Not all orphan-train riders originated in New York City, although 250,000 did, from the Children's Aid Society alone. But other riders came from Boston and even Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia social reformers sent children to Pennsylvania and South Jersey, looking for "the open arms of a stable family and the peace of the countryside."
Student researchers at the Villanova University have examined the lives of these children. They call their work "City of Children: Rescuing Children in Turn of the Century Philadelphia."
A sampling of these forgotten stories, by Kristin E. Holmes, Staff Writer of philly.com, contains many an interesting tale. Here's my favorite:
By his own doing, Madison Ulysses Ayles, eleven and African-American, went through four foster homes in two years. He ran away from the first three, white families who described him as unruly and disruptive, said Charlie Withers, the Villanova student who researched Ayles' life. But the young man's fourth placement, with a black pastor in Avondale, Chester County, seemed to provide a sense of belonging. Ayles lasted longer, but he eventually ran away from there, too.
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