The Orphan Train Movement—and a Giveaway

I was less than ten years old when I first learned about the Orphan Train Movement of the mid-1800s to early 1900s, but it was many years into my adulthood before I dug into the true history behind it. Have you heard of Orphan Trains? If not, here’s a little about them.

Charles Loring Brace

In the early 1850s, there were many children living on the streets of large cities like New York. Orphaned children. Abandoned or abused children. Kids forced to beg, steal, prostitute themselves, or join gangs to survive. One man, Charles Loring Brace, saw the sheer numbers and took compassion upon them. With the backing of other philanthropists and businessmen, this Yale graduate opened the Children’s Aid Society to take in and house these poor souls. However, Brace was not an advocate of simply housing these children in orphanages until they became adults. Rather, he wanted to make them productive members of society through hard work, education, and family. So, he took in as many children as he was able into his Children’s Aid Society with the plan to find them homes out west.

Why out west, you ask? Brace was of the belief that relegating a child to institutional life would stunt their growth, both physically and mentally, and destroy the children. To combat this, they needed wide open spaces, lots of fresh air, and old-fashioned hard work. Where better to find that recipe than in the western portions of the United States, where space was readily available and there were farms and ranches needing able bodies to succeed. So, in October of 1854, the first group of 45 orphans was placed on a train from New York, heading to Michigan. One lone adult accompanied the children on the days-long train ride, and once they’d arrived, he pointed out to those who’d gathered how strong and sturdy the boys were, and how the girls would be quite capable of handling any housework necessary. Within just a couple of days, all but eight of the children had been taken in by families. Those that remained were sent on to Iowa City where an orphanage administrator took them in with the plan to quickly find foster homes for them. The first Orphan Train was such a success that more were planned.

In order for this plan to work, each community would set up a committee of prominent members—pastors, lawmen, business owners, and the like—to screen the prospective adopters. Ahead of the train’s arrival, handbills would be printed and distributed, foretelling of the coming Orphan Trains. At the appointed time, the train would arrive, and the children—having been properly groomed and wearing their best clothes—would be taken to the chosen meeting place. There, they would be lined up from oldest to youngest and would introduce themselves. Families who’d been given approval to taken in children could then meet and select which ones they wished to take home.

Full-fledged adoption was not required, but prospective families were told they must treat the orphans they fostered as if they were their own children. They were to provide food, clothing, education, and $100 upon the orphan’s twenty-first birthday. In exchange for the food, shelter, and education, each orphan was expected to help with chores and/or farm work, just like a natural child of the family would. 

As you might expect, not everything went smoothly with the plan. The children, many who were naïve to what was happening, experienced a range of emotions once they realized the truth of this situation. Some were overjoyed at the chance of having a family of their own. Others, who’d left their birth families behind, were incensed at the idea they were now expected to be part of a new home and family. Some children were adopted into homes where they were doted on and even spoiled, but just as often, children found themselves in abusive or unbearable homes where they were treated as anything but a true family member. In the latter cases, many of those children either returned to the Children’s Aid Society, or more often, ran away to fend for themselves. Often, in the case of older children (those of about 14 years and up), they felt they were close enough to adulthood that they didn’t need or want to be adopted. And the families considering them feared many would be too set in their bad habits to be redeemed and fully brought into their family.

In addition to these difficulties, the Orphan Train Movement faced much backlash from various groups. Before the outlaw of slavery during the Civil War, abolitionist organizations felt this program was just another form of slavery. At the same time, pro-slavery supporters felt that these orphan trains would undermine the slave trade by giving free labor to those farmers who needed it. There was even backlash from the Catholic population who feared that the Irish Catholic children (who were a large segment of the orphans being shipped west) would be forced to give up their Catholic beliefs when they were taken in by Protestant families in their new communities. 

Despite the difficulties, the Orphan Train movement thrived. Yes, there were

hardships for the children being “placed out” with new families, but by and large, they were given new homes, their physical needs were met, and a huge percentage went on to successful lives. The program eventually waned for a variety of reasons, like new laws and programs to better protect children and help struggling families…as well as the settlement of the Western Frontier. But between 1854 and 1929, some 200,000 children were given new opportunities at life, thanks to the vision of Charles Loring Brace and his Orphan Trains.

