St. John’s Home: A Statistical Analysis of the Total Population of St. John’s Home, Rockaway Park, New York From January 1, 1958 to January 1, 1959

The year was 1890; the place was St. John's Home in the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York. A woman and a little boy entered the large red brick building on St. Mark's Avenue. The woman held a note in her hand. It said:”Dear Father, Please admit John McCarthy, seven years old. His father is dead and his mother has to work out.” The letter was signed by the pastor of a parish in downtown Brooklyn. Attached was John's baptismal certificate showing he was born on August 22, 1883, and baptized in his parish church on September 8, 1883. He was the son of Timothy McCarthy and Bridget Burke. So it was that a seven year old boy went to live with 959 other little boys in old St. John's Home, a large, congregate care type of children's institution. As we create in our minds the picture of a grieving young Irish mother and her frightened small son, we wonder why it had to be.