Many of the children suffered abuse but given the Victorian standards of the day, not much is known about the numbers of potential victims. There was some acknowledgement of the abuse young girls could be subjected to but that endured by young boys was almost universally ignored. If a claim of abuse was made, more often than not the child would not be believed. This was particularly the case if the foster parent was wealthy. People of that time believed abuse only happened in poorer homes!
The first train left New York in 1854 and these trains continued until the early 1930s. It is impossible to know for sure how many children travelled the rails, but estimates are circa 200,000 children were placed in new homes. Several thousand adults also used a similar scheme to find new places to live.
In my story, I do not distinguish between Catholic and Protestant faiths for the purpose of the book. But in reality, the Catholic Church via the New York Foundling Hospital began sending their own version of the orphan trains called the Mercy Trains in the late 1860s. The Foundling Hospital had slightly different criteria. All the children who traveled on a Mercy train had been placed with Mid-West Families before the child left New York. So, these children were spared the often-cruel rejections standing up in front of a town waiting to be picked would cause.
Did the scheme work? Not always, as our fictional character Bella and those of Mitch and Brian illustrated. But there were also those like Sally, Jacob, and Lizzie who were adopted by wonderful people and given new opportunities.
Brace did not believe in sibling attachment with the result that more often than not, the Outplacement Society made few efforts to keep families intact. There are many stories of siblings being separated never to be reunited again. Sometimes the children were kept in orphanages in New York until they grew older and therefore more desirable in the eyes of the prospective foster parents. It appears the majority of these orphanages were quite humane places and not like those outlined in Charles Dicken’s novels.
Other cities followed the example of New York. In Boston, three different organizations being the Children’s Mission, the New England Home for Little Wanderers and the Home for Destitute Catholic Children also sent children by train to the mid-west.
It is not unusual for different countries to use various methods of solving what they consider a poverty crisis. In more recent times, we have seen much media coverage of the controversial decision by the British Government to send many British “orphans” to settle in Australia at the end of the Second World War.
Would the lives of these children have been better if Brace had never come up with the placing out scheme and they had been left behind to live on the streets of New York? For the majority, the answer would be no. It is all too easy to look back and judge the orphan trains by the standards of today. But in the 1850s and beyond, the children convicted of petty crimes were sent to prison with adults. Children could be tried and hanged for murder and other crimes. The lives of the poor were worse than anything we could imagine. Immigration meant New York couldn’t cope with the numbers of people arriving every day. The melting point of different nationalities, races, religious beliefs etc. led to rising tensions and high unemployment. At a time when there were no social welfare payments, Brace knew something had to be done and he tried his best in spite of opposition from almost every side. The religious institutions didn’t want “their” orphans going to places where they might come in contact with “less worthy” religions. The majority of the rich believed the poor brought about their own misery by living in filth and squalor.
If you would like to read more about the real life “orphan trains” a couple of books I would recommend include:
The Orphan Trains – Placing Out in America by Marilyn Irvin Holt.
Orphan Trains – The story of Charles Loring Brace and the Children He saved and Failed by Stephen O’Connor.
Orphan Trains to Missouri by Michael D Patrick and Evelyn Goodrich Trickel.
Also by Rachel Wesson
Hearts on the Rails
Orphan Train Escape
Orphan Train Trials
Trail of Hearts - Oregon Trail Series
Oregon Bound (book 1)
Oregon Dreams (book 2)
Oregon Destiny (book 3)
Oregon Discovery (book 4)
Oregon Disaster (book 5)
12 Days of Christmas - co -authored series.
The Maid - book 8
Clover Springs Mail Order Brides
Katie (Book 1)
Mary (Book 2)
Sorcha (Book 3)
Emer (Book 4)
Laura (Book 5)
Ellen (Book 6)
Thanksgiving in Clover Springs (book 7)
Christmas in Clover Springs (book8)
Erin (Book 9)
Eleanor (book 10)
Cathy (book 11)
Clover Springs East
New York Bound (book 1)
New York Storm (book 2)
New York Hope (book 3)
Writing as Ellie Keaton
Women & War (World War II fiction)
Gracie
Penny
Molly
Orphan Train Escape Page 21