Sarah Lankanau, Iroquois County
Sarah Lankanau (1873 - 1950) was sent to Illinois in 1883 and lived with the Henry Hartman family in Danforth, Iroquois County. She was...
Elizabeth and Catherine Kelley, Jefferson County
Family lore has it that Elizabeth (1851 - 1934) and Katherine Kelley (1848 - 1925) travelled on the orphan train to Illinois. I was...
Jesse O Drake, Whiteside County
In 1888 the Asylum was concerned with the fact that a large number of the boys sent West were leaving the homes that had been found for...
James Robertson, Champaign County
James Robertson was born in New York in 1845 and was brought to Illinois on the Orphan Train when he was 14. He was indentured on 15 Sept...
Robert and Thomas Chinery, Mercer County
Robert C. Chinery was sent West in 1869, at the age of 13. He wrote a comprehensive history of his life in 1892 and sent it to the...
Thomas Cochran, Whiteside and Carroll County
Like so many of the OTRs, Thomas was not an orphan, but he came from the New York Juvenile Asylum with a group of 15 children to Fulton,...
Annie, Dennis, & Joseph Donovan, Knox & Bureau County
Annie Donovan (1878 - 1942) was sent West in 1891 to Knox County. She wrote to the Asylum in 1893 and was living with Ira Hall, an...
Margaret Allison, LaSalle County
Like so many of the orphan train riders, Margaret Allison made a very faint impression in recorded history. The 1877 Annual Report...
James Carroll, Vermilion County
The only mention of James Carroll in the Annual Reports is in the 1868 report when the indenturing agent, Mr. H D Perry was writing a...
Andrew and Henry Petry, Ogle & Kane County
Andrew Petry (1860 - 1944) and Henry (1863 - 1928) were sent West in 1874. Andrew was first assigned to the Briggs family, but by 1880...