It’s Your Turn: Have you heard of the Orphan Train Movement before? If you had lived in the years when orphan trains operated, would you have considered fostering or adopting a child? Why or why not? Leave your answer to these questions with your email address, and you’ll be included in the drawing for a copy of my newest novella collection, The Blacksmith Brides. 

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has finaled and won in numerous writing competitions, and been on the ECPA best-seller list several times. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers, Women Writing the West, and is a lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children.

COMING JULY 1, 2020

Courting Calamity

Heroes Needed for Four Damsels in Distress

Despite the determination to be strong and independent, four women of bygone days are in need of a hero. On the journey to California, the deed to Mattie’s hopes and dreams is stolen. Elizabeth has been saddled with too many responsibilities at the family mercantile. Unexpectedly married, Sofia is ill-prepared for a husband and the society she is thrust into. When her sister is accosted, Aileen will do almost anything to support her. Accepting help isn’t easy when these women don’t want to show weakness, but it is more appealing when it comes with a handsome face.

Stories by Amanda Barratt, Gabrielle Meyer, Jennifer Uhlarik, and Kathleen Y’Barbo.

True Stories of the Orphan Train

I’m in the process of deciding which book idea I want to write next. One of those is an Orphan Train story. That got me to wondering if I could find some true stories of children who were “placed out” via the Orphan Train. I found a bunch, but I’m only sharing a few today.

Between 1859 and 1921, somewhere close to 200,000 children were part of an experiment called “placing out,” started by Charles Loring Brace. Trains left big cities like New York and Boston with groups of youngsters who were sent to the Midwest in hopes of finding a good home for orphans who had once lived on the streets. Some were lucky and found happy homes, but many children were taken in simply because a farmer or businessman needed additional help. For those children, life was difficult. Here are a few of their stories:

Illinois

Charles Frederick

Charles Frederick was a six-year-old orphaned German boy who didn’t speak English. After taking the train to Rockford, Illinois, he and several other children were loaded into a covered wagon by John Nelson, a farmer, and driven to Durand. There, the children were divvied up. Charles went to the Lennon family. He later told his son that he worked hard on the Lennon farm and occasionally got to attend school, but he never felt loved. At age 17, Charles told the Lennons he was going to the outhouse, but instead, he grabbed the sack of clothes he’d previously tossed out the window and took off running. He never returned. He got a job working for farmers then later moved to Rockford, where he met his wife. He held various jobs. In 1960, he moved his family to California. He died at the age of 80 in 1962. 

Nebraska

A fourteen-year-old boy named Frank told his widowed mother that he wanted a little sister with blue eyes and brown hair. Just a month later, Mary Jane Baade joined the family. Mary Jane was only 26 months old when she rode the Orphan Train. She had been placed in a Catholic institution when she was only two weeks old. The nuns stitched clothing for the children in their care from bed sheets. 

“When I got off the train, my brother was looking for me,” Mary Jane said.

“There she is!” she heard Frank yell. And from that day forward she was, at last, part of a family. Frank and his mother, Adelaide, took the little girl home to St. Libory, where Frank carried his little sister everywhere.

“They were such wonderful times,” she said.

Mary Jane was one of the lucky ones who had been chosen ahead of time. She didn’t have to stand in line and be poked and prodded by prospective parents.

Arkansas

Cliff and Myrtle Jennings

Cliff and Myrtle Jennings were born in Brooklyn, New York. They lived in a comfortable home with a father who was an electrician and their mother, who was a homemaker. When Myrtle was five, her father died. Although they had wealthy grandparents, two years later, they ended up in the Home for the Destitute in Brooklyn. A 1910 census showed that the brother and sister were “inmates” at a Brooklyn industrial school. They were just nine and ten then. Because the boys and girls were separated, the siblings only saw one another through a hole in a wooden fence. The places they lived were rough, and the children were often punished. 

Three years later, the Children’s Aid Society found a home for the siblings in Wheeler, Arkansas. The started their Orphan Train ride on February 27, 1912. Although Cliff was nearly two years older, he and Myrtle were about the same size. The belief by officials that they might be twins is what kept them from being separated.

Ben Shreaves and his wife took in the siblings. While Ben was kind, his wife wasn’t, and she punished Cliff and Myrtle harshly. They felt more like unpaid servants than family. They were eventually settled with a different family who was kind and loving.

