New york children's aid society orphan trains books

Although it had its pitfalls, orphan trains and other childrens aid initiatives led to a host of child welfare reforms, including child labor laws, adoption, and the establishment of foster care services. Feb 08, 2001 excellent history of the children s aid society and the evolution of and rationale for the orphan trains. Orphan trains that brought homeless nyc children to work on farms duration. The program was started by charles loring brace of the children s aid society, but soon had many imitators. Dec, 2018 when the orphan train movement began, it was estimated that 30,000 abandoned children were living on the streets of new york city. In midnineteenthcentury new york, vagrant youth, both orphans and. Request current prices of 144minute orphan train video, and a list of books and items. Between 1854 and 1929, up to 200,000 children were placed on the trains and adopted by new families.

Brace considered a number of factors about the children who were involved in the orphan train program. An orphan train story, embrace authoritive research with compelling stories from the people who made history aboard the orphan trains of new york. Inspired by her mother to reveal the factual story of the children of the orphan trains, her books, extra. Those institutions are the children s aid society, and the new york foundling hospital. It began around 1850 and ran for nearly eighty years. Charles brace, who was born june 19, 1826, in litchfield, connecticut, attended yale and studied theology. Holt carefully analyzes the system, initially instituted by the new york childrens aid society in. Children were placed on orphan trains that stopped at more than 45 states across the country, as well as canada and mexico. Oconnor has pieced together the experience of the children by drawing on the institutional reports and fundraising publications collaborative fictionalizations that the children s aid society. The national orphan train complex in concordia, ks is a museum and research center dedicated to the orphan train movement, the various institutions that participated, and the children and agents who rode the trains. Apr 09, 2019 the 35 children who gathered at new yorks childrens aid society in 1880 all had. A history of the placingout program of the new york children s aid society 18531890. In 1929, the childrens aid societys last orphan train left new york. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, new york had many orphans, particularly in new york city.

The children were transported to their new homes on trains which were eventually labeled orphan trains. Orphan trains brought homeless nyc children to work on. In midnineteenthcentury new york, vagrant youth, both orphans and runaways, filled the streets. The children were sent in groups of twentyfive to 100 on trains, making stops along the way where they might be chosen by some family who wanted a child or needed extra help. Published march 23rd 2004 by hmh books for young readers first published. This placing out, an attempt to find homes for the urban poor, was best known by the orphan trains that carried the children. We have also found information on orphan trains to elkhart county sponsored by the new york childrens aid society and bostons baldwin place missionhome for little wanders. Childrens aid operated lodging houses, fresh air programs, and industrial schools to support an estimated 30,000 poor.

Knowing that many of these city youngsters would be expected to help on a farm or in a home, brace and his staff looked at each child s ability to adapt to a new environment and made careful selections. They called it the childrens aid society cas with mr. The charitable organization was founded in new york city in 1853 to aid, educate and provide lodging for poor children in the city, andor to place them in foster homes or with employers outside of the city. The orphan trains and newsboys of new york by renee wendinger, an unabridged nonfiction resource book and pictorial history about the orphan trains. Please see the south bend area genealogical society quarterly january 2016 and april 2016 issues for additional historical background. There are also many wellwritten fiction books about the orphan train.

Photos, books, and quotes about the orphan train are here. The family matching process was haphazard, to say the least. Known as the orphan train, the program to relocate orphaned and abandoned children was operated largely by the children s aid society and the new york foundling hospital. At the heart of the book are the tales of the orphan train children. Mary ellen pollock was herself a rider on the orphan train. Guide to the records of the children s aid society. Ayler were among more than 100,000 orphaned or abandoned children from new york who were sent west by the children s aid society and the new york foundling hospital as. Here s a list of books to learn more about the orphan trains. The largest groups came from the new york foundling hospital, and from the children s aid society.

