[perrjojo]

History has a way of repeating itself.
Have any of you heard about the Orphan Train that operated from 1853 to 1929? The Northeast was inundated with immigrants in the large cities and there was not enough work. People were starving and giving up their children. Parents were dying and leaving orphans. The institutions were overwhelmed with all of these orphan children. Several organizations began the Orphan Train which relocated over 250,000.00 immigrant children throughout the US, mostly the Midwest. Many were fortunate enough to be adopted by loving families but more were basically slaves used for far work and housekeeping. We have been through this before in the US. The results were not pretty. My Great grandfather and his first wife lived on a farm in Kansas and had no children. They adopted two children from the orphan train. I hope they were treated well but I often wonder since no one in our family seems to know what happened to them. There names were John and Emily Davis (9 and 11 years old) and they were from Ireland.
Oh, I forgot to mention that there would be advance notice that the trains were coming to your city. The children would depart the train and stand on the platform for viewing and hoping someone would take them. At the time many likened this display to a slave market. It was a very humiliating experience but hopefully it made some lives better.