In the late 1800's it became the practice to sweep the streets of the larger cities, primarily New York City, of the many random, immigrant children roaming the streets unsupervised. They were seen as a moral hazard, because the children might turn to crime or prostitution to make their way in the world. In order to protect the children from the dangers of the city (and to protect the good citizens from the immigrant children) they were sent out on trains to the healthful living that could be had in the country. One place the orphan trains stopped was Bloomington IL. The references to the children never refer to "orphan trains" but to the New York City Orphans Home or the New York Juvenile Asylum and the fact the children are available to be selected.
The Orphan Train movement was started by a minister named Charles Loring Brace. In a biography based on his letters some of his observations of children in 1850 in New York are reprinted: "You can have no idea, Emma, what an immense vat of misery and crime and filth much of this great city is! I realize it more and more. Think of ten thousand children growing up almost sure to be prostitutes and rogues!" (The Life of Charles Loring Brace: Chiefly Told in His Own Letter, ed. Emma Brace, Google Books) Emma was his sister, with whom he had a regular correspondence. He was resolved to somehow relieve the suffering of the inner city through philathropic work. He found that trying to reform adults of the New York slums was hopeless and turned to the children. At the urging of a committee of men already working with the poor in New York, Brace accepted a position as missionary to the boys of New York. Eventually this became the Children's Aid Society, which sought out homes (and work) for city children in the country and formed an industrial school for children. (Life)
By 1854 the Society was sending children out in groups to be found homes and work in the West. (A History of Placing Out: The Orphan Trains, Jeanne F Cook) The orphan trains did not take the incorrigible, diseased or African American children, nor were all of the children orphans, but were children placed with the Society by their parents, who could not afford to keep them. Over the years over 150,000 children were placed. The traffic of children peaked in 1875 and continued until 1930. Indentures, which were binding agreements, were signed by the family and the child. The McLean County Museum of History has copies of just two of these indentures. The indentures require the "parents" to cloth, lodge and feed the children until they were 18. When the child reached the age of eighteen, the "parents" agreed to give them two sets of clothes, a Bible and fifty dollars. The parents also agreed to send the children to school for at least four months of the year so that they could read and write and learn math at least up to compounding interest.
E Wright was a representative of a society in New York, the N Y Orphan Home or N Y Juvenile Asylum, alternatively. Whether he was associated with Brace isn't known, but Wright often travelled to Chicago to obtain orphans, and even travelled to New York and Massachusetts on at least one occasion.
The motivations of the people who selected the children was of course up for speculation. Some may have lost their own children and seen these children as a comfort. Others may have simply needed an extra hand around the house. The first notice of New York orphans coming to McLean County was in 1870, when a group of nine boys and three girls came through Bloomington to Farmer City. The children were to be "bound out" to whoever wanted them. (30 Dec 1870) In 1880, an orphan named Heading lived at a farm near Washburn and returned two years after leaving, with a claim that he was owed money by Mrs. Myers. She claimed that he set her barn on fire after threatening her. Although a large contingent of men went out to find him, Heading was never mentioned again in the Pantagraph. (16 Jun 1882) In August of 1878 little Louis Wintersdorf fell down dead in the yard of the New York Orphan Asylum Agency in Normal. (24 Aug 1878) On May 5 1880 a train of 40 New York orphans were sent to Normal from Chicago, they were sent off with speeches by AR Walter, "the octogenarian publisher" who gave each orphan a "handsome book." (5 May 1880) William Sherman, another product of the New York Orphan Asylum, was accused of robbing his employer. He was allowed to work out his fine by working 15 days on the "stone pile" in Bloomington. (13 Aug 1878)
The indignation of the public was roused when an unnamed farmer near Weldon cast out his orphan charge by placing him on a freight train on a cold winter night. The seven year old boy was found nearly frozen and crying in the train by a policeman. (20 Nov 1873) James Finley was an orphan who was working at the Novelty mill. He had only been working there about two months as a sweeper and oiler of the machinery. He had been taken to Ottawa Kansas as a New York orphan six years before and had moved to Bloomington with his adoptive mother, Mrs. John Greenlee in June of 1883. It was theorized that James must have been trying to repair a fan that was near an unguarded knuckle and shaft in the machinery. His clothing was caught and the poor boy was killed by the machine. No mention was made of his age or where he would be buried. (16 Jan 1884)
Only the luckiestof orphans were reclaimed by their families. Annie Goble was placed in a family in the McLean County area. Her grandparents searched for her for three years and claimed her. Supposedly the grandparents were wealthy and Annie was going to be their heir. (15 Aug 1887) Ross Case was another lucky orphan. He had been living with Mr. Ellis Brown at Oak Grove for fourteen months when he was advised that a wealthy uncle had died in Ohio and left him $75,000! (8 Jul 1880) A young boy named Pike was found on a farm near Chenoa after a long search by his parents. While the father was working far from his family in New York, he became ill and his wife was forced to put the children in a school while she went to nurse him. When they returned to reclaim the children, it was found that the youngest had been sent to another school and had been sent out as an orphan. The family diligently searched for the boy and when he was found he did not recognize his father, whom he had not seen for six years. The Chenoa farmer was very fond of the boy, but conceded that his family had the greater right to him and the family was reunited. (20 Apr 1877)
One of the past mayors of Bloomington, Robert McGraw, was the son of an orphan from New York, Agnes Harriett Kinsella. He said that his mother and her brother, Otto, never spoke of their past as orphans and he never learned of the facts until he was an adult. His mother and uncle had been two of the lucky orphans who were treated as a daughter and son rather than indentured servants. Another orphan was Alexander Lemon, who lived all his life -- after coming on the train -- in Leroy. He never married, but worked as a farm worker at the same farm, regardless of who owned it. He was described as a strange man, who was very susceptible to praise. If he received the least word of appreciation, he would do his work shocking corn with strict precision. (8 May 1988)
During the twentieth century, history minded people began an attempt to trace orphan train children. It was however, more a matter of interest for the historians, than an affinity for the spotlight by the orphans. Some of the old orphans were still so scarred and humiliated by their experiences, they would request that their names not be revealed. Probably dozens of others just kept quiet and never told their story. For them, the orphaning process was a depersonalizing and shameful part of their past lives. Some were mistreated as orphans and unwilling to talk. If they did find out their past would it be one of crime or illegitimacy?