, O. S. and T. J. Hopkins, T. M. Wilson, James Gallaspy, J. L. Henton, R. A. and A. C. Melton, A. C. and J. L. Hailey, H. W. and H. J. McMillan, C. E. Hammond and Misses Lorabel Gilmore, Georgia Tann, Ada Shepherd and Inez Carraway.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. February 1, 1917: 4 col 3.
Hickory, July 3.—Miss Georgia Tann, who for the past session, has been teacher of music at the Masonic Home in Meridian, is at home on a short vacation.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. July 4, 1917: 3 col 3.
Miss Georgia Tann, after a month's vacation here with home folks, returned to Meridian Wednesday to resume her work as instructor of music in the Masonic Home.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. August 2, 1917: 5 col 2.
Miss Georgia Tann, who has been instructor of music and expression in the Masonic Home in Meridian, stopped off here with her parents, Judge and Mrs. G. C. Tann, enroute to St. Francisville, La., where she will teach the remainder of the session.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. February 7, 1918: 4 col 3.
Miss Georgia Tann, who has been teaching in St. Francisville, La., returned home last week, accompanied by Miss Annie Atwood, a co-teacher, who was her guest a few days en-route to Meridian.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. June 13, 1918: 3 col 3.
Miss Georgia Tann will leave the last of the week for Russellville, Ky., where she will teach in Logan College [i.e. the Logan College for Young Women AKA Logan Female College]
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. September 5, 1918: 3 col 3.
early December 1918? — Peter Gerald Lehman adopted in Baltimore
Miss Georgia Tann with the Mississippi Children's Home Society, whose headquarters are at the Great Southern Hotel in Meridian, spent the week end here with friends.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. April 14, 1919: 3 col 3.
Miss Georgia Tann, who taught in Logan College, at Russellville, Ky., the past winter, and later did private tutoring in Louisville, returned home Saturday, accompanied by her little niece, Beulah Elizabeth Tann. […]
Mrs. G. C. Tann, Miss Georgia and Beulah Elizabeth Tann are in Meridian this week awaiting the arrival of R. R. Tann, who is with the 140thField Artillery enroute to Camp Shelby from Camp Upton, for discharge.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. June 12, 1919: 3 col 3.
Miss Georgia Tann has accepted a position in Jackson as a social worker, and will be there during the summer.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. July 10, 1919: 3 col 2.
Miss Georgia Tann, of Meridian, spent the week-end here and was accompanied back by her mother, Mrs. G. C. Tann, who will be her guest at the Southern Hotel a few days.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. September 11, 1919: 3 col 1.
Miss Georgia Tann and Miss Powell of the Mississippi Children's Home Society, of Jackson, were guess [sic] here in the former's home recently.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. September 25, 1919: 4 col 4.
Miss Georgia Tann, who has been with the Mississippi Children’s Home Society, of Jackson, the past six months, has resigned and left Saturday for Ft. Worth, Tex., where she will be engaged in the same work in Texas.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. January 22, 1920: 4 col 2.
Georgia’s child-placing practices may have angered some local residents. She was run out of town 58 shortly after placing Rose [Harvey]’s little boys for adoption—I have been unable to learn if this case or some other, unknown one was the cause. Her father had friends in Memphis. After briefly working briefly for a Texas orphanage, she got a job with the Memphis branch of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society, and moved there in July of 1924.
Raymond, Barbara Bisants. The Baby Thief: The Untold Story of Georgia Tann, The Baby Seller Who Corrupted Adoption. NY: Union Square, 2008. 57-58.
1920 United States Federal Census
Hickory, Tennessee; Enumerated January 27-28, 1920
Name: Georgia Tann
Relation: Daughter
Sex: F
Race: W
Age: 32
Marital Status: S
Attended School: Yes
Can Read: Yes
Can Write: Yes
Birthplace: Mississippi
Birthplace of Father: Mississippi
Birthplace of Mother: Mississippi
Speaks English: Yes
Occupation: Traveling
Industry: Orphant’s [sic] Home
Employer, salary or wage worker, or working on own account: W
February 16, 1920 — John Robert Lehman born in New York
possibly adopted in April 1920?
Miss Georgia Tann, who is with the Texas Children’s Society, of Ft. Worth, spent the past week here with her parents, Judge and Mrs. G. C. Tann.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. June 17, 1920: 8 col 4.
March 2, 1921 — Hilda Jane Lehman born in New York
possibly adopted in March 1921
Miss Georgia Tann, with the Texas Children’s Home and Aid Society, at Fort Worth, Texas, who has been spending some days with her parents, Judge and Mrs. Tann, returned to Ft. Worth, Texas, Saturday.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. May 19, 1921: 4 col 2.
Misses Tann, Suttle and Atwood are lovely guests in the home of Mrs. G. C. Tann this week.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. February 16, 1922: 4 col 3.
