Orphan Train Movement
The Orphan Train Movement and the Trains That Took Them Home
About the Project
- This project about the Orphan Train Movement was made to educate people about the mass migration of orphans from the East Coast of the United States (mainly New York City and Boston) from 1853-1929. This project focuses on the orphans, where they were placed and how they got there. The focus was narrowed around research of riders to the Midwest and information from mostly the New York Children's Aid Society and New York Foundling Hospital. The Data in this project was collected from various historical databases of Indiana , Nebraska , Iowa and Kansas . Other information was collected from digitized reports from the New York Children's Aid Society from the years 1957-1891. Other contributions made to this project are mentioned at the end in the credit and thanks portion of this project. The method of data collection proved to be the most time consuming part of this project. Data was scraped from online databases and placed and filtered into spread sheets. These spreadsheets were used to make the interactive maps and data visualizations in the project. A considerable amount of time was also spent researching the history of the Orphan Train Movement and the contributing parties and any data they might provide. For the purposes of this project, there is a narrow focus on data from the Midwest as well as data from New York's Children's Aid Society and New York Foundling Hospital. It is important to note that there are various other contributing states and foundations, but this project does not represent their information, nor does it try to represent all data from the Orphan Train Movement. Overall, this project presents a story of industrial advancement, adoption and migration westward.
Introduction to the Orphan Train Movement
What is the orphan train movement?
The Orphan Train Movement lasted from in 1853 to 1929 in the United States. It was started in order to combat the overcrowding problem in urban cities on the East coast, namely New York City and Boston. The children who took place in the movement were either orphaned, abandoned or property of the state. The movement placed these children with new families in different states, mostly traveling to the Midwest. The children found themselves working on farms or in homes of their new families in exchange for their necessities.
Who Started the Orphan Train Movement?
Charles Loring Brace
Charles Loring Brace is the founder of the Orphan Train Movement. He was a protestant minister in New York who wanted to do something about the excess number of children struggling and living on the streets. In the mid to late 1800s, there was an influx of immigration into the United States and especially in cities like New York. With few able to support their families, Brace found it his duty to find children better homes. This lead Brace to found New York's Children's Aid Society in 1853. He was the pioneer in the Orphan Train Movement and the "Placing out" of orphaned children to the Midwest. The other major participant in the Orphan Train Movement that advocated for Catholic families was New York Founding Hospital. Together, CAS and NYFH placed out the majority of children from New York City during the Orphan Train Movement. It is important to note that this movement took place before children's labor laws and adoption policies were established as they are today.
Where were the children placed?
Based on the data of this map, 101,704 Children were brought to 56 states across the entirety of the United States between 1853 and 1929.
This number of children is a rough estimate as different sources estimate that the number of children who were placed out ranges from 100,000 to upwards of 300,000. Most Orphan Trains held about 7 to 40 children accompanied by an agent provided by the CAS or NYFH.
How many children were sent to each state each year?
During the first roughly 35 years of operation, the CAS published annual reports in which they would list statistics regarding how many children were placed in each state.
The number of children in each state changes over time due to adding states, and increases in railways connecting different parts of the country.
For the most part, many children were placed nearby in Upstate New York while the other majority were split between various Midwestern States.
- The numbers seen after each state are the total for that particular year, not the overall total. For the totals, look to the map above. As the graph approaches the 1870s there is a large increase in children sent to Midwestern states due to the completion of more Railways west.
Trains as part of the Story
Railways in 1850 and 1870
The Orphan Train movement would not have been able to service over 100,000 children if it was not for the expansion of the railways in the later part of the 19th century.
Between the start of the Orphan Train Movement in the mid 1850s and 1870, one huge feat was accomplished, the first transcontinental railroad in the United States. This allowed for more accessible railways as well as more places the children could be "placed out". The growth of railways in the Midwest is very apparent when comparing these two maps. This increase can also be seen in the CAS annual report graph in the above slide.
Railways in 1890 and 1911
The Midwest became a hub for transcontinental railways. During this time, the West and South saw major improvements in railway systems.
Based on the two comparison maps, it makes sense how states in far west and far south areas would not have received many orphans because of the lack of railways.
The children of the Orphan Train Movement
Who were they?
Children of the Orphan Train Movement ranged in ages from those fresh out of nappies (around 2) to 18 years old. Some of the first to be placed out on trial adoptions were young men who were sent to work on farms. These children were all white and were to have no visible handicaps as they were expected to work once they were placed with a family.
How were they adopted?
The two major contributors to the Orphan Train Movement the CAS and NYFH had very different ways of placing children.
The CAS took children with agents to towns with accessible railway stations. They would unload the children and allow the towns men and women to choose a child. These proceedings were not done in advance besides sending out posters announcing the children's arrival in the weeks prior. Children who were not chosen, re-boarded the train and moved to the next city.
The NYFH had a much different way of placing children. A Catholic organization, they focused on reaching out to churches in throughout the Midwest and beyond. Instead of bringing all the children waiting for families on the trains, NYFH arranged placements before the trip. That way each child already had a family waiting for them at the train station.
Orphan Stories
Many riders of the Orphan Trains had different experiences. Some found their forever families, some ran away and others simply did their work and left the family once they turned 18.
Cecilia Kimmick
Orphan Train rider, Cecilia Kimmick who arrived in St. Louis in 1910 was adopted by the wrong family. The Krumrey family was expecting to pick up a two year old girl, which they did. However, the mix up happened when Cecilia and another young girl named Emma switched coats that held their identification tags (stating which family each girl belonged to). It was not until Cecilia was taken home that her new parents found out her real name by the identification found in her shoes. While both girls were taken in and cared for by their new families, it is proof that no system of placing out was ever perfect.
Conclusion
Formally ending by the enforcement of a New York law in 1929, for over 70 years, over 100,000 Orphans from the East coast of the United States were placed out to different families and lives all across the country. With a special concentration in the Midwest, most of these children became farmhands or domestic workers for the families. While children were no longer living on the streets, the Orphan Train Movement has often been criticized for separating birth families as well as siblings. Furthermore, most children were not formally adopted, but were taken under the care of their new family in exchange for work. No story in history is without its faults and critiques, but there is no denoting the significance of the mass migration of children in the United States that the Orphan Train Movement provided.
