Identified! PA - Philadelphia - 'Boy in the Box' - 4UMPA - Feb'57 - Joseph Augustus Zarelli #4

[txsleuth70]

"destitute fatherless children of married parents" really stuck out to me!

https://hsp.org/sites/default/files/legacy_files/migrated/orphansocietyfindingaid.pdf
Depressing read. Those poor children & families! ...sharing if anyone is near & would like to sort through box #8!! ;-)

 

[fred&edna]

And, I am now watching a YT video "St Vincent's Orphan Asylum to be Demolished"... I'm see some old Philly maps, etc. Evidently this is discussing the Tacony site - several bldgs on 15+ acres of land. (I'm still trying to figure out all the neighborhoods of old Philly)

ETA: 'Just realized there are several videos about this orphanage.

 

[Kitsey]

The annulment idea is interesting.

Divorce records & annulment records (civil) would be held by the county or circuit and indexed by state. ihmo the press conference doesn't imply that the 2 biological parents were married/attempted marriage prior to JAZ's birth.

In a time when religious practice was more prominent in public life, I do find the annulment idea interesting.

In the 1894, a daughter was all but erased from our Irish Catholic family -- apparently because she married a Methodist. Granted, this was long before the 1950's, but it wasn't until the 19190's that I was able to make contact with her descendants!

There are probably other families able to carry a grudge for 3 generations.

Hope we'll know more one day!

You are following my train of thought exactly.

 

[Vern]

"destitute fatherless children of married parents" really stuck out to me!

And I too. Last week, I had posted in response to "illegitimacy" of a child would result in the maternal family name being recorded on the birth certificate that there is the possibility that JAZ was not born illegitimate - that his father had a prior marriage which resulted in this child, but a future divorce or annulment.

Being Catholic, I'm more akin to go the divorce followed by annulment route. Such an action would explain the comment that stuck out to you and the manipulation of the birth certificate. Pperhaps not a mere typo in name, but an inked crossout of the "Z" family name and an inked in change to the mother's family name after any annulment occured - making the "destitute fatherless children of married parents" applicable in this case as well.

Once an annulment occurs, the matter has ceased to exist in the eyes of the church so can be put to bed and not brought up again. Sadly. I can imagine that this was ever-so-prevalent in the 1950s as it continues today. When I divorced my 'training husband' I had to seek out an annulment (so many tonnes of "reasons" one can have these granted) if I ever wanted to marry in the church again. I did so. It's very commonplace even in this day and age and serves to keep us 'right' in the eyes of God. For whatever that's worth.

V

 

[Friday Fan]

"destitute fatherless children of married parents" really stuck out to me!

I have no idea what that even means? I must be missing something....

 

[Red Pill]

 

[azure]

They said the box had white paint on it as it was used when the bassinet was painted and the bassinet that was contained inside is one that was accounted for in the nearby home for unwed mothers. Which JAZ was not part of just coincidence.

Does anyone have a link for this? I haven't heard this before and in fact thought the bassinet in the box could not be traced.

 

[MissUnderstood]

Can Census records be searched by address or do you need a name?

 

[jbc]

I have no idea what that even means? I must be missing something....

wayward wife.

 

[Friday Fan]

Does anyone have a link for this? I haven't heard this before and in fact thought the bassinet in the box could not be traced.

large cardboard carton, (15" x 19" x 35"), stamped "fragile". It had originally contained a baby's bassinet sold by the J.C. Penney Co.

The bassinet, one of a dozen received on 11/27/56, and which retailed for $7.50, was sold between 12/03/56 and 02/16/57 by the J.C. Penney store at 100 S. 69th St., Upper Darby, PA, with the customer taking it away in its original carton.

Since J.C. Penney had a "cash only" policy at that time, there were no store records indicating the identity of the purchaser. Never the less, all but one of the twelve bassinets, and the cartons they came in, were eventually accounted for.

The cardboard carton that contained the boy's body was in good condition. It was dry inside, but damp on the outside, and appeared slightly weathered. The inside of the carton had traces of white coloring, indicating the bassinet was painted white. The carton was sent to the FBI lab for analysis, but no distinct fingerprints were found.

The bassinette box had a store label on it. Case Summary

 

[spacedcurls]

Does anyone have a link for this? I haven't heard this before and in fact thought the bassinet in the box could not be traced.

