Orphan Train Riders of America
(I obtained the following info from www.orphantraindepot.com)
1854 -1929
Orphan Train Heritage Society of America, Inc.
America's First Documented "Foster Care" System
Between 1854 and 1929, almost nothing existed for the protection of children. In times of family disaster, if friends or relatives did not help the children, they were on their own. No government child protection agencies yet existed. Child protection laws would come about as a result of the Orphan Train Movement.
Young America was filling with Immigrants.
1. Oppression & Famines in the old countries forced families to migrate.
2. "This was the land of milk and honey!"
3. "You needed a shovel to scrape the gold off of the streets!"
4. "You could make your fortune here!"
Why Were Children Living On The Streets?
1. Death of one or more parents.
2. Parents inability to support the children.
3. Abuse at home.
4. Extended Family was in the old country.
Why Was This Allowed?
1. Children were property.
2. No Child Protection laws.
3. No Welfare programs.
4. No Extended Family available.
5. Children had no rights.
6. Shear NUMBERS of children.
Who Were These Children?
1. Infants to Teenagers
2. All nationalities
3. All religions
Problems Faced by the Children
1. Living on the streets exposed them to the elements.
2. They had to earn their own food and shelter. They had no medical protection.
3. Many were arrested for turning to crime to survive.
4. They had only each other for protection.
If Left In New York
1. Many would have died.
2. Over-population limited any chance for improvement.
3. Very few would gain an education.
4. Many would have been imprisoned.
5. Much potential talent would have been lost.
Word "Orphan" Misused
1. "Orphan" implies that both parents are dead.
2. Many of these children were not true orphans[many had one parent still
alive].
3. Children could be removed from parents without due process of law by
priests or police
4. Babies were often abandoned due to mother's inability to care for them.
What About Orphanages?
1. Orphanages filled as soon as they were built.
2. Orphanages were places to warehouse children.
3. Could not take the place of the family.
4. Had the potential for abuse.
New Thinking Required.
1. Remove these children from New York; reduce the over-population, reduce
the crime
2. Place them with loving rural families
3. Use the family to teach them to be useful citizens.
4. Provide the new land's needed labor.
Main Sponsoring Groups
1. Children's Aid Society of New York
2. New York Foundling Hospital
3. Many orphanages fed children into these two groups for transportation
to the new towns.
Children's Aid Society of New York
— Founded by Rev. Charles L. Brace
— Ages: Young Children to Teenagers
— CAS was not an orphanage. It kept children until they could be transported.
— CAS is still in operation today.
New York Foundling Hospital
— Founded by: Sister Irene Fitzgibon and Sister Teresa Vincent [Sisters
of Charity]
— Age group: Babies
— NYFH took in babies that would have been left to die.
— The Catholic home kept the babies until they were strong enough
to transport.
— NYFH is still in operation today.
Over 250,000 children migrated from the New York Area to other states by
way of the Orphan Trains.
1. Trains provided cheaper trans- portation, which went where the children
were needed.
2. Local citizens along the track provided food and supplies.
3. Large numbers of children could be transported at a time.
Logistical Requirements
1. Transportation system--Railroads
2. New York agents/nurses: Escorts, Placement investigators
3. Local Placement Committees: Local citizens and/or priests
4. Communications: Pulpits and Local Press
Orphan Train States
Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Canada, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indian Territory, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, New Hampshire, N. Carolina, N. Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, S. Carolina, S. Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, W. Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
The Choosing
1. Railway Platforms, Opera House stages, Churches, Meeting Halls
2. Many times choosing was similar to checking out live stock: feel the
muscles, check the teeth
3. Short performances by the children
4. Breaking up of sibling groups
Pre-arrangement
1. CAS loaded the children aboard and tried to place them at scheduled
stops, ssubject to approval by local committees
2. NYFH generally pre-matched children and prospective parents. NYFH used
the local Catholic priests to approve and monitor the matches
Agreement
1. Foster parents had to agree to take the child.
2. The child had to agree to go with the foster parents.
3. The foster parents did not have to take siblings.
4. Attempts were made to keep siblings in the same area.
Paper work
1. Applications had to be endorsed by the local citizen committee or priest.
2. The NYFH used Indenture Papers
3. The CAS used Contract Agreements
"Adoption/Indenture"
1. Adoption [not required]. Same rights as natural children
2. Indentured:
a. Not allowed to inherit
b. Allows removal of child without legal proceedings
3. Conditions of Placement
a. The child must be treated as a member of the family [food, clothes, training].
b . The parents must provide the local education requirements.
c . The parents were required to write annual status reports to CAS or NYFH.
4. Unsatisfactory children would be removed at CAS' expense.
Family Response
1. Some got loving families
2. Some were used for slave labor
3. Some were abused [physically/ psychologically]
5. No one story speaks for all riders
Follow-Up Visitations
1. Local Catholic Priests [NYFH]
2. Agents [CAS]
3. Child could be moved if in an abusive situation.
4. Reports kept by both organizations until child was of legal age.
Down Side
1. All ties with the past were cut.
2. Only non-identifying information given to rider or descendants.
3. Stigma attached to being an orphan. 4. Loss of siblings.
5. Loss of continuity with the past.
6. Most thought they rode the only Orphan Train.
7. Most felt that something was wrong with them because Mother gave them
away.
Problems
1. No birth certificate for obtaining Drivers license, Marriage license,
Pass Port, Other Identification Papers, Military requirements.
2. The riders have no family medical history.
3. The riders often refuse to discuss the past.
4. Family research often reaches a dead end because of closed or missing
records.
5. Those who rode the trains as babies have no memories to draw upon.
6. U.S. History has chosen to ignore this migration of children.
Results
1. Some riders became Governors, Doctors, Lawyers, Bankers, Educators,
Musicians, Missionaries
2. Most became responsible citizens who were a credit to their communities.
3. Most became loving parents who tended to adopt children themselves.
4. Most had a survivor's spirit.
5. Some found lost siblings.