Miss Georgia Tann left Sunday for New Orleans, where she will do juvenile court work.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. March 16, 1922: 4 col 2.
Hickory, June 13.‑Miss Georgia Tann, enroute from Shreveport, La., to Washington, D. C., is spending a few days with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. G. C. Tann.
“Hickory.”Newton Record [MS]. June 15, 1922: 2 col 2.
Hickory, June 20.—Miss Ann Atwood, of Meridian, was a week-end guest in the home of Judge and Mrs. G. C. Tann this week.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. June 22, 1922: 4 col 4.
Miss Georgia Tann was a weekend visitor to Meridian the past week.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. July 13, 1922: 3 col 1.
All three Lehman children sailing from Southampton, July 22, 1922, arriving at Port of New York, July 28, 1922 and thus clearly had been adopted sometime prior to then.
Mrs. G. C. Tann and daughter, Miss Georgia are Meridian visitors this week.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. July 27, 1922: 3 col 3.
Misses Georgia Tann and Ann Attwood were Meridian visitors this week.
“Hickory.”Newton Record [MS]. August 31, 1922: 4 col 2.
Misses Georgia Tann and Ephie Rayner will leave the latter part of the week for Ittabena [MS], where they will teach this winter.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. September 14, 1922: 2 col 5.
Misses Georgia Tann and Ephie Rayner, of Ittabena, are at home with relatives for the Christmas holidays.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. January 4, 1923: 3 col 5.
Misses Georgie Tann and Ephie Rayner, members of the faculty of the Itta Bena High School, were visitors to the home folks here for the week-end.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. April 5, 1923: 6 col 4.
Miss Georgie Tann and baby June spent the week end in Meridian, the guests of Mrs. W. I. Suttle.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. June 21, 1923: 3 col 3.
Miss Georgia Tann, and baby, June Ann, left Sunday for Greenwood where they will spend two weeks before beginning school work in Itta Bena.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. August 30, 1923: 4 col 3.
Misses Georgia Tann and Lora Bella Gilmore left Friday on a motor trip for Itta Bena, where they will teach for the coming session.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. September 20, 1923: 3 col 2.
Governor appointed R. S. Majure special Chancellor to hear case of Miss Georgie Tann vs. Gertrude Rose et. al. […]
Georgia Tann vs. Gertrude Rose et. al.: W. M. Everett appointed guardian Ad Litem.
“Chancery Court in Session This Week.” Newton Record [MS]. December 20, 1923: 1 col 4.
Saturday, December 22.
Georgia Tann vs. Gertrude Rose et. al.: Adoption of child.
"Chancery Tribunal Concludes Its Labors."Newton Record [MS]. January 3, 1924: 1 col 6.
Hickory, Jan. 1.—Misses Georgia Tann and Ann Atwood, of Itta Bena have returned, after spending the Christmas holidays with Judge and Mrs. G. C. Tann.
“Hickory.”Newton Record [MS]. January 3, 1924: 7 col 3.
Miss Georgia Tann of Itta Bena was among the visitors here yesterday.
Greenwood Daily Commonwealth [MS]. March 7, 1924: 4 col 5.
Misses Georgia Tann and Lora B. Gilmore, teachers the past session at Itta Bena, are now at home for the summer month.
Dixon, Annie Hughes. “Society and Personal Items.” Greenwood Commonwealth [MS]. June 5, 1924: 4 col 4.
Miss Georgia Tann with the children welfare work, of Memphis, Tenn., spent the first of the week with Judge and Mrs. G. C. Tann.
“Hickory.” Newton Record [MS]. August 7, 1924: 3 col 4.
From 1924 to 1950, Georgia Tann stole, or otherwise separated, more than 5,000 children from their families.
Cooper, Lois. "Georgia Tann: A Story of Stolen Babies." Newton County, Mississippi Historical and Genealogical Society. 2015. http://www.nchgs.org/html/a_story_of_stolen_babies.html
Babies were snatched off the streets by strangers in passing cars. Or taken from day-care centers or church basements where they played. Or stolen from hospitals, right after birth, passed from doctor to nurse to a uniformed “social worker” — before vanishing in an instant.
Some were dropped into dismal orphanages; others were sent to a new family, their identities wiped, no questions asked. Most would never see their birth parents again.
While it sounds like something out of Dickens or the Brothers Grimm, this happened in the United States in the 20th century. Thousands of times.
She was the mastermind behind a black market for white babies.
It was the dark handiwork of the Memphis branch of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society, a supposedly charitable organization, led by a woman named Georgia Tann.
Tann was a pied piper without scruple; she was the mastermind behind a black market for white babies (especially blond, blue-eyed ones) that terrorized poor Southern families for almost three decades. It’s estimated that over 5,000 children were stolen by Tann and the society between 1924 and 1950 and that some 500 died at the society’s hands as a result of poor care, disease and, it is suspected, abuse.
