Lillie, John & William Heinicker, Orphan Train Riders
Lillie (1862 - 1962) and William were sent to Illinois in 1872 or 1873. In 1954 Lillie was interviewed by the Champaign newspaper and told how they arrived at the Monticello train station: They came with a large company, in three train cars!! She said that all the children had had their hair shaved close to their heads and that they were covered with black coal soot from the long train ride. The viewing of the orphans was held in a Monticello hotel, where Lillie and William were chosen by Leonard Chase, a farmer. Leonard and Jane Chase were a childless couple near Bellflower, Illinois.
Lillie and William lived with the Chases throughout their childhoods, Lillie until she married (1881) one of the hired hands, Edward Long. With regard to her education, Lillie said that she only went the required four months of the year to school. She said that the school months were four in the winter and three in the summer. She attended during the winter months. Because Mrs. Chase was an invalid, Lillie was saddled with the cooking and other housework. William left the Chase family at age 19 and regretted that choice later. (letter below) Edward and Lillie lived in Foosland for much of their married life and never had children. In 1900 Edward was working at a grain elevator and had spent 3 months of that year unemployed. Lillie said in her interview that for a time Edward had a threshing machine and travelled with it during threshing season. Edward died in July 1920 and Lillie lived on until 1962. In 1920 they owned their own home in Brown Township and in 1930 Lillie lived alone in a home she owned in Foosland. At some point after Edward's death Lillie moved to Champaign where she lived with Elsie Long (Edward's brother's widow) and later lived at the "Chin and Spin Home," a place I could find no record of.
The three Heincker children were orphaned by the death of their father in about 1869, when Lillie was six. Their parents were German immigrants, but all the children were born in New York. Their mother put them in the NYJA, and Lillie said she brought them food every month, but one month simply stopped appearing there. They assumed that something had happened to her, but were never told the fate of their mother. Lillie's interview included the information that her brother William had a farm in either North or South Dakota -- she couldn't remember I suppose (she was 91 years old!) and her brother Johnny, she had heard, had land in Kansas. She had either completely lost touch with her brothers, which is sad, or she was unable to remember this information.
Although it William reported in his letter that Lillie was learning to read and write very well, it was William's letters that were printed in the Asylum reports. He wrote two letters, one in 1873 and another in 1882. William asked for the address of his brother in his letter to the asylum and rather ambivalently reported his farm chores and interest in them. In his second letter William wrote that he had moved to Ashton, North Dakota and wanted to advise the boys to stay where they were placed. "Now boys and girls, stay in your places, keep good company and let the wine-cup alone, resolve that, though you came here poor, you will have a home of your own and be true men and women." He asked for information about his mother, because he wanted to hear from her again. The urge to have a "home" was still motivating William, although he had left his home with Mr. Chase before his time was up.
Despite these clues, neither brother could be found in the census.
