Hightower Black Market Babies of Texarkana, Texas

My name is Geary Don Surratt.
I am a Hightower Black Market Baby.

Please take a moment to look at the information I have on this website to help me in my search.

Geary


Information About Me
Adoptive Name: Geary Don Surratt
Birthdate: 03-31-50
Place of Birth: Texarkana, Texas (Bowie County), this may be falsified
Place of Adoption: Linden, Texas (Cass County)
Birth Time: Some time in the evening, possibly just before 6:00 P.M.
Hospital: I believe I was born in Hightower Health Home; however, it is possible I may have been born in St. Michael's Hospital (Michael Meagher Hospital) or elsewhere.
Maternity Home: I believe my birth mother was staying at the Hightower Health Home which was operated by Ruby Hightower, but I cannot be sure.
Birth Parents' Name: My adoption papers show my birth parents are Elmer E. Smith and Gladys Smith; however, these names may be fake.
Birth Certificate Number: 203704 - This is the number of my adoptive birth certificate. I may have an original birth certificate under a different number.
Birth Certificate File Date: 03-13-51 - Almost a year after my birth.
Distinctive Features:
Height:5'8"
Weight:165 pounds - I have never had a problem with my weight. I am neither overly thin nor overly heavy.
Eyes:I have very long, thick eye lashes. My eyes are dark hazel in color.
Hair:I began turning gray while still in high school. My hair is medium-thick and straight.
Facial Hair:I have very bushy eyebrows and had a bushy mustache.
Mensan:I am a member of Mensa which is an organization for people in the top 2% of the IQ range.
ADD:It was discovered in 2006 that I have ADD, specifically inattentive type. Both of my children have it, as well. My wife does not.
Vision:I had a problem with my vision which is generally inherited, but the nature of it will not be disclosed for ID purposes.
Adoptive Parents: Father: Vance Elton Surratt (now deceased)
Mother: Romie Estelle Surratt, maiden name Romie Estelle Geary (now deceased)
Adoptive Parents' Address: At the time of the adoption, they lived near Linden, Texas (Cass County).
In 1955, they moved to Lone Star, Texas.
Attorney Who Handled Adoption: Robert F. Salmon (now deceased); Linden, Texas.


Hightower Baby

Although I was always told I was adopted, I know very little about my birth and nothing about my birth family.

In the Summer of 1999, a lady named Sheila Bryan contacted me. Up to this point, I had never heard of Ruby Hightower or her involvement with adoptions. Sheila sent me copies of several newspaper and magazine articles about black market babies, including references to Ruby Hightower's activities with adoptions.

I shared these articles with my adoptive mother. Upon reading the articles, she said she had adopted me from Ruby Hightower. In fact, Ruby was the only person she dealt with to adopt me.

They Wanted to Adopt a Baby

My adoptive parents were unable to have children on their own, and so they decided to adopt a child. However, they found it very difficult to find one. Then a friend told them of a woman who could help them - Ruby Hightower. When they contacted her, she said she could indeed help them.

Shortly after that, my adoptive parents were told they would be receiving a baby girl. They got everything ready, setting up a baby nursery and buying all the necessities for their daughter-to-be. But just as they were preparing to drive to Texarkana to pick up their newborn daughter, Ruby Hightower called to say the baby girl's grandparents decided to raise the child, and so she could not allow them to have her. However, she promised she would find another baby for them soon.

It wasn't long before Ruby Hightower called again. She said their "package was just delivered." A baby boy had just been born, and they could come right away to pick him up.

My adoptive parents drove to Texarkana the next morning. However, when they attempted to pay Ruby the $500 adoption fee, Ruby would not accept a check. She said she only took cash. My adoptive parents had to go to a friend to cash their check. After returning with cash in hand, they handed Ruby baby clothing and a blanket. Ruby left them and soon returned with a baby boy dressed in the clothing they had provided. That baby boy was me.

Didn't they find it unusual to be required to pay cash for "birth expenses"? Perhaps. Obviously, they did not expect to have to pay in cash. But they did not want to ask any questions. After all they had gone through to adopt a child, they were just happy to finally have me.