Poppy, Nick. "This woman stole children from the poor to give to the rich." New York Post. June 17, 2017. https://nypost.com/2017/06/17/this-woman-stole-children-from-the-poor-to-give-to-the-rich/
Miss Georgia Tann and Mrs. Jack Hollingsworth and baby, of Memphis, spent Christmas with Judge and Mrs. G. C. Tann.
“Hickory.”Newton Record [MS]. December 31, 1925: 4 col 5.
Herbert Henry Lehman (1878-1963)
January 17, 1917 — Peter Gerald Lehman born in Baltimore, Maryland: At the time Georgia Tann, age twenty-five, was reported by her home county newspaper to be a music teacher, Women's Christian Temperance Union Sunday School teacher and hostess. Edith Altschul Lehman’s fictionalized account of the adoption of the three children [ https://web.archive.org/web/20160625003535/http://lehman.cul.columbia.edu/lehman/document_id=ldpd_leh_0531_0002 ] has a Christian couple Hugh and Ellen Leland living in Washington, D.C. and adopting Gerald in Baltimore at one year and ten months old early in December 1918.
February 16, 1920 — John Robert Lehman born in New York: At the time Georgia Tann, age twenty-eight, was reported by her home county newspaper to be working at the Texas Children’s Society, of Ft. Worth, where she’d been for less than a month. Mrs. Lehman’s story has Robert adopted as a malnourished two month old infant in New York City about a year and a half after Gerald was adopted.
March 2, 1921 — Hilda Jane Lehman born in New York: At the time Georgia Tann, age twenty-nine, was reported by her home county newspaper to be working at the Texas Children’s Society, of Ft. Worth where she’d been for just over a year, and later in March 1921 she would begin “juvenile court work” in New Orleans, Louisiana. Mrs. Lehman’s story has Jane adopted as a “very sick” infant from a hospital in New York City.
All three Lehman children sailing from Southampton, July 22, 1922, arriving at Port of New York, July 28, 1922 and thus clearly had been adopted sometime prior to then: At the time Georgia Tann age, thirty, was reported by her home county newspaper to be periodically visiting Meridian, Lauderdale County, Mississippi without noting where she was living at the time. Several months later she would begin teaching in Itta Bena, Leflore County, Mississippi. Her period of despicable criminal activity is generally described as 1924-1950.
News of Georgia Tann’s crimes broke in 1950 shortly before she died.
The oldest item I’ve been able to find so far claiming that Gov. Lehman adopted through her is from 1978. It seems likelier, absent any evidence, that he would’ve adopted his first son through the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of Baltimore (the city where that son was reportedly born) while he was working in Washington, D.C. The Hebrew Orphan Asylum of NYC would seem the likeliest agency for his other two children, or some other NYC or NYS agency.
Gov. Lehman vetoed a bill in 1935 that would have put false names on nonmarital children’s original birth certificates, a bill that made no reference to adoption and that would have ensured no document with the real names was ever created. He appointed a commission to study the issue, which resulted in the bill he passed in 1936 that did not permit false names on an original birth certificate, preserved the original birth certificate if subsequently amended, and permitted access to the original birth certificate by order of a court of competent jurisdiction and without a “good cause” standard as the sealed court adoption record law requires.
The oldest implications that I’ve been able to find so far that Georgia Tann had a role in Gov. Lehman passing a law sealing the original birth certificates of adoptees is an unsourced anonymous Wikipedia edit from 2009: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Georgia_Tann&diff=265003051&oldid=236117548
It’s possible, of course, that other older texts are proving harder to find online or have not been put online at all. That said, none of the people claiming online that Tann had a role in Gov. Lehman passing the law sealing original birth certificates in New York cite any sources, and a number of them get the year the law passed (L. 1936, ch 854) wrong. Furthermore, in 1936 there were a number of adoption documents that would go unsealed for two or three decades more, and the NYC Birth Index would remain open until 2016.
Georgia Tann and Herbert Lehman
By the mid-Forties the Memphis branch of the TCHS [Tennessee Children’s Home Society] was one of the best-known child placement agencies in America. Prominent individuals such as New York Senator Herbert Lehmann [sic] and film stars like June Allyson and Joan Crawford adopted children through the TCHS.
Neill, Kenneth. “Adoption for Profit: Conspiracy and Cover-up [Part I].” Memphis Magazine3(7). October 1978. 39.
The above seems to have been the earliest text to claim that Gov. Herbert Lehman adopted his children through Georgia Tann. While it was no secret that Gov. Lehman had adopted his children, no source was given by Neill for Gov. Lehman having specifically adopted through Tann. In 1978, Herbert Lehman, his wife Edith Altshul, his adopted son Lt. Peter Lehman, and his adopted daughter Hilda Lehman were dead and not in a position to learn of or refute the claim. His adopted son John Robert Lehman and grandchildren were alive, and probably not readers of Memphis Magazine.