The orphan train and the children who rode them new. Nov 18, 2019 the children s aid society of new york. Charles loring brace, a connecticut minister was appalled at the misery of orphaned and abandoned children living in deplorable conditions on the streets of new york city. A history of the childrens aid society focuses on the orphan trains, which, between 1853 and. Tracing the evolution of the childrens aid society, this dramatic narrative tells the fascinating tale of one of the most famous and sometimes infamous child welfare programs. Most research on the early years of the childrens aid society and the orphan train can begin with charles loring braces book the dangerous classes of new york. Orphan train bibliography dowagiac area history museum. With the creation of the childrens aid society in 1853, he provided homeless youngsters with shelter, education, and, for many, a new family out west. The first 5 volumes are orphan train riders stories compiled by the orphan train heritage society, arranged chronologically by publication date. Newyork historical society childrens aid society images. The term orphan trains refers to the trains that carried poor urban children to western and midwestern states to be placed with foster parents. This book illustrates that effect by looking at the fates of orphan train riders in aggregate, and by telling the stories of particular children.

For years the city had been sweeping these children into prisons or almshouses, but in 1853 the young minister charles loring brace proposed a radical solution to the problem by creating the children s aid society, an organization that fought to provide homeless children with shelter, education. New york, orphans placed in the new york foundling hospital. The orphan trains were a series of social service programs that relocated poor and homeless city children. But though many children did ride to better lives on orphan trains, others did not.

We rode the orphan trains by andrea warren goodreads. Orphan train research helps find foster children between 1853 and 1930 who rode trains from new york city, boston, or chicago to new homes in other states or canada. Children s aid society images this site on flickr highlights a selection of images from the historical records of the children s aid society. The new york children s aid society was by far the largest and most prominent organization and it set an example which others followed. This site on flickr highlights a selection of images from the historical records of the children s aid society.

Charles loring brace, who founded the childrens aid society of new york, in an effort to take in the thousands of homeless and severely neglected children in new york. Read more learn more american experience official site pbs. Charles loring brace founded the childrens aid society in order to help these children. The new york childrens aid society and the orphan trains era by. The new york childrens aid society and the orphan trains era. They were part of what is now known as the orphan train.

Orphan trains and millions of other books are available for amazon kindle. Brace, charles loring 18261890 founder in 1853 of the new york 1 childrens aid society casan early childwelfare organization that provided a variety of programs for impoverished city children charles loring brace 2 was an important proponent of the cass emigration scheme. I was particularly interested, though, in the last chapter where oconnor analyzes strengths and weaknesses in current foster care theory and practice, putting them in the historic context of previous american child protective practices. From 1854 to 1929, more than 200,000 children traveled by train from the east coast to seek new homes in nearly every state in the continental united states. Basically, there were two main institutions responsible for this mass emigration of children from new york. This period of mass relocation of children in the united states is widely recognized as the beginning of documented foster care in america. The purpose was to find families that would take in children in a freehomeplacingout program instituted by the childrens aid society of new york city, new york. Three years after that first orphan train left boston, charles loring brace began sending more than 300 children a year on orphan trains from new york city. The childrens aid society national orphan train complex. Oconnor is an author and former new york public school teacher. The orphan trains and newsboys of new york tells the story of the fate of many children in the early twentieth century, and how the childrens aid society sought to help these young people through their early lives.

The period in america s history of caring for homeless children called the freehomeplacingout era began with charles loring brace and the founders of the new york children s aid society in new york city in 1853. Orphans return to a city they left on sad trains the new. Although it had its pitfalls, orphan trains and other children s aid initiatives led to a host of child welfare reforms, including child labor laws, adoption, and the establishment of foster care services. See more ideas about orphan train, orphan and train. Children s aid was founded in 1853 by charles loring brace and a group of social reformers at a time when orphan asylums and almshouses were the only social services available for poor and homeless children in new york city. National orphan train complex genealogy familysearch wiki.