Not Expected to Live

I was born on Friday, March 31, 1950, and my adoptive parents received me the next day. That following Monday, my adoptive parents took me to their doctor because I had a large bump and bruises on my head indicating forceps were used during my birth. I weighted just over 5 pounds and had severe digestive problems. The doctor was concerned I might not live. But after six months of medical care, I ended up quite healthy.

My low birth weight and early health problems may indicate I was a premature birth. It is also possible I was a multiple birth, as twins and triplets are often born early with low birth weight and higher medical needs. Or perhaps my birth mother did not receive proper nutrition during her pregnancy, leading to a low birth weight baby.

A Stranger Comes to Visit

My adoptive mother also told me of something that happened when I was a toddler. She was not sure how old I was at the time, but she knew I was walking.

We lived in the country near Bear Creek. One day, while I was riding in my wagon (pulled by Billie, my goat), a stranger driving a truck pulled up to our house. My adoptive father spoke with the stranger, but after a while, my adoptive father became very upset. He ordered the stranger away and told him to never come back.

He never explained what the stranger had said to him that upset him so much. All he said was that the stranger had asked about the "boy" (me). I have no idea who that stranger was or what he wanted.

My first thought was the stranger may have been a member of my birth family and my adoptive father became very upset because he had tracked me down. Sheila (who first told me about Hightower Babies) said it is possible the man was a reporter since there was a reporter who tracked down some of the Hightower Babies around that time.

While my adoptive parents made it no secret I was adopted, they never spoke about the circumstances surrounding my birth or my adoption. I was simply told my father died in the service and my mother died when I was born. So I can only guess who this stranger was, how he knew about me, and what he said that upset my adoptive father so much.

Black Market Baby

Having discovered I was adopted from Ruby Hightower, I now know I am what is known as a "Hightower Baby" who was adopted on the black market. But this does not necessarily mean I was stolen from my birth mother.

Ruby Hightower has been accused of stealing babies by telling the birth mother their baby was stillborn or had died shortly after birth. Back in the fifties, birth mothers were given medications so they could sleep during the birth of their babies. There were times babies were born alive, but the mother was told the baby did not survive. Subsequently, the babies were sold on the black market without the birth mother's knowledge or permission.

However, it was also disgraceful for a young, teenager to become pregnant. Many times, birth mothers were sent to away to have their babies, and the babies were put up for adoption. Sometimes the birth mothers agreed to have the child adopted; other times the birth mother's family had the baby put up for adoption against the birth mother's will.

So it is possible my birth mother may have put me up for adoption willingly. It is equally possible my birth mother did not want to put me up for adoption, but was forced to do so by her family. It is also possible that my birth mother intended to raise me herself, but was never given that opportunity because I was stolen and my birth mother was told I had died.

How You Can Help

If you, or anyone you know, can provide information that could help me or any other Hightower Baby, I would certainly like to hear from you. Please look at my pictures to see if I look like anyone you know. You may have the piece of the puzzle that helps me find the truth about my birth.


Mrs. Ruby Hightower
Mrs. Ruby Hightower
Accused of operating a
Black Market Adoption Ring
in Texarkana, Texas.


If you have ANY information about my birth family or my adoption,
please contact me at Geary@vickishome.com.



UPDATE January 3, 2007: We've all but given up any hopes of finding Geary's birth family.

When Geary and I, Vicki, were married, almost 24 years ago, I was fresh and eager to search for Geary's birth family. Geary, however, after having tried to search for many years, wasn't quite so eager. He thought finding any information regarding his birth family was hopeless. But with the internet becoming a new way for many adoptees and their birth families to reconnect, it renewed our interest in attempting a search. Since I know how to code in html, I created this website for Geary. Geary wrote his story, and I put it online.

In the beginning, we did not know Geary was a Hightower Black Market Baby. We had never heard of such a thing. Geary used to always tell me he was adopted off the black market, and I would always tell him he had been reading too many science fiction books. But then, to both of our surprise, we received an email that, after checking things out by viewing genuine copies of newspaper articles and Geary speaking directly to his adoptive mother, we learned that Geary was in fact one of many babies adopted on the black market through Ruby Hightower; thus, we coined the term: Hightower Black Market Babies. We were able to connect with a few other Hightower Black Market Babies, but because of the way Ruby Hightower handled the black market adoptions, many adoptees have no idea they were adopted and many birth mothers have always thought their babies were either stillborn or died immediately after birth. When neither the adoptee nor the birth mother know of any reason to look for each other, successful searches tend to be a rare event. Unfortunately, Ruby Hightower was good at what she did.

