The children of the orphan trains now are in their 70’s -80’s and there are approximately only 200 living today. Most tell of horrific stories of the lives they left behind. Most never knew that they were part of a “movement” or “history” until many years later. “The story begins, like most, with a man coming to town. The man was Charles Loring Brace, and the town was New York City. In 1849, the young Presbyterian minister arrived on the wings of a vocation to evangelize the poor. “Mr. Brace had grandiose ideas of his goal on this earth.” “He intended to lead as many people as he could to a Christian lifestyle, and he thought he should start young—with young people—because he saw young, untended children as future criminals.” (Ritcher, 2007) …show more content…
Because the children were transported by train, often accompanied by catholic nuns to their new homes, the term “orphan trains” began being used”. (Brown, 2014) Porter 4 “The intent of the program was not adoption as it’s now known but foster care. Families acted from various motives, and not all children who rode orphan trains found happy homes. Some suffered abuse, were treated like hired help or were never fully accepted. Officials knew that placing out was imperfect and did what they could to screen inappropriate families. Despite problems, the system provided the best chance for many children”. (Warren, 1998) The children who were not adopted in one state would travel on the train to the next state in hopes of being adopted by a loving family to care for them. In some cases, the match was made ahead of time, and the couple would present a number to the chaperones who would match the number to the child wearing the same number. “Some children were orphaned when their parents died in epidemics of typhoid, yellow fever or the flu. Others were abandoned or orphaned by parents victimized by grinding poverty of the slums, relentless diseases or drug and alcohol addiction”. (Warren,