The Orphan Train

If you are from the United States of America, you likely took many history classes throughout your education, but have you ever heard of the Orphan Train?

I know I certainly never did.

I’m not sure why it seems to be a forgotten piece of history.

Yet it affected a number of families and towns.

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Is the Orphan Train a True Story?

I first heard of this concept when doing genealogy and came across the book The Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline. 

While the book is a work of fiction, it still paints the picture of what the real experience was like for children.

Literature

To view this book on Amazon, please click here: Affiliate Link

I will warn you the book is sad but albeit important for perspective.

I’m often surprised when I connect with other genealogists that also have not heard of this movement.

While Christina’s book is fictional, the Orphan Train was very real.

Charles Loring Brace created the organization Children’s Aid Society in the Eastern United States as a movement to relocate children to the western states.

How many Children Traveled on the Orphan Train?

Impacting over 200,000 children between approximately 1854 and 1929.

This came about following an increase in poverty and overcrowding in New York City following immigration.

Trains also rode from Boston, Massachusetts and Chicago, Illinois.

A mix of unemployment and lack of lower cost housing was also becoming a problem.

So as an attempt to address these issues children of all backgrounds were transported by train across the country.

In some scenarios sadly siblings were separated, removed from the only family they had left. 

And at times brought to large advertised gatherings for people to select a child to bring home. 

The Dark Side

While rehoming of orphaned children may seem like good intentions at first, that was not the truth. 

In actual scenarios kids were treated as a source of labor and assistance to families. 

Versus living with a loving family and receiving proper care.

Tragically the lifestyle was not safe and children experienced neglect and abuse.

An End in Sight

Changing laws and improved welfare systems and a growth of social work assisted in leading to the end of this movement.

Some states no longer wanted to participate due to increase in criminal activity and other safety and health concerns.

States began passing laws to improve standards of the adoption process.

Related Article: How to Use Newspapers

Things to Keep in Mind

If your family tree is anything like mine, and most others, there may be situations or family dynamics you can’t quite figure out or make sense of.

For me, there was a woman on my maternal side about 3 generations back that other family members had suspicions was not genetically related or that something was ‘different.’

So in scenarios like that you uncover, consider the timeline of historical events and the role the orphan train may have played. 

Where can Orphan Train Passenger Information be Found 

Sadly there is no master list of names to pinpoint which children traveled, from where, and to whom.

But some stories shared have helped preserve the history. 

Related Article: How to Use Find A Grave

In my research I did come across resource information from the following websites: https://orphantraindepot.org/ 

They also have a location at National Orphan Train Complex, 300 Washington St., PO Box 322, Concordia, KS, 66901

On the Orphan Train Depot website, you can request records to be searched from their resources for a fee. https://orphantraindepot.org/research-and-registration/

On https://www.ancestry.com/ records, children can potentially be traced back to the Children’s Aid Society and / or New York Foundling Hospital, or within the passenger lists database.

and to read the fictional book The Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline, click here for my Amazon Affiliate Link: https://amzn.to/4cgKJ5Y

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