index

Current Officers: 2011-2012
President - Renee Wendinger, Sleepy Eye, MN
Vice President - Pete Keaveny 701-452-4336 or map@bektel.com
Secretary - Joan Prochaska, jprochas@umn.edu
Treasurer- Janice Gonsior, Minneapolis, MN
Web-designer/Historian - Susan Lehner, s blehner@centurylink.net

History of the Orphan Train Riders of New York

(Midwest)

Website:

www.orphantrainridersof

innesota.com

Immigration
In 1853 the United States began evaluation of railroad routes to the Pacific, sending mapping announcements to Europe and the rest of the
world. Praises went forth, inviting people to come to American and obtain "free land." As a result, the United States received a large number of
immigrants. Steamship agents and railroad companies attracted the rest with descriptions of "the land of opportunity." Port cities became
overcrowded, with assorted jobs filled by cheap labor. New York City had the largest influx of immigrants. Many made long overland journeys,
but countless others stayed in the city. A host of urban ills, including poverty, disease, alcoholism, job competition, and lack of resources led to
instability and desperation. Sometimes families were left with little choice but to abandon their children to the city streets.

The New York Children's Aid Society
The Children's Aid Society was under the auspices of the Brace Farm School, the Industrial Schools, and Newsboys Lodging Homes. Charles
Loring Brace and friends founded the Children's Aid Society in 1853-54. Brace saw orphaned, half-orphaned, and runaway children become
waifs of the city. Envisioning new lives for these destitute youngsters, Brace devised a plan to send them away from overpopulated city streets
to find family homes in the West. He believed the West had "many spare places at the table of life" and a wholesome atmosphere in which to
raise children. This excellent plan was not totally satisfactory for all children. Some went to good homes, but others were instead mistreated.
Upon arrival, children were grouped upon stages, on station platforms, in town halls, or on wooden boxes, and prospective parents were asked
to choose a child by personal viewing. Thus the phrase put up for adoption became known. Boys may have had their muscles examined as
potential farm laborers. Similarly, teeth, stature, and visible medical issues were considered.

The New York Foundling Hospital
In 1869 Sister Mary Irene Fitzgibbons and the Sisters of Charity founded the New York Foundling Hospital. Crime seemed to follow poverty, and
the most monstrous crime of all was infanticide. The Sisters were child savers, too, but reserved safekeeping to infants and young children.
The Foundling Hospital's children usually aged between one and six years, rode on trains affectionately called "baby trains," "mercy trains," or
"baby specials." This organization sent nearly as many children west as did the Children's Aid Society. The New York Foundling Hospital and
the Children's Aid Society were two of the largest East Coast agencies placing children in the West.

Indentured Application
The New York Foundling Hospital commissioned prospective parents to apply for a child in advance. Clergy and city officials announced the
need for family homes to local parishes and citizens. Prospective parents could specify the age, gender, hair and eye color they sought in a
child. The New York Foundling Hospital carried an indenture system formulating a contract requiring parents needed to clothe, educate, and
provide financially for the child until the age of eighteen. The form essentially guaranteed room and board in exchange for labor. A child could
be sent back to New York if placement proved unsatisfactory. The expectation was that the contract could be dismissed in favor of adoption.

Seventy Five Years of Orphan Trains
As of 1854 and 1929 over 250,000 children from the urban East Coast, predominantly New York, were placed on what became known as
"orphan trains." This one-way trip in most cases was designed to relocate homeless, neglected, and abandoned children to all points west
across America. The transfer was the first emigration plan the largest mass migration of children ever to take place on American soil
formulated this countries earliest child welfare system. The humble beginnings for these children dispensed outstanding citizens that shaped
American character and culture.

Minnesota Reunions
Orphan train riders Marie Lenzmeier of Wahpeton, ND, Mary Buscher of Breckenridge, MN, and Carmella Keaveny of Tintah, MN discovered they
were orphans from New York, and had traveled across the United States in the early 1900's to find new family homes. The women considered,
"how many more like us in the world can we find?
Seven riders gathered in Grand Island, Nebraska in 1960. One of the women placed an enthusiastic phone call to the New York Foundling
Hospital revealing their recent get-together. A Sister of Charity at the Foundling announced that none of their children had ever established a
reunion of orphans, and voiced profound happiness on the unique and exciting idea.
The women elected to place an ad in several newspapers throughout the Midwest inviting others like themselves to a meeting at the
Metropolitan building in Wahpeton. Nine individuals arrived to become acquainted and exchange life stories on July 1, 1961. The group was
unanimous in establishing successive meetings.
Letters began to arrive from nearly every state in the United States expressing a connection to life as a foundling from New York in search of
forming an extended family with others like themselves. A meeting of riders was held on June 16, 1962 in Wahpeton, ND reaching thirty-five
members across America.
The dream established by the originators of the first Orphan Train Riders of New York reunion was the first of its kind in the entire United States
appointing Minnesota as the first state to carry on precedence. And so the meeting continued, attendance grew, and a familiar family unit took
shape yearly.
Orphan Train Riders of New York, continues the dream of its founders and contributors exclusively as an orphan train organization whose
primary objective is to support and educate others about a phenomenal part of American History. Annual gatherings are attended by riders,
descendants across-the-board of New York orphan train riders, friends, and a broad spectrum of interested individual's. A fifty year milestone
of gatherings transpires on October 2, 2010.
A conservative number of four million descendants originate from riders of the orphan trains. As of 2010, approximately 100 Riders survive in
the United States. cRenee Wendinger

ORPHAN TRAIN RIDERS OF NEW YORK (MIDWEST)

Mission Statement
Orphan Train Riders of New York
supports, educates, and
preserves the historical epoch
of the orphan trains
to groups of all ages