The Stolen Baby Girl

Mary Agnes Moroney was born May 9, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois to Michael and Catherine Moroney.   A year later, the Great Depression would begin.  Then in 1930, in the midst of the Great Depression, Michael and Catherine Moroney made a decision, that many families had made, to ask for help.  And that is where this story begins.   

Chicago, Illinois May 1930

Michael and Catherine Moroney struggled financially to support their family in 1930.  Michael Moroney was handing out handbills, making less than $15 a week.  Because of this, and the fact that a third child was on the way, Mr. and Mrs. Moroney decided to place an advertisement in the paper asking for assistance.  On May 14, 1930, Catherine Moroney was scrubbing the floors of her home, whilst her oldest daughter Mary Agnes played on the floor and her youngest child, Anastasia, lay in her crib when someone knocked on the door of their home.  When she answered, Catherine saw a beautiful, young woman holding a basket of food.  She said that she had come to help the family and was sent by Mrs. Henderson, the social worker, as she had seen their advertisement in the paper.  Catherine Moroney let the woman into her home, grateful for the extra food and that someone was willing to help their family.  Catherine proceeded to tell the friendly stranger, who she thought was a social worker, about the problems that her family was having.  The young woman wanted to help and stated that she would be back tomorrow and would try to find Michael Moroney a better job with better pay.  The woman's name was Julia Otis.  

The next day, May 15, 1930, Julia Otis came back to the Moroney home, this time with more generous gifts, including clothes and a new bassinet, purchased from Goldblatts, for the new baby that would be coming soon.  Catherine Moroney felt comfortable with the woman who was offering help to her family, so when Julia Otis asked if she could take Mary Agnes to the store for some new clothes, Catherine Moroney gave her permission.  And that was the last time Catherine Moroney would ever see Mary Agnes.  

Catherine Moroney at some point realized that the woman who had her daughter was not coming back.  She contacted the police regarding her missing daughter and they began searching.  The day after the kidnapping, May 16, 1930, Catherine Moroney received a letter from Julia Otis, which was printed in the Chicago Tribune on May 18, 1930

The above pictured letter from Julia Otis is not the entire letter.  The entire letter read:

"Mrs. Moroney

Please don't be alarmed.  I have take your little girl to California with me.  I have hired a special nurse to care for her.  We'll be back in two months; by that time you will be on your feet again and will be able to care for her.  She didn't even cry a bit.  She is outfitted like a princess.  In the meantime, I'll help all I can do get you on your feet.  Don't worry about her or anything else.  When you get this letter we'll be on our way already.  

As ever, Julia Otis." 

The letter in the paper does not show it, but it was actually written on letterhead from a downtown store.  After which, the police went to the store and spoke to witnesses who stated that the woman who dictated the note matched the description of Julia Otis and had with her a small child, fitting the description of Mary Agnes Moroney.  

Police continued their search, including on trains headed for California, but they found no trace of Mary Agnes or Julia Otis.  A few days after receiving the note from Julia Otis, Catherine Moroney received another letter from a woman named Alice Henderson.  Alice Henderson claimed to be the cousin of Julia Otis and tried to explain her cousin's actions.  According to Alice Henderson, Julia Otis had had a nervous breakdown due to the loss of her child and husband.  She was "child hungry" and just wanted a child to take care of.  Alice said Julia Otis would soon return the child, but that did not happen and police were never able to locate Alice Henderson.  And strangely enough, the name of the social worker that had supposedly sent Julia Otis to the Moroney family was Mrs. Henderson.

When no trace of Julia Otis, Alice Henderson or Mary Agnes could be found, the police started questioning the parents of Mary Agnes Moroney, stating there were "several unusual circumstances" regarding Michael and Catherine Moroney's story and their missing daughter.  They also believed that the note from Julia Otis and the note from Alice Henderson were written in the same handwriting.  However, they were never officially arrested for their daughter's disappearance.  

July 25, 1937

San Pablo, California 1952

The kidnapping case of Mary Agnes Moroney entered the papers again when a woman from San Pablo, California, named Mary McClelland, stated that she was adopted and she may be the missing child.  The Moroney family had been brought to her attention after her husband had seen a newspaper article with pictures of the Moroney family and noticed that members of the family had a striking resemblance to his wife. 

 Obviously DNA was not in the picture in the 1950's so they used the science that was.  Mary McClelland's blood was taken and her fingerprints and teeth examined by the appropriate doctors.  Everything seemed to state that Mary McClelland could be Mary Agnes Moroney. The woman who adopted Mary McClelland spoke out stating that the idea that Mary McClelland was Mary Agnes was absurd.

