Estimates show Hicks sold about 200 babies from the 1940s to the 1960s.3. He also has a living granddaughter named Sally Sompayrac. So that he could make money. My thoughts exactly. The charges didnt mention that he sold babies or had them illegally adopted. Blasio and 200 others were taken from their mothers at birth in the 1950s and '60s and sold illegally on the black market out the back door of a clinic run by Dr. Thomas J. Hicks. Hicks' wife and son had already passed away. Besides his charitable practices, he performed unauthorized abortions. Many people who fell victim to the Hicks baby market hope these DNA tests will help them find closure. Quietly, because the clinic he'd been running since the mid-1940s was not a licensed adoption agency. The Hicks Community Clinic has been closed for years, but the building still stands. I hope that you have found this article interesting, and that you understand more about the story of Dr. Hicks and how the individuals who were adopted through his clinic might be able to use DNA results to discover the identities of their biological parents. Eventually, in 1964, he was caught performing an abortion and was summarily stripped of his medical license. Genealogy for Dr Thomas Jugarthy Hicks, Sr (1888 - 1972) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. pic.twitter.com/aTH43ks3Co. Thank you. It is unknown whether Hicks paid the biological mothers for the babies. Think about it, some of these folks could fall in love with a relative and not even know it. Dr. Thomas J. Hicks died at age 83 on March 5, 1972, after a battle with leukemia. I Just dont understand how anyone could possibly think what he did was right or just or in any way good at all!! The motives of Hicks actions are unclear. Many of those from Hicks small town defended his actions. Im going to play a little devils advocate. Taken at Birth: The Hicks Clinic Stolen Babies, Best Food Sensitivity Test To Take At Home (2023), The Best DNA Tests (for Health, Ancestry, and Ethnicity), Best At-Home Allergy & Intolerance Tests (2023), We Took The Viome Gut Test Heres Our Verdict. Are you for real?? 'Hicks Baby' Adoptee Sold by Georgia Doctor 50 Years Ago Reunites With Birth Mother, Brother, Who are the Hicks babies? That is not correct. People, accessed 17 September 2019. You made your decision. How Many Babies Did Thomas Hicks Put Up For Adoption? The same lecture is offered twiceNovember 1 and 2, 2022to accommodate schedules and time zones. Then you missed the entirety of the story. i just hope i wont go made like them. What is the Egypt DNA Region on Ancestry? Were it not for him encouraging these women to have their babies, these children would have never been given a chance at life. There are many people who were adopted at birth who can use similar strategies to learn more about their recent and distant ancestry. Still, she defends her late grandfathers actions. Autosomal DNA tests, such as Ancestry DNA, 23andMe, My Heritage, and Family Tree DNA, offer extensive DNA match lists. 4. The story broke across the U.S. in 1997 when an Akron woman named Jane Blasio learned that her parents bought her from a clinic in Georgia. 2008 - 2023 INTERESTING.COM, INC. Dr. Hicks did lose his medical license in 1964 due to an infraction unrelated to the illegal adoptions. View Ancestry DNA Matches By Ancestor With ThruLines. Do you know how that can mentally affect a woman? The primary purpose of this post is to explain how those children who were adopted through the Hicks Clinic have been able to use their DNA to discover close relatives, and sometimes, the identities of their biological parents. Youve got poor, pregnant, unmarried women, who then need to come up with a story for their friends and/or families as to why there is no newborn . Bruen, Matthew Steven. The extra mouths to feed were simply too expensive. Dr. Dhingra has of over a decade in diagnostic, clinical, research and teaching work, including managing all sections of Pathology laboratory including histopathology, cytology, hematology and clinical Pathology. I realize Dr. Hicks is not here to defend himself or answer questions, but I cannot imagine how you can defend him after what you heard. I kept yelling at the tv he saved your freaking life!!!! Husband of Chassie Hicks And he gave the babies to equally desperate childless parents. The illegal adoptions that were allegedly arranged by Dr. Hicks were not discovered until after his death. Copyright 2023 The DNA Geek Ascension WordPress theme by, Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), New TLC Special Taken At Birth Dives into Shocking Hicks Babies Black Market Adoption Scandal, Babies For Sale: The Secret Adoptions That Haunt One Georgia Town, Hicks Baby Adoptee Sold by Georgia Doctor 50 Years Ago Reunites With Birth Mother, Brother, Busted not for selling babies, but for the abortion clinic, 23andMe Introduces the Automated Family Tree , The Hicks Babies The DNA Geek | Ups and Downs of Family History V2.0, https://thednageek.com/how-to-transfer-your-ancestrydna-test-to-other-databases/, Book Review: I Know Who You Are, by Barbara Rae-Venter, Up Your DNA Game With New Courses in 2023, Verogen Increases Costs for Law Enforcement Again, A Board of Certification for Investigative Genetic Genealogy Is Announced. Barbara, I shuttered when I read your