Orphan Train Research Paper

Growing up as an orphan was difficult and finding homes was too. Children who found homes were often wanted for their work or were often abused by their adoptive parents. Without the the Orphan trains, the many children would not have parents or a home. The Orphan Trains ran from 1854 to 1929 which was initiated by a social welfare reformer Charles Loring Brace. When the movement began, it was estimated that approximately 30,000 abandoned children were living on the streets of New York. Most children came from large cities such as Boston and New York.
We rode the orphan Trains One orphan who rode the orphan trains is Lorraine Williams who shortly after her birth was placed in an orphanage. In 1926 Lorraine and thirteen other orphans …show more content…
Nellie and Nettie were born on the year 1905. They also had an older brother Leon and soon a younger sister. From the earliest Nettie can remember her mother was always leaving home. She frequently left her husband and children. Nettie remembers that her father too was often away from home because of work. Nettie remembers when her little sister died of an illness. “ She was lying so still in her coffin and candles were burning at either end” (Warren) Nettie remembers. “We were all very sad. I have always felt terrible about it” (Warren). Perhaps this event was what triggered her mother’s depression, which caused her to abuse and neglect the twins and their brother Leon. In 1910 the local justice of peace came to their door with official papers and informed Nettie’s mother that the kids were to go with him. The three children were taken to an orphanage in Kingstown, New York. “During nine months the children were at a orphanage. Their only visitor was their aunt who somehow found out who they were” (Warren). “She wanted to take us, but the orphanage insisted we sever all connections with relatives” (Warren). Boys and girls were kept in different quarters so the twins never saw Leon. The caretakers were very strict and never showed affection towards the twins. In 1911 the twins were being taken from the orphanage, to the train depot. Once as the girls arrived they were lined up in on a stage in a opera house. In that moment they were chosen by L.E and Gertie Chapin. Nettie remembers Mr. Chapin as a nice man who took the girls out for fishing and brought them little treats from the store. Nettie recalls that Gertie was a sadistic women who had abused the girls. The abuse Nellie and Nettie suffered took place was when Mr. Chapin was at work and the girls were warned not to tell him. “We were forced to eat whatever she put on our plates, including fishbones” (Warren). “We were whipped with a buggy whip” (Warren). “We had