Orphan Trains

Do you know the word “orphan”? An orphan is a child whose parents have died. Today, if a child’s parents are gone and no relatives can help, a foster family may take the boy or girl in.

But in the mid-1800s, there wasn’t a foster care system. Many orphanages would only accept children whose families could pay.

In New York City, thousands of children lived in the streets. They survived by stealing and begging for food, or selling matches or rags. They slept wherever they could and didn’t have enough clothes to keep them warm.

Others had a parent or even two, but the parents couldn’t get work to support the family.

Trying to help

A minister named the Rev. Charles Brace and others started an organization called the Children’s Aid Society in 1853. They set up schools to teach the children a trade and the difference between right and wrong. But there were too many children to help that way.

The Children’s Aid Society began sending these homeless city children to families in the rural Midwest, hoping they would find better lives. The trains taking them away from New York City’s poverty became known as the Orphan Trains.

Starting a new life

Most of the children stayed on the Orphan Trains for about three days. They slept in their seats or stretched out on the floor underneath.

About 125 kids were on each train, with a few Children’s Aid agents traveling with them.

Saying goodbye

Orphan Train children had to have a lot of courage. Most were leaving behind at least one parent, and many were separated from their brothers and sisters as well.

The Children’s Aid Society believed the children would be better off if their new lives were completely separated from their old ones.

Children were not allowed to communicate with their living parent or other family members. Most children never knew what happened to their parents. Most parents never knew if their children ended up happy.

Most Orphan Train children found good homes with loving families. But if a child was mistreated, Children’s Aid agents usually found him or her a new home.

The Orphan Trains began about 10 years before the Civil War and lasted for about 75 years. In that time, roughly 200,000 children from 4 to 13 years old were placed in rural homes.