Marie Lacey

Marie Lacey has contacted me and sent some very interesting information for me to place on this site. Marie was born on the SS America and it hit the newspapers at the time as the crew had to frantically create a humidity crib out of cardboard boxes and lined it with menus to keep her alive.

 

Copy of telegram sent to Maries father

Below is a copy of the Newspaper reports that announced the birth of Marie Lacey along with photos of the hurriedly constructed humidity crib.

Marie Lacey and her mother	Flanking the incubator they improvised aboard the liner America for baby Marie Teresa Lacey are (left to right) Head Waiter Archie Munday, James Francesconi 2nd Enginneer, Harvey Milnar 3rd Engineer, and Joseph Belanger 3rd Assistant Enginneer.	Captain Frederick Fender of the America presents Mrs Anne Lacey, holding Marie Theresa, with birth certificate and scroll as Rev. Edward L Curran, of Brooklyn (left) , a passenger who christened the infant, and Dr Roderick Macpherson

 

BABY BORN ON US BOUND LINER New York Herald Tribune - December 3, 1951

Marie Teresa Lacey, born on the United States liner America in mid-ocean on Wednesday, arrived here yesterday morning and was whisked away by ambulance to Muhlenberg Hospital in Plainfield, NJ.The America docked at 9 A.M. at Pier 61, Hudson River and 21st Street. Marie, the first baby to be born aboard the eleven-year-old liner, had not been expected until the end of December, when her Irish mother would have been settled in Plainfield, where the father, Martin F. Lacey, has a home.Mr. Lacey, thirty-two, met the ship, the nation's largest, with an ambulance of the Dunellen, NJ Rescue Squad, and a nurse. The five-pound-eight-ounce infant was transferred to the ambulance incubator from an incubator hastily built by three engineers and a head-waiter of the America.Physicians at Muhlenberg Hospital later said that the mother, Anne McNamara Lacey, and the baby were in good condition and would probably be able to leave soon for their home at 967 W. Third Street, Plainfield. Mr. Lacey came to this country from Eire in 1947, and has taken out his first citizenship papers.On a visit to his old home, he met Miss Anne McNamara, of Lahinch, County Clare. They were married in London on St. Patrick's Day.After returning to his job as a rigger with R. Hoe and Co., printing press manufacturers, in Dunellen, Mr. Lacey sent for his wife.Marie was delivered by Dr. Roderick MacPherson, the ship's surgeon. From the time the twenty-five-year-old mother began her labor at 1:30 A.M. Wednesday until 4:58 A.M. when the baby was born, the engineers and the head-waiter worked feverishly to make a cardboard box into a sterile incubator.The box was cleaned, lined with menus for insulation and padded with cotton and towels. A frame was constructed over the box so that oxygen could be fed into it and a constant temperature maintained.The baby was christened by the Rev. Edward L. Curran, pastor of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn, who was returning from a vacation in Europe.Captain Frederick Fender, master of the ship, presented her with a birth certificate and scroll, designed and printed in the America's printing shop.The baby was admitted by immigration officials under her mother's visa. Officials said the baby's citizenship was Irish, though she was born on a ship flying the American flag and her father has his first papers. Mr. Lacey promised that the whole family will become Americans

IRISH WIFE ARRIVES HERE WITH PREMATURE BABY BORN AT SEA
New York Daily Mirror, December 3, 1951

Her new neighbors in Dunellen, NJ gave Mrs. Anne Lace, 25, a royal welcome as she arrived from Ireland yesterday with her 4 ½ pound daughter born prematurely at sea aboard the liner America last Wednesday.Waiting at the pier with the nervous husband and father, Martin F. Lacey, an Irish rigger who came here several months ago to establish a home, the neighbors greeted the mother and baby Marie Teresa with open arms. Then all the Laceys were escorted to a Dunellen Volunteer Rescue Squad ambulance, equipped with incubator, and with a nurse in attendance were whisked away to Muhlenberg Hospital in Plainfield Mrs. Lacey, before departing, thanked Dr. Roderick MacPherson, ship's physician who delivered her child - the first birth at sea in the America's history - and the crewmen who devised an emergency incubator out of a cardboard box to keep Marie Teresa alive.Dr. MacPherson said the underweight infant could not have survived without the improvised incubator. Now, he said, she has "a very good chance to live."Almost overlooked in the excitement over the Laceys were several distinguished passengers aboard the America, including Vice-Adm. Oscar C. Badger, returning from the Paris U.N. sessions; Charles U. Bay, U.S. envoy to Norway, and Selden Chapin, our ambassador to the Netherlands.Also aboard was a two-year-old German orphan, a blonde girl who is being adopted by Mr. And Mrs. Arthur Zabiela, of 296 Belmont Avenue, West Hempstead, Long Island. The Zabielas have two sons, 13 and three years old


STORK ADDS COLLEEN TO LINER LIST
Daily News, December 3, 1951

Captain Frederick Fender of the America presents Mrs Anne Lacey, holding Marie Theresa, with birth certificate and scroll as Rev. Edward L Curran, of Brooklyn (left) , a passenger who christened the infant, and Dr Roderick Macpherson beam their approval.The US Liner America, which left Cobh Ireland, for these shores Monday with 960 passengers on her manifest, arrived yesterday with 961 - the 961 st being petite and winsome Marie Therese Lacey a 4 - day - old colleen born prematurely Wednesday on the high seas.It was the storks first visit to the America and Marie got a lot more attention than the VIP's on board when the ship docked at 9am at pier 61, North river and 21 st street. Even the Immigration and Naturalisation Service, which can be sticky at times smiled indulgently and let her come in under the visa of her mother, Mrs Anne Lacey, a 25 yr old Irish immigrant and with the same alien status

Marie Lacey andSS AMERICA - 1977	Marie Lacey in 2000	SS AMERICA 1977

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