William Masterson tells a Secret (Part VI)
After a long break in his letters, William wrote to his sister in May of 1893. He had been to Mexico and worked as a cowboy: "Oh Ida I...
William Masterson, Making a Living (Part V)
Later in November of 1891 William wrote again, thanking his sister for the picture of herself she had sent. He could not return the...
William Masterson, The Missouri Years (Part IV)
William's next letter was written in August of 1891, when he was sixteen. The Charlton River was flooding at his new home in Elmer,...
William Masterson, Pike County (Part III)
William Masterson's letters give me a view of the children that letters to the Asylum can never equal. Letters to the Asylum were...
William Masterson, Pike County, (Part II)
In January of 1888 William was disappointed that his letter with his photograph had possibly not reached his sister in New York. He was...
William Masterson, Pike County
In April of 2019 a reader, Patricia Bastianelli, forwarded me scanned copies of her ancestors' letters. There were two sets of letters,...
Charles Newhardt, Orphan Train Rider
Charles Newhardt was sent to Illinois in 1885 and was born in 1874 on Christmas Day. He worked for a farmer, G. N. French for ten years...
Sarah, Frederick, Robert & Mary Auer, Orphan Train Riders
Sarah Auer (1876 - 1958) wrote two letters to the Asylum and reported her own marriage. She was sent West in 1889 to Winchester, IL. She...
