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Orphan Trains of Illinois
The Orphan Trains placed children from the Eastern United States on farms in the Midwest States from 1851 until 1929. Click on the rectangle in the top right hand corner of the map to view the map full screen and larger photos. Click on the map tags to read about orphans placed in different locations. Letters are from the annual reports of the New York Juvenile Asylum. The year of each report is referenced in the tag. Search by orphan name in the full screen mode.
Resource Links
Clark Kidder, Professional Research Services with access to all records for NYJA.
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This is an invaluable resource for persons hoping to find information regarding their Orphan Train ancestors. Clark Kidder has amassed records to the New York Juvenile Asylum that are not available on the internet, Ancestry.com or Familysearch.com. He has painstakingly organized those records and will provide his research at a reasonable fee. The underlined words are a link to Clark's website.
Some Illinois counties/genealogical societies have prepared lists of orphans passing through their county. Just click on the links to the left to be taken to the webpage that holds the information. Here are the ones that I have found. If you find others, email me and I will add them to this resource.
Individual story links
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Manning Brothers, Manhattan, IL (page 24)
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Charles Frederick, Rockford, IL
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Cecelia Rose Delaney, Peoria, IL
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Rose Helen Green Macior, Rolling Meadows, IL
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Frederick, Edward and Richard Groharing, Thompson, IL
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Henry Block, Ipava/Astoria, IL
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Josephine Keegan Kojnacki, Chicago, IL
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