At the request of her grandparents, Myrtle later returned to New York. Her reunion with her mother was disappointing. After her grandparents' death, she returned to the Midwest and lived with the P.C. Morgan family. Morgan was the agent who rode West with her and Cliff on the Orphan Train. Myrtle married his son. They moved to Oklahoma, but during the Dust Bowl years, they relocated to California.

Cliff also married and made his home in Mounds, Oklahoma. He and his wife, Lola, had two sons. In 1984, he died in Tulsa. Although they faced hardships, both Myrtle and Cliff were grateful for the chance to create a new life, thanks to the Orphan Train.

Gabriel Coulter lived a comfortable life as a successful gambler, but a confrontation with a disgruntled cowboy leads to a family man dying in Gabe's arms. Though it was self-defense, the only way Gabe knows to get rid of his guilt is to return the money he won to the man’s wife.

Lara Talbot sees Gabe as a derelict like her husband and wants nothing to do with him--not even the much-needed money he's offered her. But as she struggles to provide for her family and makes plans to claim property in the upcoming Oklahoma land rush, she wonders if God might have sent the meddling man to help.

Vickie McDonough is the best-selling author of 50 books and novellas. Vickie grew up wanting to marry a rancher, but instead, she married a computer geek who is scared of horses. She now lives out her dreams penning romance stories about ranchers, cowboys, lawmen, and others living in the Old West. Vickie’s books have won numerous awards including the Booksellers Best and the Inspirational Choice awards. When she’s not writing, Vickie enjoys reading, doing stained glass projects, gardening watching movies, and traveling. To learn more about Vickie’s books or to sign up for her newsletter, visit her website: www.vickiemcdonough.com

Orphans, Trains, and Happy Endings

A footnote from history by Stephanie Grace Whitson

Our hearts break when confronted with the suffering of refugees. We want a solution for homelessness. We can be tempted to think it's a relatively new problem. It's difficult to believe that in 1848-49, an estimated ten thousand vagrant children roamed New York City. After the Civil War, Boston had an estimated 6,000 vagrant children, New York at least 30,000. 

Enter reformer Charles Loring Brace, a New York reformer who "resolved to make use of the endless demand for children's labor in the Western country." Brace had come to New York to complete seminary training. Horrified by the conditions of children on the streets, he resolved to help them. He founded the Children's Aid Society, resolving to raise funds and obtain the necessary legal permissions to relocate children. 

Moving children from homelessness to a place where they would have food, shelter, work, and the possibility of an education seemed a good that could be done for thousands of unfortunate children. Brace's system of "placing out" eventually became the model for many such programs. Together, these programs removed at least 200,000 children, men, and women, from the city to the country.

The vast undertaking required a complex organizational system.

Various kinds of agents were hired. Some agents' were charged with locating "congenial communities" and working with local committees to screen applicants offering places for children. Placing agents escorted children west. 

What if either side of the agreement was unhappy with an arrangement? The Children's Aid Society agreed to pay a child's fare back to New York if an employer was not satisfied. The society also reserved the right to remove a child if a new home proved unsatisfactory. Employer's promised to provide proper care and education. 

Surprisingly, many children who boarded "orphan trains" were not really orphans. Impoverished, desperate parents who could not care for children sometimes relinquished them to the Children's Aid Society. Those who took in children or found employment for placed-out adults were perceived as performing a Christian duty, and those who served as agents were often seen as serving in a home mission field. 

It doesn't take much imagination to realize such a system had the potential to provide wonderful homes for some children ... and horrible tragedy for others.

Can you imagine what it was like to be a child who had known only the streets of New York City or Boston ... and then to be taken off a train (after an exhausting ride) and to a home on a farm? Being expected to help with chores? Would you have been terrified of cows? What if your job was suddenly to milk one? 

How often in human history has a solution motivated by good will created unforeseen problems? And yet ... 

To learn more about the orphan trains, you might want to watch the PBS special on the subject. Learn more about it here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/orphan/

_____________________________

 The moment I saw the child in this photograph, I knew I'd found the inspiration for Sarah Biddle, "my" orphan train character for Sarah's Patchwork. I love the "attitude" and the inner strength of character I think I see in her pose. 

Learn more about the novel based on this aspect of real American history here: 

https://www.amazon.com/Sarahs-Patchwork-Keepsake-Legacies-Book-ebook/dp/B01DV1SX9Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1470546966&sr=1-1&keywords=sarah%27s+patchwork