They Say You Can Find "IT" on Ebay. But for One Man, the Advertising Slogan Proves True!

They say you can find "IT" on Ebay. But for one man, the advertising slogan proves true!

For Sale: Vintage Scrapbook -- 1941 -- baby's birth and first year. Baby's name is Billy Arlen Mack from Defiance and Cecil, Ohio. Date of birth is February, 1941.

Bill Mack nearly went into shock when he saw the email from his cousin, Susan Sweet.

His cousin, who collects antique items from Defiance and Paulding counties, simply stumbled upon it in a routine search of items.

"I had completely forgotten about it, but when I saw it I recognized it immediately," said the Defiance resident, a retired school administrator.

The scrapbook contained more than 40 baby cards, a list of gifts received, receipts from the hospital, birth announcements from the local newspapers, Easter cards, Christmas gift cards and first birthday cards.

As with so many Baby books, inside was a detailed and chronological diary of baby Billy Mack's first year of life.

"The pages were mostly torn or loose but the cards and paperwork were in good shape," said Mack. "My mother really put a lot of work into it. Plus, she kept everything."

Mack immediately contacted the woman in Florida who advertised the book.

"She told me that she purchased the book at the Webster Flea Market in Webster, Fla., last October," said Mack. "But she also said she had just sold it to a woman from Rochester, N.Y., for $8 plus $5 for shipping and handling."

So Mack contacted the Buyer of his baby book, a New York woman named Kathy Most.

"She collects vintage images to use in auction templates that she sells and uses for crafts," said Mack. "Once she found out it was my book, she agreed to send it to me after she scanned some of the cards."

Within a few weeks, Mack had his book back at home.

"The lady in New York didn't even want any money," he stated. "She said she was just happy to have been part of the book's extraordinary journey."

Mack was born in Defiance Hospital. The attending physician was Dr. George DeMuth, who had an office in Sherwood. Margaret Miller was the supervising nurse.

"This was the old, old Defiance Hospital... about where the sheriff's office is now."

A list of expenses in the book, lists the hospital bill as $22 and the doctors bill as $25! Compare that to now, when the hospital bill for my last child was close to $8000!

Other expenses for the baby were a mattress for his bassinet for 49 cents, and four dozen diapers for $5.86!

"Those were the old-fashioned kind of diapers," stated Mack. "They were washed and re-used, so that was all I ever needed."

No one is entirely sure how the scrapbook left the family.

"When my parents passed away we had an auction (in 1986) and it might have been in something and we did not realize it," he stated. "Or it could have been lost or misplaced when my parents moved from Cecil to Defiance in 1970. How it ended up in Florida and on eBay may always be a mystery."

"It's unreal. Of everything you see on eBay, it's pretty amazing to see something that belonged to you 65 years ago."