The Wicomico Children's Home

The Wicomico Children Home was started about 1929 by Mrs Charles Watson, W H Morton and Mrs. Ray Hare. The picture above is how it looked in 1935.  It was located on Ocean City Boulevard in Salisbury.  The home was situated on about three acres of land and the house had 12 rooms and 4 baths plus an attic and a basement.  The purpose was to take in children between the ages of 4 to 16. from broken homes and give them care and training.  They had room for 30 but usually only had  about 20 in the home.  The home ceased operation about 1954 and was sold in 1956.

The matron or superintendent of the home only lasted  about 2 to 3 years.  Some of them were Mrs Rehetta Duffus (lasted the longest) , Mrs Sarah Beye, Mrs Ethel Johnson, Rev and Mrs William Reed, and Mr and Mrs Edward G Rapp.

above from 1939

 above 1931 with Mother Duffus in the middle

A list of children placed there is not available but in 1937 this ad appeared with their names or at least those residents who could write.

now looking at the names we can see a couple of groups of last names, such as Mittleman, Shockley, Tingle, and Baker.  These were brother and sisters kept together at the home.
William Myer Mittleman (1925-2000) and Carolyn Jane Mittleman  were the son and daughter of Charles and Mary Jones Mittleman.  They had gotten a divorce in 1927.  Who is missing is their son Charles Franklin Mittleman who is not in the home.  He may have already been sent to a Foster Home with Mrs Murray.  Mary Wenonah Jones Mittleman would be married a couple more times after Charles Mittleman.  Carolyn would marry Jacob Edward Jones from Delmar.

  The Baker kids were Ida D, Pearl, Helen and Raymond.  Their parents were Elisha and Birdie Mitchell Baker.