Walkabout With Wheels Blog: Elmwood Cemetery's Saddest Story: Memphis, Tennessee

Elmwood Cemetery: Where

Memphis' saddest story is

etched in stone.

The Visitor's Center &

Gift Shop

Soul Of The City 2024

The Cemetery lists its donors.

Eric & I are here to visit the

grave beneath a sprawling

Oak Tree.

The Tennessee Children's Home Society An Infamous History. A Tragic History.

September 17, 2023 - December 10, 1949

In Memory of the 19 Children Who Finally Rest Here. Unmarked If Not Unknown. And Of All the Hundreds Who Died Under the Cold Hard hand of the Tennesee Children's Home Society. Their Final Resting Place Is Unknown. Their Final Rest A Blessing.

The Hard Lesson Of Their Fate Changed Adoption Procedure And Law Nationwide.

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I saw a Facebook post about this grave years ago. On the drive from Western Kentucky to Memphis, Eric and I listened to a Stuff You Should Know Blogcast and learned about Georgia Tann, the woman who ran an illegal Adoption Mill at the Tennessee Children's Home Society in Memphis for many years.

Using the power of the title "Social Worker." she threatened and coerced the parents of babies and small children from poor Memphis homes to give up their children. The babies of inmates were sent to Georgia for sale. Babies born to unwed mothers were told that their newborns needed medical care and were sold. The demand was so great that Georgia resorted to kidnapping.

Many of the trafficked children were sold out of state for prices that went as high as $5,000.00. Georgia Tann amassed a considerable fortune. The parents were given forged Birth Certificates and fictional family and medical histories.

Among her accomplices were legislators, politicians, judges, attorneys, health department workers, and the social workers who scouted for new victims.

At the time Georgia Tann was running the Illegal Adoption Mill there were laws in Tennessee prohibiting this practice. So many turned a blind eye to the crimes and/or were paid off to participate in the illegal child sales.

The babies and children in Georgia's care were physically and sexually abused. The children's deaths were attributed to malnutrition and untreated illnesses. Some children were murdered.

It is estimated that about 500 children died at the Tennessee Children's Home Society while Tann was in charge. Most bodies of the dead children are buried in unknown, unmarked graves.

This is the saddest story I've ever come across. It breaks my heart. It is so revolting.