So where does leave us now? After having this website up for nearly 8 years, I have checked out every lead I could think of to no avail. People have exchanged pictures with me because they think Geary looks like their Uncle Joe or whomever. If nothing else, I have learned that it is impossible to determine family linkage with photographs. I even tried to link up my own two children with Geary and myself, and found that no one could have definitely determined our children to be our children solely by examining photographs and physical traits. "Does she have his eyes?" It's not that easy as our children are a blend of our genes, not a copy of just one parent's. So while I'll leave Geary's pictures up on this website, I will no longer skip a heartbeat whenever someone sends email saying Geary looks like someone in their family.

I've checked out every known birth close to the date and area matching what we've been told regarding Geary's birth. There was one male baby who appeared to have been born and died in the area and date close to Geary's birth, but having contacted that family, we discovered that the potential birth mother in question was deceased. The best we could do is try to perform sibling DNA matching which is neither inexpensive nor very accurate. Perhaps that is Geary's birth family? But with the birth mother deceased and the surviving relatives only knowing "she had a baby die at birth" and nothing more, that lead us to another dead end. Even if that is Geary's birth family, they would not be able to answer any questions we may have. And our goal is not to suddenly attach ourselves to a whole new set of relatives with which we have absolutely no history (nor have a family suddenly attach themselves to us). It's also a bit overwhelming to consider meeting up with an entire extended family all at once instead of meeting just one person, the birth mother, and then progressing more slowly to meet (or not meet) the extended family.

Many people have contacted me to offer, with the very best of intentions, information of people living with names similar to those mentioned in the adoption papers. I have considered contacting these people, but then felt it could cause more harm to innocent people than it would ever do to help Geary or our family. Considering Geary's current age (nearly 57), Geary's birth mother would most likely be in her late 70s or in her 80s. In other words, this woman would be quite old, if she's even still alive. Now couple that with the names we were given on his adoption papers (last name Smith ?!), and it soon becomes clear that the list of possible women to contact is quite large. Cold calling all of these woman and/or their families to suggest that she may have had a baby adopted or stolen from her at birth, nearly 60 years ago, may bring up new fears and concerns needlessly or uncover a long ago buried secret which only serves to hurt, not help. In either case, it could be extremely disturbing to a family, including completely innocent families, and should not be done without great caution and care.

I learned this after contacting the family I mentioned above, who had a baby born and died close to Geary's birth date and place. With the possible birth mother being deceased and having not talked about that baby with any helpful detail, her surviving family was quite shocked when told about the possibility that the baby in question may not have died, but was sold on the black market. Can you imagine what this information can do to a family? In just one moment, from my one phone call, I can stir up an entire families' emotions, leaving them to forever question what truly happened to their baby. It's bad enough that adoptees have to struggle, knowing there is an unknown family out there with an unknown story of their birth kept secret somewhere, but I see no ethical justification for bringing this kind of disturbance upon an otherwise happy and content family. So even if I did start calling all the possible people matching any of Geary's records, and even if we did find Geary's birth mother through that process, I cannot justify all the other families I would have disturbed along the way. If I contacted 100 families, and 1 turned out to be the birth family, that would mean I have wrongfully contacted 99 innocent families, some of which may be left forever with questions of what might have happened in their own family. I can't do that.

We will continue to leave this website up for two main reasons: IF, by some unforeseen event, Geary's birth family did try to find him, they could find him through this website which is very well publicized and indexed in the search engines. But, also, given how few people even know about Ruby Hightower's black market adoptions, Geary and I both feel it is important to keep this information out there. Perhaps other adoptees or birth families will learn something helpful by knowing about the Hightower Black Market Babies. Or, if for no other reason, to inform people of what Ruby Hightower, with the blessing and help of officials in her area, did to families and their babies, and how her actions continue to affect people even to this day, so many years later. It is the best we can do to hold her accountable for what she has done to our lives, the lives of our children, and the lives of our family's future generations.

What if I email you about any of this?

