USA Today has an interesting article about the orphan trains of the early twentieth century and the long-lasting effects on the children on those trains. The Children's Aid Society and New York Foundling Hospital put orphaned or abandoned children on trains headed west. The children were adopted into families at various whistle stops along the way.
Lukas Weinstein, archive coordinator for the Children's Aid Society, says that about 200,000 children rode the trains. Some were adopted by loving families; others were treated as servants when there were no child labor laws. Many ended up in the Midwest. A growing number of their offspring want to know more about the orphan train riders.
You can read the article by Judy Keen in the USA TODAY web site at http://goo.gl/wHWol.
My thanks to Art Robinson for telling me about this story.
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