Orphan Train History

"The Orphan Trains were needed at the time they happened. They were not the best answer, but they were the first attempts at finding a practical system. Many children that would have died, lived to have children and grandchildren. It has been calculated that over two million descendants have come from these children. The trains gave the children a fighting chance to grow up." - D. Bruce Ayler

Between 1854 and 1930, more than 200,000 orphaned or abandoned children were sent west on orphan trains to find new homes. Some were adopted by loving families; others were not as fortunate. In recent years, some of the riders have begun to share their stories. Andrea Warren alternates chapters about the history of the orphan trains with the story of Lee Nailling, who in 1926 rode an orphan train to Texas.

When Danny and his little sister are left alone in New York City, he decides to take his sister and ride the Orphan Train out west, hoping to find a new family and a new life.

When her father descends into madness, Verity Pruitt and her little sister Lilah find themselves uprooted from New York, on an orphan train to rural Arkansas. In Wheeler, Lilah is quickly adopted by the town’s beloved schoolteacher - but Verity is not. Willing to do anything to stay close, she pawns herself off as a farmhand, but even charming farm boy Abel Atchley can’t completely distract her from the sense that something is not quite right in this little town.

When the furniture removers empty the family tenement as payment for back rent, 10-year-old Kathleen Flannigan fears that her family will soon be homeless and hungry. Kathleen vows to save her family from ruin, even though her plan means personal sacrifice. Will the orphan train going to Michigan be the answer to Kathleen's vision of a better life for herself and her family?