This project makes available the names of over 2,000 children and youth sent to the state of Nebraska between 1854 and 1929 by the Orphan Train movement. The term “Orphan Train” refers broadly to the placing-out system initiated by the Children’s Aid Society in 1853 that sought to give New York City’s homeless or orphaned children new homes. The placing-out system is largely attributed to creating the foundations for the modern-day foster care and children’s welfare system in the U.S. While not all children placed in new homes during this period rode a literal train, the term has become synonymous with the system of placement that gave them new homes.
No comprehensive list of Orphan Train riders exists today, but it is estimated that over 200,000 children from the state of New York and other eastern cities were sent to over 40 different states across the U.S. between 1854 and 1929. It is estimated that anywhere between 3,000 and 4,000 children arrived in the state of Nebraska between those years.
This project hopes to contribute to the development of a list for the state of Nebraska and provide the means to assist the families of descendants and research alike in discovering more about the riders and their stories.
The nature of the placing-out system causes difficulties in locating and reconstructing the lives of the Orphan Train children. Their records are typically scattered in various archives and online databases across the U.S. today, sometimes making research difficult. In addition, records held by the institutions that housed and placed the children often restrict access to records for privacy concerns, only reserving access for family members seeking more information about their relatives. Thus, determining whether a child was an Orphan Train rider, or where they went, can prove to be difficult.
However, various local newspapers, annual reports by aid societies, federal and state census records, collaboration with other research institutions, as well as various reminiscences by the riders themselves have proven to be valuable resources in constructing more comprehensive lists of the children that took part in this movement. It is through these means that this project has generated a list of riders to Nebraska.
A special thank you goes to the members of the Castner family for their dedication and hard work to uncover more about the children sent to Nebraska. The information provided on Nebraska’s Orphan Train riders was first collected by the Castner family, whose relatives (Albert, Clarence, and Clark Castner) rode an Orphan Train to Madison, Nebraska on November 20, 1908. This project would not have been possible without their generous contributions.
Photos courtesy of History Nebraska. See image citations below for information on individual photos.
“Robert Panzer, New York, 1921.”
Date: 1921
Collection Code: RG2346
Collection Name: Orphans
History Nebraska, Lincoln, NE.
“John Panzer, Orphan Train Child, New York, 1921.”
Date: 1921
Collection Code: RG2346
Collection Name: Orphans
History Nebraska, Lincoln, NE.
“Harold Panzer, New York, 1921.”
Date 1921
Collection Code: RG2346
Collection Name: Orphans
History Nebraska, Lincoln, NE.
“George Panzer, Orphan Train Child, New York, 1921.”
Date: 1921
Collection Code: RG2346
Collection Name: Orphans
History Nebraska, Lincoln, NE.
“Panzer Brothers, 1930.”
Date: 1930
Collection Code: RG2346
Collection Name: Orphans
History Nebraska, Lincoln, NE.
“Steam Locomotive #134 with its tender and passenger cars at the depot in Ulysses, NE.”
Date: circa 1910
Collection Code: RG5804
Collection Name: Coffman, Frank Sr
History Nebraska, Lincoln, NE.
Title: “Black and White Photographic Print of a Portrait of Toni Weiler.”
Date: circa 1915
Collection Code: RG0839.PH
Collection Name: Weiler, Toni (M. Antoinette), 1911-1996
History Nebraska, Lincoln, NE.