HomeMy WebLinkAboutHistory of "orphan train"}-- Wednesday, June 26, 2019
History
of orphan
train to
be shared
By JENNY TWITCHELL
jenny.twitchell@theeagle.com
When New York City was
overwhelmed with orphans
and unwanted children
during the 1800s and early
1900s, a minister initiated
a massive child migration
that sent them away on
trains. Little is known
about this part of U.S. his-
tory, but a free program at
the Hearne Depot Museum
at 7 p.m. Thursday is trying
to change that.
The presentation, "Riders
on the Orphan Train," com-
bines live music, storytelling
and a video montage about
the250,000 orphans who rode
passenger trains to find new
homes in every state of the
continental United States
from 1854 to 1929.
At the time, the program
was called the "placing -
out system." Farmers and
shopkeepers would go to
train stations to inspect
children and decide if they
would be a good fit for their
families or businesses.
See. TRAIN, Page A3
The Eagle . theeagle.com
News
TRAIN: 5,000 children
adopted in Texas alone
Continued from Al
Presented by the Nation-
al Orphan Train Complex
Museum and Research
Center, based in Concor-
dia, Kansas, the program
is made possible at the
Hearne Depot Museum by
a mini -grant from Humani-
ties Texas and by the pre-
senters, Alison Moore and
Phil Lancaster.
Bob Batson, co -curator of
the Hearne Depot Museum
with his wife, Jan, said al-
though they are both well
versed in Texas history, they
had never heard of the Or-
phan Train until recently.
"There were seven chil-
dren adopted in Robertson
County, and about 5,000 ad-
opted in Texas, so we think
it would be quite interesting
for people to learn about it,
Bob Batson said.
Although the term
"unwanted" was used dur-
ing the time of the migra-
tion, it wasn't that all of them
wereunwanted or orphaned,
but that their families had no
way to provide for the chil-
dren, Jan Batson added.
"A lot came from im-
migrant families who ha
come to the United State
but didn't have any sup-
port from family, and the
couldn't take care of thei
children anymore, so the
would end up running th
streets of New York or a
the Children Aid Society,
she said.
The Civil War and Worl
War I also had taken th
lives of many men, leavin
families destitute, Jan Ba
son said. Because there w
no foster program, this w
the beginning of placin
children with other fam
lies in the United States.
"The reason it stopp
in 1929 is when the fed go
ernment passed the la
that children could not
moved across state lines
she said.
The hour -and -a -half pr
I
d
s
y
r
y
e
d
t
gram tells the successes
and failures of the Ameri-
can dream, shows a video
montage of archival pho-
tographs and interviews
of survivors. It also tells the
story of the Methodist min-
ister Charles Loring Brace,
who started the placement
system and the Children's
Aid Society of New York,
Jan said.
"It's a very interesting
and educational program
of something our history
has not covered; they do
a good job with songs and
videos of some of the chil-
dren," Bob Batson said.
Musical and storytelling
presentations by Moore and
Lancaster bring the presen-
tation to life, he added.
Moore, a former assistant
professor in the MFA Cre-
ative Writing Program at
the University of Arizona
and a current Humanities
Scholar in Texas, complet-
ed the historical novel Rid-
ers on the Orphan Train.
Lancaster, who was born
in Texarkana, studied art
and music at L'Ecole De
Beaux Arts in France and
is now a member of a blue-
grass band, Still on the Hill,
which has released two al-
bums and has performed
at national and interna-
tional festivals. In 2007, he
received an Arkansas Arts
Council fellowship for Mu-
t sic Composition.
" In 2012, both Lancaster
and Moore received the
Charles Loring Brace
e Award for helping to pre-
g serve the stories of Orphan
- Train Riders.
as Local relatives and ac-
as quaintances of Orphan
g Train Riders are invited
i- to attend and share their
stories with the audience
ed during the presentation on
v- Thursday.
w For more information,
visit www.ridersonthe-
orphantrain.org or call
Bob or Jane Batson at 806-
o- 790-4659.