WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JAMES?

About the Book

It’s 3am on a hot September morning in 1949. A dark sedan pulls to the rear of a home known as an unwed mothers’ birthing clinic in Jasper, Tennessee. The small, quiet package is slipped past the screen door and slipped away in the dead of night never to be seen again. It is a scenario replayed over and over in the 1940’s by the infamous Tennessee Children’s Home Society and Ms. Georgia Tann, its unholy matron. Stolen after birth, my mother was told I was dead. I was sold for $5,000.00 to my adoptive parents in Southern California. Children ripped off the streets and playgrounds, or simply removed from their home under color of authority, the Tennessee Children’s Home Society stretched their tentacles throughout Tennessee as the Black Market Baby scam grew to unimaginable proportions. Doctors, nurses, lawyers, judges, social workers, welfare workers, and others joined on Tann’s payroll. Never daring to ask the question as to where all the children came from. Over 5,000 children were illegally placed for adoption during Georgia Tann’s reign. My agency-assigned number was 7,702. This is the story of James Arnold Bowman, my birth name given by my mother Flossie, and my life as an adoptee. After being told I was adopted at age 7, it became a life of questions unanswered until I was 60 years old. My adoptive parents elected to keep the details of my adoption a secret, never admitting they knew who I was, and the names of my parents. An accidental discovery in 2008 would reveal the secrets kept for so long, and begin my search for my birth family. Search for my true families would take over 5 years of genealogical studies, correspondence, and ending with DNA testing to finally determine my true origin. The Reader will be the investigator, following the trail of evidence presented in the suspect’s own words contained in personal and business letters, and state forms filed in California and Tennessee, from ill-documented birth in May 1949 through sanction of the California adoption in 1953. You will also receive an insight as to what it is like to be an adopted child and labeled as not being “blood relation”. It’s a journey you don’t want to miss.

About the Author

Don grew up in the central San Joaquin Valley in California on a 160 acre citrus ranch, graduating from Exeter Union High School in 1967. He entered College of the Sequoias in 1967, attending a year and a half before entering military service in 1968 with the U.S. Army. Don served with the 4th Infantry Division, 1/69th Armor, An Khe, South Vietnam, as a Scout. On October 26, 1969, Don was wounded in combat. In a burning armored personnel carrier he was able to maintain fire to prevent the unit from being overrun. For his actions, Don received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for valor. In 1970, Don entered military intelligence and in 1971 was appointed as a Special Agent (Counterintelligence). Following military service, Don embarked on a 31 year career in law enforcement, California licensed private investigation, corporate asset protection, and as an independent paralegal. Don retired in 2008, moving with his wife Lucretia to the Black Hills of South Dakota. At the latest count, Don and Lucretia have 7 children and 14 grandchildren.