In midnineteenthcentury new york, vagrant youth, both orphans and r. The new association, the new york childrens aid society, provided care for these. The orphan trains follows the story of the new york children s aid society, created in 1853 to provide thousands of street children with homes in rural communities in the american midwest. If the child had to be removed from the household for any reason, the childrens aid society did so at their own expense. Foundling hospital records new york city orphan train records. About new york, orphans placed in the new york foundling hospital and children s aid society, 18551925 between 1853 and 1929, an estimated 200,000 poor, abandoned and orphaned children were shipped from new york city orphanages to western families for adoption.

Charles loring brace conceptualized the emigration plan to resettle poor and orphaned children living in new york city with farm families in the west to deter. Orphan trains springfieldgreene county library district. Brace proposed a radical solution to the problem by creating the childrens aid society, an organization that fought to. Teachers guide american experience official site pbs. Jul 18, 2018 helen macior came to chicago from new york at the age of 3 on an orphan train. He founded the children s aid society and felt the answer to homelessness was to be found in the fresh air and kindheartedness of the america farmer. The aid institutions developed a program that placed homeless children into homes throughout the country. In 1929, the children s aid society s last orphan train left new york.

In an account of the trip published by the childrens aid society, smith said that in order to get a child, applicants had to have recommendations from their pastor and a justice of the peace, but it is unlikely that this requirement was strictly enforced. The next 6 volumes include selfpublished accounts or scrapbooks by former orphan train riders and other volumes exploring the subject arranged alphabetically by author or editor. Holt carefully analyzes the system, initially instituted by the new york children s aid society in 1853, tracking its imitators as well as the reasons for its creation and demise. The story of charles loring brace and the children. Orphan trains genealogical society of rockland county.

Both are still active today in 1996 helping children. The orphan train and the children who rode them new england. The city was at a loss to solve this problem until the childrens aid society and the new york foundling hospital conjured up a unique plan that. The orphan trains and newsboys of new york, and last train home. At its peak, the new york children s aid society was placingout thousands of children every year. The 35 children who gathered at new york s childrens aid society in 1880 all had. Be the first to ask a question about we rode the orphan trains. Isbn 9780615297552 good boy little orphan at the train, a norman rockwell painting.

Orphan trains in kansas in the mid 19th century as new york city streets continued to grow with immigrants working to make ends meet, the population of homeless youth soared to approximately 30,000. Guide to the records of the childrens aid society 1836. Smith and several hundred other orphan train children, all elderly, from minnesota to texas, will attend their first gathering in new york, a fourday meeting at the penta. An index to its federal, state and local census records 18701925, by carolee r. Guide to the records of the childrens aid society 18362006. The genealogy of many of these 200,000 orphaned, abandoned, or homeless children can often be traced back to the children s aid society, or the new york foundling hospital, among others. A powerful blend of history, biography, and adventure, orphan trains fills a grievous gap in the american story.

Determined to remedy the situation, the childrens aid society and the new york foundling hospital devised a program to take children off of the streets of new york and boston and place them in homes in the american west rather than allow them to continue to be arrested and taken advantage of on the streets. Orphan train name index south bend area genealogical society. New york, new york fending for oneself as a child is a rough endeavor. In 1853, charles loring brace and a group of businessmen formed a new organization to help care for the neglected children of new york city. Children s aid, formerly the children s aid society, is a private child welfare nonprofit in new york city founded in 1853 by charles loring brace. I am looking for information on children that were adopted from the orphan trains by grimes county families. The first group of children went to dowagiac, michigan, in 1854, and the last official train ran to texas in 1929. Nov 18, 2019 many organizations in new england placedout children via orphan trains.

This care led to the freehomeplacingout of over 200,000 children between 1854 and the early 1930s. An index to the federal, state and local census records of its lodging houses 18551925, by carolee r. As an adult, winefred lorraine williams learned that she was placed in a new york city orphanage soon after her birth in 1922. Oct 31, 2019 from 1860 to 1930, over 200,000 children were sent from new york city to the midwestern farms on the orphan trains that the children s aid society organized. Orphan train riders were sent from new york city to western families for adoption.