Orphan Train

Orphan Train

[b]Husky Battery Charger [/b]

Ten-year-old Charles Cordis, in a new suit and carrying a cardboard suitcase containing a change of clothing, boarded a train in 1876 at New York City with scores of other orphans whose destinations were unknown.

Cordis' mum and father were German immigrants seeking new opportunity in America -- as thousands of other Europeans were doing. Instead, they found premature death from influenza.

Dreams of a new life had seemed so promising. Father Cordis was a commercial artist. Some of his designs were incorporated in a restoration of the White House.

Little "Chuck" was devastated by the loss of his parents. Without other house to take him in, he was placed in an orphanage by city authorities. Yet, he was more fortunate than the thousands of homeless children who scavenged in the streets of New York at that time.

The immigrants' search for a great life did not always succeed. Many were undernourished and sickly upon arrival. Those without practical skills really starved to death, leaving children to fend for themselves.

The youngest children made it into the city orphanages, but the question was too large for public welfare. Most of the half-starved kids formed gangs that cooperated to find clothing in trash piles, safe themselves from predators, beg pennies, steal food and huddle together at night in doorways.

These wandering gangs of youngsters were ordinarily known as "street Arabs."

A young Congregational minister, Charles Loring Brace, went to New York City in 1853 from his native Connecticut to faultless a thesis for his seminary degree. He was appalled at the hordes of ragged, dirty children pestering him for pennies.

Brace gave up his thesis studies to try and help "these children of unhappy fortune." His first plan was to develop trade schools and "dime banks" in the reliance these would teach homeless children to come to be self sufficient.

It was soon apparent, however, that this arrival was too slow. A year later, Brace adopted the train idea tried by Boston a decade earlier. He wrote: "The great duty is to get them out of their surroundings and to send them away to kind, Christian homes in the country."

It should be remembered that in this duration - the start of an commercial revolution and crowded city life - there was a growing need for food. Farm workers were scarce.

Brace founded the Children's Aid community to raise funds and develop caravans of trains to transport orphans to heartland farms where they would be adopted and reared in a customary family.

The community soon was joined by the New York Foundling Hospital which cared for Catholic children . Both are still active today in non-adoptive services.

The Society's first "orphan train" was organized in September 1854 with 46 ten-to-twelve-year old boys and girls. Their destination was Dowagiac, Michigan. All 46 - plus a road boy who sneaked aboard at Albany -- were placed successfully in new homes.

The agenda was an unqualified success. From 1854 to 1929, more than 150,000 children were sent on orphan trains to new homes in rural America. Placements were discontinued in 1930 because prospective look after parents while the Great Depression were reluctant to add an additional one man to feed.

Not all the children were orphans. Many were half-grown youngsters - ordinarily boys -- in large or single-parent families having difficulty carrying for an abundance of younger brothers and sisters.

As legal permissions were secured, a route was superior and an strengthen party of volunteers traveled the hasten line. At promising towns, posters proclaiming "Homes Wanted For Orphans" were placed in public places. A hall was rented and "adoption committees" were formed to line up prospective families.

Upon coming at the designated stops, all the children were washed, hair combed and urged to smile and when examined by adults. The usual procedure was to line up the children on a platform for inspection.

Husky boys were quickly claimed. Farmers seeking workers would feel the boys' muscles and if satisfactory lead them to a desk were adoption papers were signed. Contributions of money were encouraged but not required.

Toddlers also were in request by childless couples. Plain, older girls were the last to be claimed near the end of the hasten line. A few "problem" children were never claimed. In genuine,sincere sorrow they were returned to the New York orphanage. Some rode twice on orphan trains to finally get accepted.

Children were told not to try and find or report with their birth parents or siblings. Nevertheless, some did - with varying success. It is estimated that a thousand "riders" in their seventies are living today. Each year reunions are popular.

Agents of the community made occasional trips to check on the welfare of its former wards. Infrequently abused or unwanted children were taken back for a second endeavor at placement.

Orphan train historian Annette Riley Fry writes that the Children's Aid community kept follow-up records on their placements. Most grew up to be worthy citizens. Some became leaders in government, business, church and military.

One of these was John Brady who was on an orphan train that paused at Noblesville, Ind. Judge John Green liked to report in later years why he chose John as a look after son:

"I decided to take him home with me because I considered him the homeliest, toughest, most unpromising boy in the while lot. I had a interesting desire to see what could be made of such a specimen of humanity."

Judge Green lived to see Brady graduate from Yale and Union Theological Seminary. Mrs. Green saw her look after son come to be a three-term governor of Alaska.

Despite personal difficulties, most house match-ups were harmonious. Typical is the life touch of Charles Cordis - as linked by his grandson Charles Cordis Iii of Port Charlotte:

"Grandfather was adopted by the Clarence Wilcox house at Rosemont, Illinois. They were potato farmers and devoted Puritan Congregationalists.

"When Grandfather grew up, he married the Wilcox daughter Mary. They had four children -- three boys including my father Charles Cordis, Jr., and one girl. All went to college. Grandfather died in 1999 at age 83, a contented man."

June 17, 2001

Orphan Train