comment! Does it say where he was born or the name of the doctor? Love and hugs to them all! I hope your brother decides to test someday. These babies were born between weighing only 3.5 and 4.75 lbs.. ALL very unfavorable conditions!!!! Tune in to #TakenAtBirth, a 3-night special event, starting TONIGHT at 9/8c. Hicks was providing a service, Ken Rush, director of the Ducktown Basin Museum, told Narratively. Investigators opened the mausoleum, searching for records of the illegal adoptions, but found it was empty. Just recently I have been confirmed to be the last of the Hicks babies. They adored Dr Hicks and were fiercely protective of his reputation and legacy. He was born October 18, 1888. Dr Hicks ran a clinic in McCaysville, Georgia, from about 1945 to 1965. Dr Hicks didnt keep records of the births and adoptions, so the only way to find your brother, if hes still alive, would be if he decided to look for you using DNA. To push the boundaries of DNA science. Originally from Tennessee, Thomas Hicks was educated at Tusculum College (now Tusculum University) and Carson-Newman College, both in Tennessee, and Emory University Medical School near Atlanta, Georgia. His forged birth certificates did not list biological parents. Just one grandparent can lead you to many Those who were passed through the window as babies to adoptive parents have stopped by to see where their lives changed direction so early in life. thank you so much for the information danny has 5 sisters and 1 brother looking for him, Should anyone believe or just want to be a part of the DNA registry for The Nicks Babies..please visit us on our webpage (Hicks Adoptees), Thank You Dr. Thomas J. Hicks performed abortions in the 1950s, long before abortions were legalized in Roe v. Wade. ABC News, accessed 17 September 2019. Thank you for visiting dr thomas hicks family tree page. The story is told on Taken at Birth. Are you kidding me. If they were going to have an abortion like some people are saying then there would be absolutely no need to tell the moms that. Never has been black market babies, she told WKYC. HIS BIO FAMILY DIDNT FIND OUT ABT HIM UNTIL 60 YEARS LATER AND TOO LATE BECAUAE HIS MOTHER WAS I ALREADY DEAD. So far, there are no positive DNA matches between babies and parents from the database. Test prices are here: https://thednageek.com/dna-tests/ She assumed it was a legal adoption until he told her otherwise. And the $1k sounds about like what my Dad was sold for. And, even though it was illegal, many women thought they were having an abortion. It wouldve been 1964. You should be ashamed of yourself because you have no idea of the pain he caused many families! Thank you for visiting dr thomas hicks family tree page. Dr. Hicks died of leukemia in 1972 at the age of 83. Dr. Thomas Jugarthy Hicks, the man behind the Hicks Babies, ran a small clinic in the tiny town of McCaysville, Georgia. Are you nuts? He was born October 18, 1888. The story has been featured in many TV specials, including on TLCs, Taken At Birth, which originally aired in 2019. His wife was a Baptist Sunday school teacher, according to PEOPLE. Have you taken a DNA test yourself? In these cases, Hicks would forge a birth certificate and give the baby to adoptive parents in secret from his Georgia clinic. But lets be honest, no one is going to admit that they willingly sold their baby. News, TLC Shows. Within a decade, he was not only performing illegal abortions but selling newborns on the black market. "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MN5X-3HV: 3 February 2021), Thomas J Hicks, 1920. Babies were handed out to them through the door or window. I do hope your brother survived and is out there somewhere. Otherwise he wouldnt have needed to lie about them being stillborn. She was present when authorities opened the mausoleum. At the other end of the transaction, adoptive parents drove to a window in the alley behind the clinic, shelled out $1,000 or morebig money for the timeand were handed a newborn. She grieved for him her entire life! I came from a messed up family, too. I agree totally with you.This all sounds awful. It includes a handout, plenty of time for questions and discussion, and access to the recording for 2 weeks. Thomas Hicks was a well-respected doctor in the small town of McCaysville, Georgia. This is a story of a doctor who saved lives?? Thank you! About 15 of the 200+ babies have been reunited with their biological parents. How HEARTLESS can someone be then to tell a parent their childTHEIR CHILD died just so he could profit? That seems to be a repetitive theme amongst the living relatives. Mama said they ran him out of Tennessee not long after that because he was killing so many babies. He died in 1972 and it took three decades before Hicks' actions were brought to light. How many women died themselves never knowing that they had a child or children out there and how many children, now adults, will never know their biological parents because its just too late and most of them have passed? in todays market he did make money, he also induced those women into early labor to push those babies out putting the babies and mothers in jeopardy(I wonder how many died). That is crazy! ALL OF THOSE CHILDREN WERE MESSED UP FROM THIS. He was wrong and he did wrong so did the mayor and chief of police.