Every now and then a serendipitous piece of mail shows up in my inbox or post office box. This past April, serendipity struck again when I received a particular letter from Doug Hinton of California regarding a personal search for an older brother he had never met. He believed him to be a ‘Mace baby’ that would have been born around 1944.
Doug’s father, John T. Hinton, was in the Army and stationed in Cape May Point. He and his wife, Catherine resided at 1311 Mt. Vernon St. in South Cape May, which was sadly washed away, along with the entire southern tip of Cape May, during a severe Hurricane in September of 1944. John, a strong swimmer, jumped off the cliff from the Army base and swam to their home on the beach, which was soon washed away in the storm!
Doug, born in 1947 after his parents relocated to California, being an only child with little family, was curious about his lost sibling. Although his mom was a faithful journal keeper, she never wrote about or spoke of this painful memory. Doug had been unable to find any record of his unknown sibling; Vital records had nothing, nor did Cape May County. In researching Dr. Mace further, he found that she is a hero of mine, and hoped that I could help shed some light on this for him. I replied to his letter via an email he gave me, and urged him to contact Scott Jett, the City Clerk of North Wildwood, who maintains all of Dr. Mace’s birth certificates and records.
After a lifetime of wondering, Doug learned that Dr. Mace did indeed deliver his stillborn brother, named John Lee Hinton on July 20, 1944, a few months prior to that devastating Hurricane.
More than 60 years later, a grateful Doug finally has closure on this chapter of his life. He’s thankful for The Sun’s help in leading him to find the actual birth certificate, and also glad to know his family is part of Dr. Margaret Mace’s legacy. He fondly recalls his mom, who valued her Cape May roots and kept those memories near to her heart. He recalls in her last days that she shared with him how she felt her life had been like a movie…one that in good times and in bad, took place by the sea.