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 in Montezuma, Illinois and married Mae Burns in 1897 in Pike County. His employer was strangely reticent about letting Charles know he could have a place with him after coming of age. Did he hesitate because he did not want Charles to invest more meaning into a request to stay than French intended? Charles worked as a farmer until about 1910, when he was listed as a barber in the census. Charles and Mae had one son named Joseph.

Charles' obituary stated that he owned his own barber shop in Neoga, Illinois before his death from cancer on March 17, 1931. He was survived by his wife, son and one grandchild.

Charles may have been the six year old boy at the Staten Island Nursery and Childs Hospital in the 1880 census. He was there with brother George and sister Wilhelmina, who also appear on the roster of the NYJA. Neither of these siblings could be positively identified within the Illinois census records. Charles' obituary made no mention of siblings.