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Barney and Angeline 1941

Barney and Angeline Dewey in 1941

Real Name: Angeline "Angie" Dewey
Case: Lost Sister
Location: Abilene, Texas
Date: 1941

Barney Dewey

Case[]

Details: During the 1930s, the United States began a brutal downward economic spiral that lasted just over a decade. Officially, the Great Depression ended in 1942. But for many, the cost and personal tragedy would continue for a lifetime. Such was the case for a young girl and her older brother who lived in Haskell, Texas. In 1941, Barney Dewey was just twelve years old but he had already been forced into manhood. He worked part-time at a gas station and looked after his eight-year-old sister, Angeline. Their stepfather was hospitalized and their mother, Lucy, toiled long hours as a garment worker.
Barney recalls that times were rough in those days, and his family was concerned with living and trying to keep "body and soul" together. Lucy was trying hard to make ends' meet. He recalls that she was not a well-educated person, but she could read and write. The garment worker job was the only that was available for her at the time. It was a bleak existence but Barney and his family managed to scrape by and stay together. Until one day in spring 1941, when he and Angeline had a visitor: a kindly old man named Reverend Nicholas.
Reverend Nicholas introduced himself to Barney and claimed that he was a friend of Lucy's. He told Barney that she was sick and that she wanted him and Angeline to go with him to his home in Abilene. Barney figured that they would do so and she would come to get them later. Barney recalls that Reverend Nicholas was a nice, personable person. As Barney put it, "he could quiet our fears with a few words and a piece of candy," which he always had in his pocket.
Reverend Nicholas took Barney and Angeline to a fancy hotel, bought both of them new outfits, and fed them a sumptuous dinner. The next day, all dressed up in their new clothes, they were formally photographed (shown above). Barney was told that something had happened to Lucy and they were unable to see her. He and Angeline were then taken by Reverend Nicholas to a bus station. He asked where they were going, and Reverend Nicholas told him that they were "going on a little trip". He told them not to worry and that everything would be all right.
As Barney and Angeline got on the bus, she began to cry, saying that she did not want to go on it. Reverend Nicholas tried to calm her down. He said that they were going to meet Lucy when they got off. Every time they questioned or objected to something, Reverend Nicholas would "smooth their feelings down" and say, "Everything is going to be all right." Barney trusted him and believed that they were going to see Lucy and that the bus was going to take them to her.
Later that day, Barney and Angeline arrived with Reverend Nicholas at a foster home. Barney believed that Lucy was going to meet them there. A few days later, however, he realized that his trust had been misplaced. Reverend Nicholas and his adopted son, Nick Crane, came to the orphanage to pick up Barney, but not Angeline. She began to cry and sob. She held onto Barney and tried to follow them to the car. She had to be restrained by someone at the foster home. As they left, she yelled to Barney, "You promised me we were gonna find our mom!" But there was nothing he could do.
Only later did Barney understand that the fancy new clothes and the photograph had been nothing more than an advertisement to be shown to prospective foster parents. He was sent to live on a 100-acre ranch outside Abilene. His foster parents were Reverend Nicholas' secretary and her husband, who conveniently needed a ranch hand. He was given the responsibility of driving the tractor, plowing, and doing chores on the ranch to keep the animals fed and cared for. He enjoyed it because he felt like he was in charge: he had his own horse and could do whatever he wanted to do on the ranch.
Barney's memories of his foster parents are fond ones, even though he lived a solitary existence eight miles from the main ranch house and saw them rarely. As time passed, he yearned for his own family more and more. He began to get lonely. He missed Lucy and Angeline. He was so upset about it that he decided that he would leave the ranch and look for them. He still felt obligated to his foster parents, so he left behind the good clothes they had bought him and put on his old ones.
Barney decided to head to Haskell to look for Lucy. He had thirty-seven cents on him. It was ninety-seven miles from the ranch to Haskell. When he got there, he discovered that she and his stepfather had moved away. Thus began a personal odyssey for him, one that would crisscross Texas and cover nearly 1,000 miles.
Barney found his birth father in Cleburne. Together, they traveled to Kilgore, then on to Humble, just outside of Houston. There, his father put him on a bus to Odessa, where he would be reunited with his mother and stepfather. When he got to Odessa, he saw Lucy and recognized her, but she initially did not recognize him. He had changed in the year that had passed: he was wearing glasses and his father had bought him new clothes. They were happy to see each other. She asked if he had heard from Angeline, but he had not.
Barney and Lucy talked about what had happened with him and Angeline. He asked her if she had signed any papers or anything to release them to Reverend Nicholas. She said she did not, and would never have done that. She said that around the time Reverend Nicholas took them, authorities had temporarily taken her into custody for reasons that were never explained to her. No one told her anything about Barney and Angeline's whereabouts.
Barney lived happily with Lucy and his stepfather until he was eighteen years old. In 1947, he married. Four years later, he and his wife, Stella, traveled to Abilene in an attempt to locate Reverend Nicholas. He asked around and discovered that Nick Crane owned a pharmacy in town. Nick told him that Reverend Nicholas had died two years earlier and that his orphanage had been shut down by the state in 1949. Whatever records existed were stored haphazardly behind the pharmacy. Barney and Stella sifted through the dusty papers but found nothing that could lead them to Angeline. It is believed that some of the records were destroyed by employees of the orphanage.
Barney, now sixty-two, lives in Stockton, California, and is a minister. For the last fifty years, he has been searching for Angeline. He has been unable to contact her or find anyone who knows anything about her. All he has left of her are photographs. They were taken when she was between seven and eight years old. She was born in 1933 and probably adopted in 1941. Lucy died in 1985. Barney believes that as an adult, Angeline may resemble her.
Barney and Angeline are only two of the thousands of children who passed through Reverend Nicholas' orphanage, the West Texas Children's Aid and Welfare Association, during the early-to-mid 1900s. Many of them came from families in financial trouble who believed Reverend Nicholas was trying to help them. Today, hundreds of those orphans are searching for lost loved ones.
Extra Notes: This case first aired on the February 26, 1992 episode.

Barney and Angeline 1992

Barney and Martha Jean (Angeline) reunited

Results: Solved. On the night of the broadcast, Barney's prayers were answered when Neil Smith of Cedar Hill recognized Angeline as his adopted sister, Martha Jean Smith. The picture of her and Barney was the same one she had brought with her when she was adopted by the Smiths in 1941. She had grown up in Cross Plains. Another adoptive brother named Paul had tried to help her locate her birth family but was unsuccessful.
Martha Jean is mildly mentally handicapped; she lives and works at Rainbow Acres, a group home for mentally disabled adults in Camp Verde, near Flagstaff, Arizona. Sadly, she had grown up believing that her birth mother did not love her and had given her up. However, she was happy to learn that that was not true. Barney immediately made arrangements to reunite with her at his daughter's home in Chandler.
On March 23, 1992, a few weeks after the broadcast, the moment Barney had waited more than fifty-one years for finally arrived. He was joyfully reunited with Martha Jean. He was thrilled to finally see her again and was happy that his search was over. He says that his only regret is that Lucy did not live to see her. She said that she was happy and felt joy when she found Barney and his family. She is happy that she now has two families instead of one.
That afternoon, Barney and Martha Jean began to fill in the details of the years they had spent apart. He was very happy to learn that she had been treated right, raised properly, gotten an education, and been loved by her adoptive family. He says that he really feels good and that it is an exciting high point in his life. He is happy that everything turned out the way it did and that his and Martha Jean's dream of being together has finally come true.
Sadly, on March 23, 2019, Barney passed away at the age of ninety.
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