Annabell Martania Shannon

          Annabell was placed in Wayne County Training School in or about 1926, she was 12 years old at the time. She lived in Dormitory F, Cottage 7 until she was placed in a couple's home for employment at age 16. Her Father was deceased and her Mother had disappeared and she had no where else to go so was placed in the Facility. They were living in Detroit at the time of her Mother's disappearance. Her Mother's name was Jessie Mary Lomprey (Shannon, nee Chadwick) We have never been able to locate or find any information about her disappearance. My Mother says the facility was a God-sent. Beautiful grounds and the staff were very good to the children. The food was always very good too. Training in the house keeping department was part of her schedule. The staff kept the children busy with swimming, hiking, ball games. Each year on their birthdays, Dr. Haskell, the Superintendent would give each child a birthday card. She has fond memories of the facility. Kathleen Clark 2011 Thank you so much for sending me the photo of my Mother Annabell. It certainly looks like her. The only thing I am questioning is the date of 1931, I saw that it was at the back of the photo. She would have been 18 at that time and I know she had already been living with a couple in Detroit, Mr. and Mrs. Laird, doing house work for them. This was arranged by the Wayne County facility. So I'm wondering if the date could of been 1928 when she was 15. After doing some research and finding additional documents I found out her name was actually Annabell Martania Shannon so the Martinez was not correct. I don't know if you want to correct that or not because in your records and for many years this is the name she went by. She passed away on February 8th, 2015 at the age of 102. Again I want to Thank you for any information you have. She had a long, interesting life with 8 children and 18 Grandchildren and over 100 descendants when she passed away. Her stories about Wayne County's facility were often filled with "a roof over my head, good food, clean housing and wonderful staff." She told the story of being called to Dr. Haskell's office, he told her that her younger sister Eva had died. He asked her if there was anything he could do for her, she wanted to sit in the park by herself. He took her to that area, unlocked the gate and let her sit for an hour by herself, she was very grateful for that. By the way, she did not know that the Wayne County facility was a hospital per sae, she was surprised at that, she had no mental or physical problems but was a habitual "run away." They couldn't keep her from running. She told me she was actually trying to find her Mother and that's why she kept running. This facility had 12 foot fences that could keep her in. Thank you, Kathleen Clark October 27 2017

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Vintage Photos 1928-1932