They were able to locate most of the owners of the bassinets that were sold in that time period, but not all of them. They didn’t find out who was the owner of the bassinet that came in that particular box. Later on, a white bassinet was found in the foster home nearby (not an unwed mother’s home), but it’s unknown whether that was the bassinet or just another one. The owner of the foster home stated that it was given to them by a friend, just in case they ever needed it, but they only fostered children and not babies. (The family that owned the foster home were suspected of being involved with Joseph’s death multiple times, but ultimately nothing ever came of it).

 

[RaspberryMama]

Can Census records be searched by address or do you need a name?

You can search by address, but you need to know the enumeration district.

 

[RaspberryMama]

You can search by address, but you need to know the enumeration district.

Enumeration District (ED) Maps

An Enumeration District was an area that an enumerator (census taker) could completely cover within two weeks in cities and within four weeks in rural areas. Enumeration District Maps show names of political jurisdictions (counties, cities, townships, and so forth), roads, waterways, and large...

www.archives.gov

 

[MissUnderstood]

You can search by address, but you need to know the enumeration district.

So if you knew the right district you could see who lived at that address in 1950? I’ve only ever looked at census info on ancestry when adding docs to family tree, so only ever linked by name. Thanks that’s interesting info.

 

[MissUnderstood]

The shaved head sticks out to me, it looks like something a sibling or young person would do out of anger or frustration. Could this be a young mother losing her temper with a child not sitting still for a haircut? A burst of frustrated anger ends in death and cover up. Could a young unwed mother be hidden at home out of shame? Moo

 

[IDK]

In my opinion, the “ bath” and haircut and nail clipping was the mother attempting to clean up her child to make him look presentable ( in her mind) when found. He was truly neglected so no hair cuts, not fed much, etc and beat in life so her doing this was probably some reach to show some care for him and ease her guilt. I do think a step dad or boyfriend used Joseph as a punching bag and he was abused by both mother and her husband or boyfriend but the majority of the physical abuse came from the male.

Just some random thoughts. Maybe his nails were trimmed before his recent medical exam. ? There was evidence he’d recently been examined or treated by a doctor because of the dye in his eye. The haircut was done around the time of his murder since he had cut hairs on his body.

Could the bruising on his forehead be from being restrained during an eye exam? Some of those eye drops really burn and sting and he could have been fighting that. The fluoroscein dye used these days stays in the eye 6-12 hours.

Which begs the question— was the doctor a family member, or maybe tied to an institution? A retired doctor who still had access to medical equipment? Or maybe a doctor who lost his license?

Does anyone know of ways to search for doctors practicing in the area during the 1950’s? I might try to do some research. Although I’m sure this was already investigated at the time

 

[Astrach99]

The distance between the store and the site where JAZ was found was about 17 miles by car in 1953. That would be a long haul for throwing out an empty box.

As the site was apparently a dumping ground in 1957, maybe whoever dumped the box there also dumped other rubbish there too along with the box. Also, just because the store was 17 miles from the site, doesn't mean whoever bought/received the bassinet lived 17 miles away.

 

[Daphne1972]

That was state run; there will be records.

Unless the records got destroyed.

 

[LaLa723]

As the site was apparently a dumping ground in 1957, maybe whoever dumped the box there also dumped other rubbish there too along with the box. Also, just because the store was 17 miles from the site, doesn't mean whoever bought/received the bassinet lived 17 miles away.

I’ve been thinking for awhile that the medical care he received was done “in house” by a family member.

 

[txsleuth70]

I would also like to add that the Good Shepherd School that was located near the site where Joseph was found was for ”wayward”/troubled girls, not unwed mothers. There seems to be a lot of misinformation about this. However, there apparently was a home for unwed mothers that was much further south than Fox Chase/the Good Shepherd School, and is so far south that it’s almost Delaware County. Now that I look at it, the home for unwed mothers (St. Vincent Home & Maternity Hospital, I believe it was called - certainly St. Vincent, but I’ve seen the rest of the name as different things) is only about 3 miles from Upper Darby and where the JC Penney w

I have no idea what that even means? I must be missing something....

It means the parents were once married (or married still, not yet divorced), but when the man leaves and provides no support it leaves the woman destitute, therefore the child destitute and fatherless.