For most of her life, Rhoda Melendez had no idea that her great-grandmother, Frances Ellen Crosley, grew up in an orphanage. “There was a stigma at that time,” Melendez explains. But as her mother, Annie Catrett Williamson, advanced in her years, she felt that it was important for Melendez to know more about her great-grandmother’s past. Williamson shared what little information she knew: that Crosley was raised in the Protestant Orphans’ Asylum located at 911 Dauphin Street in Mobile. Although Williamson had lived with her grandmother her entire life, she never spoke of her childhood. Melendez was intrigued.

 

"Inspired by the early history of the protestant orphanage in Mobile, Alabama, 911 Dauphin Street is a story of hope and healing. Opinionated and quick witted Nell Crosby has only one thing on her mind - to reunite with the two brothers she was forced to leave behind in a distant Alabama county."