As some of you may already know, I receive and answer all of Geary's emails regarding his adoption search; otherwise, his emotions would be twisted like a pretzel every time someone wrote in with a lead that turned out to be a dead end. And to be honest, since we have pretty much given up on any hopes of finding Geary's birth family, it's been hard to respond to an endless stream of emails that only serve to remind us of the futility of our search. So I apologize, in advance, if I do not respond to an email you may have sent. Also, spammers have picked up Geary's email address so it is a constant battle to even find true emails from the spam; therefore, it is critical to place the word "Hightower" (without quotes) somewhere in the subject of the email. I do read all emails we receive regarding this site, but having gone through so many dead end leads, I can no longer find the energy to respond to them all. But I do read them and thank you for your gracious help and concern.



SITE INDEX

About Me
Information About Me   A table showing known information about my birth, my adoption and about me.
My Story   How I came to learn I am a Hightower black market baby.
Pictures of Me - Toddler Years   Pictures of me as an infant and young child.
Pictures of Me - School Years   Pictures of me during school years.
Pictures of Me - Adulthood   Pictures of me as an adult.
Vicki's Home   My wife's website - not adoption related, but it contains information about the rest of my family.

My Sealed Adoption File
Birth Mother's Relinquishment   Papers indicating my birth mother relinquished her parental rights.
Petition to Adopt   Papers showing my adoptive parents' petition to adopt me.
Petition Filed & Investigation Ordered   The court's acknowledgment of the petition to adopt and investigation order.
Investigation   The investigation report.
Adoptive Father's Sworn Oath   Sworn Oath signed by adoptive father stating that all information is true and correct.
Final Adoption Papers   The court's papers granting the adoption.
Notice of Adoption   Notice of Adoption sent to the Bureau of Vital Statistics in Austin, Texas.
Adoption Birth Certificate Papers   Birth Certificate papers and Affidavit of Adoption.
Birth Certificates on File in Austin   Does anyone know what the handwritten numbers are on my birth certificates?

Hightower Health Home Newspaper and Magazine Articles
Two Kidnaping Charges Filed Against Health Home Owner   Texarkana Gazette August 10, 1950
Seven Indicted By Grand Jury   Texarkana Gazette August 10, 1950
Mrs. Hightower Posts Two Bonds   Texarkana Gazette August 10, 1950
Babies   Look Magazine 1954
Link Texarkana Woman To Baby 'Black Market'   The Shreveport Times July 16, 1955
Baby Brokerage   Texarkana Gazette April 12, 1996
* This article does a good job of explaining how Mrs. Hightower operated her black market baby ring.

Website Features
Sign My Guestbook   Thank you for taking the time to sign my guestbook.
View My Guestbook   Read guestbook signatures of my visitors.
Send Me Email   Please do not hesitate to send me email even if you are unsure of your information.

Online articles about Black Market Adoptions
Black Market Adoption   Informative article which explains how black market adoptions got started in this country.

Other Black Market Baby Links
The Search   An Arkansas adoptee searching for his birth family.
Black Market Adoptions   Information and Registry for anyone touched by a black market adoption.
The Cole Baby Registry   Information and Registry for Cole Babies with links to many other black market sites.
Florida Black Market Babies   Information and Registry for Cole Babies and other Florida black market babies.
Butterbox Babies   Information and links about Canadian Butterbox Babies.
Black Market Adoptee Searching for Birthfamily   A black market adoptee searching for her birth family.
Black Market Adoptee's Registry   A black market adoptee's search info plus a black market adoptee Registry.

Other Adoption Links
Search or Join the TxCARE Registry   Large registry for Texas.
The Seeker   Information and Registry for adoptees of all kinds throughout the world.
Adoption Search and Reunion   Tips on how to search plus a Registry for Colorado. Tons of adoption links.
Adoptees' Searching Resources   Lots and lots of adoption links.


Website created on September 8, 1999
• •
Website Last Updated on January 3, 2007


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The International Soundex Reunion Registry is the world's largest, FREE, reunion registry. To register, send a self-address, stamped envelope to the address below. They will send you the forms to fill out to join their registry.

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phone: (702) 882-7755


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This BLACK MARKET ADOPTION WEBRING site
is owned by Geary Surratt.

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