Orphan Train Riders. Their own stories

by : The Orphan Train Heritage Society of America.

A few weeks ago the children and I read a great book by Eve Bunting entitled "Train To Somewhere". It was a truly touching and eloquently written picture book that had both Seri and I in tears by the time we finished.

This book got me interested in the history of Orphan Trains, another event in our history that many today could go through life without ever being aware of. Between 1854 and 1929, an estimated 200,000 homeless children, mostly from New York and other eastern U.S. cities, were sent west on trains to be taken by families who either wanted a child or who wanted an extra hand to help out with daily chores. The Childrens Aid Society discovered this placement form to help deal with the ever growing number of street rats and orphaned children that were roaming the streets of New York and quickly filling up all the orphanages. Some were orphaned due to their parents death, others as a result of the heavy flux of immigrants coming into the country, and still others because their parents just could not afford to keep them.

Some of these children went to homes where they were loved and cared for, others as you can imagine, didn't.

This is a compilation of the stories of those children. It is a fascinating look at a part of our history. There are usually pictures of the children and their families, or of documentation that is helping them on their quest to try to figure out where they really came from.

It is a pretty large volume and I would not recommend reading it straight from cover to cover as after awhile the stories start to sound the same and can get repititous. Read at seperate intervals their message and emotions would remain intact and powerful.