Eventually Mary McClelland flew to Chicago to meet the Moroney family.  There were no problems at the meeting, but neither Mary McClelland nor Catherine Moroney could say for sure that she was Mary Agnes.  Catherine Moroney had hoped that her motherly instinct would kick in and she would instantly know, but because it had not, she wasn't sure.  Mary McClelland did resemble her other children, but there was just no way to know definitively. 

Eventually, it was discovered that Mary McClelland was not Mary Agnes Moroney through DNA between Mary Agnes Moroney's siblings and the DNA of Mary McClelland's children in later years.  So in the end, Catherine Moroney's motherly instinct was correct in that regard despite what scientists tried to argue.

And in 1962 at the age of 50, Catherine Moroney passed away never knowing what happened to her daughter.  Her husband had died in 1957.

Present Day

The case of Mary Agnes Moroney is certainly a sad one.  A family reaches out for help and in the end a child is lost forever.  I'm sure everyone is thinking, how could a mother let a stranger take their child, but Catherine Moroney was 17 years old, a mother of two with another on the way, and her family was struggling.  A nicely dressed woman appears on her doorstep with food, words of kindness, and wanting to help and gained the mother's trust.  A young mother wanting the best for her family, Catherine Moroney made a decision she thought was best.  And I'm sure the guilt of that haunted her for the rest of her life.  

In 2016, I had the opportunity to speak with Mary Agnes Moroney's nephew, Donald Moroney after reaching out to the Moroney family through letters.  He told me that he has been investigating his aunt's disappearance for years.  He even had the original FBI files on the case.  He verified that Mary McClelland was not Mary Agnes, but they had recently heard from someone in California that a woman, on her deathbed, claimed to be Julia Otis and that Mary Agnes was her daughter.  They were waiting to get together with the family regarding DNA tests to verify.  I emailed Mr. Moroney for an update, but I have not heard anything back.  Looking online, it doesn't seem like the case of Mary Agnes Moroney has been solved.  If DNA was done and matched, I feel sure it would have been in the Chicago papers.  I do think that if this case will be solved, it will be through familial DNA on genealogy websites such as Ancestry.com or 23andMe.  I think familial DNA

I've done some research on my own in regards to Julia Otis and Mary Agnes Moroney through  genealogy websites.  Surprisingly, there were a lot more Julia Otis' living in Chicago then one would have thought.  There is one Julia Otis that has come up several times on amateur sleuthing sites.  Her picture is below.

Julia M. Otis was born in Chicago in 1906 which would put her around the age of the Julia Otis who came to visit Catherine Moroney in 1930.  From this picture, it also seems that she matches the description that Mrs. Moroney gave of the woman who took her daughter.  Julia M. Otis died in Los Angeles, California in 1999.  I have not been able to find her obituary to see if it makes any mention of a daughter or her death certificate, but I am still looking.  She was the daughter of Spencer Otis who was a civil engineer who had worked for Union Pacific Railroad and was then later in the railroad supply business.  His final years were spent as the president of the National Boiler Washing company.  To me, this means that the Otis family was well off, which is another way that Catherine Moroney had described the Julia Otis who took her daughter.  I dug a little more into Julia M. Otis.  She did have properties in both Chicago, IL and California.  She is mentioned in newspapers in Chicago and California, but they only mention her having a niece.  They never mention her having a daughter.

I have no idea if this Julia Otis is THE Julia Otis that took Mary Agnes Moroney away from her family under the guise of offering them help.  Some of the stuff is a  little hard to ignore, such as her looks, wealth and the fact that her father worked for the Union Pacific Railroad and the theory is that Julia Otis took Mary Agnes to Califronia by train; but again, she isn't the only Julia Otis from that time that lived in Chicago and California.  And realistically, if you are planning to take a child from a family, you probably wouldn't give your real name.  It is possible that the woman that took Mary Agnes, knew the name Julia Otis and that she was well off and just used that name.  And she very well could have written both letters that were sent to Michael and Catherine Moroney, since the handwritting, according to the police at the time, were similar.  

Like I said before, if this case is to be solved, it will be by familial DNA on a geneaology website.  If I am correct, I believe the Moroney family has done this so now it just becomes a waiting game for the right person to decide they want to know where they come from.  If this is happens already, I have not been able to find it.  If not, I hope eventually this family finds the answers as to what happed to Mary Agnes Moroney in 1930.  The fact that Catherine and Michael Moroney died not knowing what happened to her is heartbreaking.  No parent should have to spend the rest of their life wondering where their child is.

M.